Pyaaz tamatar ka kachummar (Onion Tomato Salad)

Nice and simple stuff. Great on the side for many dishes like Pav Bhaj, Mutton Curry, Biryani, Palak Paneer, Pulao, Khichdi, and more!

Ingredients (for 4 people): Red Onion - 1 medium, Ripe Tomato (but not collapsing) - 2 medium, Coriander (to have 1 tablespoon chopped), Lime - 1/2, Sugar - 1.5 teaspoon, Salt to taste, Chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon (or even lesser if you don't want it spicy). Slice the onions nice and thin. Dice the tomatoes into small pieces (not so small that they squish into puree :D), Mix all the ingredients together well with hand so that the juices all mix well. 

Last minute tip: Optionally, you can add a tablespoon of olive oil but if you want.

pav bhaji / paav bhaaji

Pav bhaji is probably the most coveted fast food in India. Though it is widely believed to have it's origin in bombay, millions of people relish this delicious dish everyday all over India.

Earlier today, I cooked Pav Bhaji for 200 people. I was very lucky to have Gunjan, Sagar and Tracy to help with the Bhaji. With their help, we finished cooking the bhaji in under two hours. At the event, we COMPLETELY SOLD OUT! Unfortunately we had to turn a few people away but at least there were 200 satisfied (hopefully) foodies. Here're some pictures from the event:

Source: Den Angelles

Ingredients: to serve 8

24 hamburger rolls (3 at least per person)
butter 300 grams
potatoes 400 grams
onions 200 grams
cauliflower 200 grams
eggplant 200 grams
peas 200 grams
tomatoes 200 grams
capsicum 200 grams
ginger garlic paste (make fresh preferably) 2 tablespoon
cumin seeds 1 heaped teaspoon (i wouldn't mind 1.5 actually)
badshah/ everest (i *know* these are good) pav bhaji masala 1 teaspoon for simple, 2 teaspoon for spicy
coriander for garnishing
lime - 1, cut into half and another cut into pieces for serving
Salt to taste

Heat 100 grams butter in a saucepan, add cumin seeds, and fry diced onions.

Dice all the veggies (except peas of course) and boil potatoes, cauli, peas, eggplant, capsicum together. The veggies should be soft in 20 minutes. Potatoes and Caulis take the most time so try and crush them and see if they aer soft.

By the time the veggies are 5 mins into boiling, add the ginger garlic paste and continue cooking it. By the time the veggies are 10 mins into boiling, onions should be soft and you can add pav bhaji masala and tomatoes. This masala should be done by the time the veggies boil (20 minutes time period). Add the boiled veggies, salt and another 100 grams butter to the onion tomato mix and mash, mash, mash and then mash again. Dilute just a little bit if it's very thick. Bhaji should have the consistency so that it can be flipped with a turner. Garnish with chopped coriander, squeeze one lime and mix. Give each person a small piece of lime if they want to add it later. You can also serve pyaaz (onion) and tamatar (tomato) kachummar with it - recipe coming soon :)

For the hamburger rolls, you can baste them with butter and fry them in a pan. I like the rolls pan fried but still a bit soft.

Making your own Garam Masala

We can find dozens of varieties of "Garam masala" packets in Indian  Grocery Stores and Supermarkets, but making your own garam masala is both satisfying and better for your dishes. Another advantage of making your own garam masala is that different dishes need different ingredients in different proportions. Hence, one size fits all is not the best solution.

The following are the major components of a standard Garam Masala:

cardamom (50 grams)

clove (25 grams)

  

star aniseed (50 grams)

cinnamon (50 grams)

   

bay leaves (50 grams)

  

black pepper (25 grams)

 

black cardamom (50 grams)

 

mace (25 grams)

 

You should make sure that all the whole spices are dry. Roast them separately in a frying pan stirring frequently (since each has a different temperature at which they cook and release flavour). Generally, each spice would take about two minutes to roast. You can take it off the heat once they start browning (in case of black pepper and black cardamom, you will see them expanding, that's when you take them off).

Let the whole spices cool down for about 10 minutes and then grind them together in a grinder (easier), or using a mortar pestle (crazy). Store the garam masala in a dry glass bottle and use it within 3 months (it stays pretty much forever, but it loses the flavor eventually).

