Winter Comfort Food:- Sweet Potato Roast/Poriyal and Milagu-Jeera Rasam (Pepper-Cumin Lentil Soup)

My curries are normally hot n spicy and a sweet potato curry didn't fit the niche very well. Anywayz, with avi persisting so much, we did buy a boring looking huge sweet potato. I delayed making the curry or to be more precise, I procrastinated even thinking of how to make a curry out of this blessed vegetable. It was almost a week since I got it and I had to make it yesterday or else it would start to rot. Well, the vegetable looked so unappetizing. Anyways, to exhort myself to start cooking, I started by making milagu-jeera rasam. I thought this extra hot n spicy rasam will  overshadow the sweet potato curry.  The rasam was made and I started with sweet potato curry. I made it simple (so that I can get with it fast).

I put one diced potato in my mouth and a "mmmm" ensued. You guess it right, it had a nice sweet n hot taste it to. It had a crispy surface and was soft inside. It had imbibed all the flavors of the spices very fast. I looked at Avi and told him, "Dinner is ready and we are in for a hot n sweet treat".

Ingredient:-
2 large potatoes diced
1 medium sized onion chopped
2-3 dry red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal/husked black gram
3 curry leaves 
1 1/2 tbl spns of olive oil
 1 tsp of red chilli powder/any karam podi
1 tsp of curry leaf powder
salt to taste

Method:-
Heat a non-stick pan with 1 tbl spn of oil.
Add the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and red chillies. Wait for the mustard seeds to crackle and urad dal to get golden brown.
Add the onion and fry well till they get transparent.
Add the sweet potatoes, chilli powder, curry leaf powder and salt.
Sprinkle some water and cook closed in low-medium flame for 5 mins or until the potatoes get cooked. Stir occasionally to avoid burning.
Remove the lid, add the extra 1/2 tble spn of oil and fry well till the surface of the sweet potatoes get evenly crisp.
Serve hot with a spicy rasam.

Milagu-Jeera Rasam:-
2 tsp of thick tamarind pulp
2-3 curry leaves
1 tomato chopped
1 pod of garlic grated (optional)
salt to taste

For tempering:-
1 tsp of ghee/clarified butter
1 sprig of coriander leaves chopped.
1 tsp of mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida

Blend into a coarse powder:- (Milagu-Jeera powder)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of dry roasted red gram/toor dal
2 curry leaves

Method:-
In a pan heat the boil the tamarind pulp with 2 cups of water, curry leaves and the chopped tomatoes until the raw smell of the tamarind goes.
Add the grated garlic, milagu-jeera powder  and salt.
Simmer over medium fire until froth appears on the surface.
Take a small pan and heat ghee. Add the mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle.
Add the coriander leaves and asafoetida to the ghee. Add this seasoning to the rasam and mix well
Serve hot with plain rice.