Tomato Saar






When I first came to the US 11 years ago, I didn't really know how to cook (with interest, that is). My mom had taught me some Maharashtrian cooking, and some Tamilian cooking due to the strong influence of Tamilians around us. But I didn't really have any inherent interest in cooking. My mom finally said, even if you don't want to cook for anyone else, you should know enough so you can atleast feed yourself. This statement made a lot of sense to me as an 18yr old, and hence I showed enough interest to learn to cook, so I could atleast feed myself.
Well, time went by, and after I came to the US, I got into watching PBS food shows on Saturday mornings. That really got me into cooking and experimenting with new cuisines, not to mention one of my fellow Indian grad student who was a great cook and said that his secret was to download the taste of whatever it was that he wanted to eat that day, and then cook accordingly. So combined with these two inputs, I made my foray into non-traditional cooking (non-traditional, only because, I did not learn these new recipes from my mom). Then last year I got into reading food blogs.
I have been avid blog reader for more than a year now. Not sure when I started, but I sure did get hooked pretty quickly. I have bookmarked a few bloggers and follow their recipes with keen interest. This motivates me to cook and keep experimenting.
Luckily, my husband is also into experimenting eating everything that I make and gives me his honest feedback (he asked me to give him due credit in my blog or he would hijack my recipes and start a parallel blog:)).
So here goes my first blog.

Tomato Saar
Saars are Maharashtrian soups if you will. Healthy, nutrious, and can be had by themselves or with rice. I was reminded of this recipe by a Maharastrian lady that I met this past weekend and I realized I had not had it for the last 11 yrs (since I left home)! That did it, I had to make tomato saar and got around to pulling out the recipe. I have a book "Ruchira" by Kamalabai Ogle who was an expert of Maharashtrian cooking and her recipes are well known. So without further ado here is the recipe:

2 firm Tomatoes (anykind would do, I used the beefstake ones, just because they were big and available)
1/4 Beetroot (skin peeled)
1.5 cups Coconut milk or yogurt beaten into liquid(quantity can be increased if you want the saar to be more watery)
1/2-1 Green Chilli chopped
2 Pods of Garlic chopped
1 inch Ginger chopped
1 tspn Sugar/jaggery
Salt to taste
Cilantro to Garnish

Cook the tomatoes and beetroot in a pressure cooker (2 whistles). Peel off the skin of the tomatoes once out of the cooker and cool. Discard the seeds.
In a blender, blend the tomatoes, beet roots and yogurt/cocunut milk (I used yogurt cause it was available).
In a mortar mash the ginger, green chilli and garlic and add to the tomato-beetroot-yougurt mixture. Put this mixture in a stove top container and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot, just by itself or with rice and Enjoy!
(Picture to follow soon)