Pulao / Pulav

Pulao is an Indian rice dish, a variation to the Persian Pilaf. It goes really well with marathi kadi. Pulao is a healthy and light dish that has many different versions. The one I am covering is an onion cauliflower pulao.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 large
Garlic - 2 cloves
Cauliflower - 200 grams
Potato - 1 medium (can do without as well)
Peas - 100 grams (Can do without as well)
Rice - 250 grams *basmati*
cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon (important)
Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon (1 if you like it spicy)
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil - 30 ml

Optional:
Coriander leaves to garnish
Pomegranate seeds to garnish

---------

slice garlic cloves nice and fine. chop onions. soak rice in room temperature water. heat oil and add the cumin seeds. once dark brown, add the garlic and onion. fry for 2-3 mins and add the cauliflower and potatoes diced into small pieces. fry for another 2 minutes. rice must have soaked for 5 minutes by now. wash the rice and drain the water out. add the rice to the pan and stir so that the rice gets covered in oil. all this happens on high heat so the rice might stick to the base. Add the spices (chilli, turmeric, coriander powder) and salt with 50 ml of water. After a minute, add 600 ml of water, let it cook on high for 2 minutes, then turn heat to 3 o'clock position or low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes (At the 10 minute mark, stir through once and add the peas).

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and pomgranate seeds if available.

Lamb shanks in pear, carrot, onion, garlic sauce

I know - pear and onions don't sound like they are the best buds but the sauce works pretty well with these two in it!

Ingredients:

Lamb shanks - 2
Olive oil - 20 ml
Vegetable Stock - 200 ml
Pear - 1 (crunchy, not ripe)
Onion - 1 large
Garlic - 3 cloves
Rosemary leaves - 1 tablespoon
Mint leaves - 1 tablespoon
Black pepper - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Lemon - 1

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Chop the pear, onion and garlic (separately) quite fine. Slice the carrot (rather thick).
Heat olive oil and add the garlic. Add the onion after half a minute and sauté for 2 minutes.
Put the lamb shanks and cook for a minute on each side to seal in the flavor. Add the pear, rosemary, mint, pepper, lemon, and salt. Add the stock and bring it to boil. Cover with an aluminium foil and bake for 1 hour. Take out, mix the sauce again, turn the shanks over and cook for another hour. Done!

Serve with roast potatoes - yumm :p

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ENGLISH

HINDI (Indian)

Plain daal

Here's a version of daal that I made when Gunjan was recently under the weather. Among all the different varieties, I can safely say that this is my favorite.

Ingredients (for 2):

1. Daal - 150 grams
2. Whole chillies slit (fresh, or dried) - 2
3. Cumin seeds - 1 heaped teaspoon
4. Oil - 20 ml
5. Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (or, to your taste)
6. Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon (or even lesser)
7. Coriander - a decent bunch (chopped)

Wash the daal (to get all chemicals off it), and boil it in 1ltr water with slit chillies, turmeric, salt in a pressure cooker for 15 mins) or a saucepan for 25 mins on high.

Once boiled, heat the oil in a narrow saucepan or a tadka pan if you can get one. When oil is hot, add the cumin and when dark brown, add to the daal. Add 300 ml more water so that it becomes soupy, boil covering it on high for another 5 mins and add the chopped coriander.

Teen Patti Rules

Teen Patti is a card game of Indian origin and usually played at households on Diwali (which is the main Hindu festival). Of course, addicts play teen patti every day online and in clubs. The fact that I am posting about it's rules doesn't necessarily put me in that category .... right :s ?

The good things about teen patti when compared to poker is that it's simpler and faster. It has lesser probabilistic combinations and hence not too strenuous on the grey cells. So ... here are the rules of Teen Patti.

*Usually*, each person gets 3 cards. Player with highest combination wins.

HIERARCHY

1. Triple (3 aces then 3 kings and ….)

2. Colored sequence (Ace King Queen of same suit, then Ace, 2, 3 of same suit, then King Queen Jack of same suit and …)

3. Sequence (Ace King Queen of different suit, then Ace, 2, 3 of different suit, then King Queen Jack of different suit and …)

4. Color (all 3 cards of the same suit)

5. Pair (2 Aces and a card, then 2 Kings and a card and …)

6. Highest card

BLIND

A player can choose to play WITHOUT seeing his / her cards. This is called playing blind. This has effects on bidding. Explained below.

