Open Sesame 2 : TOMATO SHORBA & How do you peel your tomato?

Hello people, am back after another lazy break. I dont know when will i get better, i get all charged up on the last day of any event or when the deadline is near, but thank god i participate in these otherwise i really dont think the lazy me would have posted even once in a month.



Open Sesame was one event of its kind which the rocking duo DK and Siri started. Three cheers for them people coz i have seen the most unique events coming from this duo. They know how to keep us on our toes. So as most of us know, Open sesame 2 also had 4 boxes, and we had to choose one, we get a riddle and we need to crack it, and then from that ingredient we need to cook up something and post. So i missed Open Sesame 1, the day these guys announced Open Sesame 2 i was supposedly the first person to ask for my riddle, had a guess on that very moment and never took d pains to think further, on 24th, the last day to crack the riddle i remember this, and go ahead with my first guess, Chilli Pepper, dont ask me why, jsut the envy and anger drew me to it.This was my puzzle..

I think I am a pleased woman since I blush so much
I am so soft and shiny to your delicate touch
But look what I have for relatives, so different with no common string
one used for smoking, one for hotness, one used to refer idler and one referred as veggie's King

I am not what you refer to me most often
I am 'fruit' of labour but never called one so
I am neither a wolf nor a peach in the scale of one to ten
but then why do you think I am called one as so?

I can go green with envy, or completely red with anger
A little crown on my head makes my walk look like a swagger
You cant do without me in your day to day cooking
Tell me what veggie I am without too much thinking.


The creator of this puzzle is none other than Dhivya-The DK. Salute to you lady, you actually come up with amazing poetic and interesting riddles. My first guess was Chilli Pepper and Voila!! i lose those 25 points. I get my 1st hint, and yeah i get it right here, and settle with a Booooh! face with my 20 points. Me and Ms. Tomato have a very weird kinda rapo since childhood. May be that is why i could have never thought of it for the last two lines of the riddle :D. My periamma is way tooo fond of tomatoes and me and amma were never too fond of it, we will use it but in the minimalistic ways, and more so for the color it gives.

But lately when i read somewhere that the peel of tomato is not good for health, and u should peel it out everytime u use it, i started doing it religiously and even asked my near ones to do it. And i have realized that the peel was what i used to dislike in tomatoes, and i love tomatoes nowadays, not that i use it a lot but yess i cannot do without it a single day(lately). So how do you peel your tomatoes, some boil it once, some roast it, some just pel it off, and some heat it on the gas burner. I do the last, and hey got to mention that its my Mummas superb idea, peeling tomatoes was never this easy.


Now coming to my recipe, tell me frankly frens, how many of u think that i do more of bakwaas than some quality writing.
So i wanted to prepare something that has only tomatoes highlighted, as the main ingredient, otherwise i would have never bothered to make something with only tomatoes. Thanks DK n Siri. The king of soups, the Cream of tomato was my first option. But again i make that very often, the maggi or knorr wala :P and i love it, so it had to be somethnig different. I remember the first time i had had tomato shorba i thought the rest guys are trying to fool us, ajeeb sa kuch banakar shorba naam de diya, but later i realized that if it is made properly, it is way better than the classic cream of tomato also. I didnt get the perfect color, but no regrets. It tasted heavenly.
I took Bhags's shorba as my base recipe and the rest you know, there had to be some substitutions from my side.


Ingredients:


2 large tomatoes peeled and diced into slices
few sprigs of mint leaves
few sprigs of coriander leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 clove
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 inch ginger minced
1 tsp gram flour
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 green chilly chopped
1/4 tbs cumin seeds
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp butter
few drops of olive oil
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp lemon juice(optional)
Coriander sprigs for garnishing

Method:

Heat a cup of water in a pan. Add the diced tomatoes, bay leaves, cloves, garlic, ginger, coriander and mint leaves.
Simmer till tomatoes become soft, and start giving out the catchy aroma.


Strain this to remove the seeds and pulp, and get as much juice as possible. You may, at the end run it in a blender to extract the last bits of juice.
Dissolve the gram flour in the coconut milk and make sure u avoid lumps.
Heat some drops of olive oil, and then add the butter(this is to avoid the instant burning of the butter, nice trick na)Add cumin seeds and green chilies and curry leaves and let it splutter.
Pour in the tomato mixture along with the coconut milk mixture. Also add the lemon juice. Let the mixture boil for a minute or two.
Add salt and pepper. Garnish with coriander.



Bon Appetite!!