BETS

Players make their bets ANTI-CLOCKWISE and you need to bet at least the amount bet by the previous person till the winner is decided. DEALER has to put in the base bet first.

If a person is playing blind (without seeing his/her cards), all players who HAVE seen their cards, need to bet twice as much as the blind player.

If a player runs out of money during a game, the game DOESN'T FINISH (like sidepot in poker). Instead the player needs to borrow money from bank if (s)he wants to or fold.

SIDESHOW AND SHOW

When 3 or more players are in, you can ask a sideshow from the person on your LEFT. Whoever has the higher cards stays in the game and if you both have the same cards (for example 2 kings and a 7), the person who ASKS for the sideshow LOSES.

When only 2 players are in, you can ask for a show by putting in the bet that was put in last.


For both sideshow and show, the calling player needs to put in at least the last amount bet.

VARIATIONS

The dealer can make his/her own variation to the game. Some possibilities:

1. Joker: (for example if 7 is a joker, 7 can be used as ANY card. so if i have 2 kings and a 7, it becomes 3 kings)
2. Total Joker: everyone gets 5 cards and a particular number, say 8 is a Joker, then the card 8, or multiple cards that total to 8, are Jokers (8, 5+3, 6+2, 1+7, 4+4 are some of the Joker combos for 8)
3. Highest card joker: everyone gets 4 cards and their highest card is their individual joker (similarly lowest card joker)
4. Jokers Galore: all Reds (hearts and diamonds) or Blacks (spades or clubs) are jokers (LOTSA JOKERS!)
5. Best of 4: you get 4 cards. just make the best 3 card hand you can
6. Imagine one: you get 2 cards, you can imagine a 3rd card for yourself :)
7. Pair joker: each pair you have in your hand can be used as a joker
8. Muflis: person with LOWEST hand wins
9. Blackjack: aim is to make total 21 (ace can be used as 1/11, pictures and 10, others as usual). Any set with total more than 21 will result in automatic loss (BUST). player can ask for more and more cards till (s)he is happy. For example, if I have an 8 and 3, I ask for a card, if I get 2, total becomes 13, I ask for a card, I get Ace, I use it as 1 of course because using it as 11 would make total 24 and I will go bust. So I ask for one more card, I get 7. Total becomes 20. Now I am happy because the next card would most probably make me go bust.
10. Twist: Each player is dealt a single card which they put on their forehead without seeing it. Thus everyone knows everyone ELSE'S card but their own. TWIST!
11. Full twist: Just like twist, but with all three cards.
12. Semi-twist: Each player is dealt 3 cards, they can see one card and put the other two on their forehead.
13. Passing cards: give 3 cards to everyone, then 3 extra cards to the first player. Each player passes 3 cards to the next till we reach the dealer who puts three back into the pack. 
14. Blind Swap: Each person can choose to exchange one of their card with a card of left side player. Each player picks a card from the other blindly.
15. Semi-Blind Swap: Each person (A) can choose to exchange one of their card of their choice with a card of left side player. 'A' chooses the card from the other player blindly.
16. Seen Swap: Each person (A) can choose to exchange one of their card with a card of left side player. Each player chooses their own card they want to discard.
17. Pack jack: 3 cards to everyone, 3 cards are open as jokers, whenever anyone packs their cards become the new 3 jokers (Interesting!)
18. Powers of 2: 1,2,4,8 are jokers (Geek!)
19. What's mine is yours: Each person chooses 1 card and that is the joker for the player on their left.
20. Folders rule: Initially a joker is decided by the dealer. Each person who folds has the power of changing the joker - BWAHAHAH!

twitter

hey all,

i have finally decided to get on the twitter-wagon. it would be really nice so that i can:

. put mini recipes/ cooking suggestions online
. make restaurant recommendations
. crack pathetic jokes before i forget them
. and more...

my twitter id is bluephonebox . Right now i am relatively inactive but will pick up the pace soon!

take care,
gaurav

Tiramisu

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Image from http://www.faqs.com/

Another of Alka aunty's recipe - DELICIOUS, and not as heavy as the Tiramisus you get outside :-p

Ingredients:

Scotch fingers
Fresh cream 250 gms
Mascorpone cheese 500 gms
2 cups of strong black coffee (Illy/ Vittori are pretty good!)
Rum - 50 ml (other liquors also work)
Chocolate powder - to sprinkle
Sugar - 2 tablespoons
Castor sugar - 4 tablespoons

Blend cream, cheese and castor sugar together.
Add sugar to freshly brewed coffee and let it cool. Then add rum to it.
Then dip scotch finger in coffee and lay them out on tray(serving dish). This forms base layer.
Put half of cheese mix on top (layer 2)
Put another layer of coffee soaked biscuits. (Either soak biscuits or lay it out or lay biscuits and pour coffee on top) (layer 3).
Put rest of the cheese mix (layer 4).

Sprinkle chocolate powder on top.
Put it in the fridge for a few hours at least before serving. overnight recommended.

Rabdi

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We are in Melbourne right now and the best thing about the city is Alka Aunty's Rabdi - kicks any desserts ass by a long stretch. It's a very heavy Indian dessert usually served as a sauce for jalebi or rasmalaai.

Ingredients:

Milk (1.5 ltrs)
Pistachos - 25gms(= crushed)
Saffron - a pinch
Sugar - 100 to 200 gram (really depends on how sweet you like it)

Put milk in a 2.5ltr+ microwavable bowl (should leave some room for milk to rise). Boil in a 1000W to 1200W for 10 mins, take it out, stir it, and put it back. Repeat this process till the milk reduces to 600 ml. Add sugar and again, repeat the process of boiling for 10 mins two more times. Blend the milk using a stick blender (or whatever! - can't believe I just used that word). Add saffron, pistachos and leave to cool. Once it reaches room temperature, put it in the fridge.

You can add readymade rasmalaai (alka aunty swears by Bikano rasmalaai) and have excellent dessert :-)

Why is Microsoft doomed to Fail

NO, Lindsay Lohan does not count as Top News, she doesn't count as ANY News

Best Indian restaurants in Sydney

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Hi all,

There are SO many Indian restaurants in Sydney, but many of them are quite ordinary with a few exceptions, fortunately!

The following are my favorites, along with what I like there -

Raavi's Cumin, Crows Nest (Kashmiri Naan - Yummmm, Saagwala Lamb, Paneer Makhani, Malai Kofta)

Nilgiris, St. Leonards (Very dynamic menu, but Dosas are the best!)

Raavi's and Nilgiris are in a league of their own, btw!

Kammadhenu, Newtown and Neutral Bay (Huge selection of Dosas - not as good as Nilgiris but worth a shot if in that area). I'd stay stick to the Dosas, Roti Chinai, and Kotthu Paratha if you go there.

Faheem's, Newtown. For the BEST tandoori chicken (and unfortunately the not-so-good curries) go to Faheem's. Just stick to the tandoori stuff including meat and naans and you'll be all right. If you come back without trying the Tandoori Fish (quite hard to make because fish is very delicate as opposed to chicken so Tandoor-cooking it takes *some* skill)

Billus, Harris Park, Epping (Entrees including Samosas, Tikkas and sweets). Unfortunately, service needs much improvement. So order early and bring some Sudoku along.

Finally, I've heard only good things about Maya's Dhaaba, Surry Hills. Will probably go and try it out soon.

P.S. Please feel free to leave YOUR favorite restaurant as a comment!

Great, now I am hungry!
G

curry cooking tip

if you are making curry using onion ginger garlic, add the paste one serving spoon at a time to the oil to avoid splattering - true story!

Reflective journal

This is a post to keep a track of what went right and what did not, in terms of the units I am teaching.

The three units I have this semester are: COMP115 (undergrad), ITEC802 (Postgrad), PICTFDN (Postgrad - external?)

My first observation this semester in COMP115 is how wonderfully chocolates work irrespective of what demographic is your class coming from! They participate very actively given this reward system! I don't like to call it a bribe because "bribe" is something you provide in return for an "unjust" favor. while a reward is something provided for someone who does their job beyond expectation. A general student is not "obliged" to participate. But the participation, if there, should be appreciated and chocolates are a good way. Of course, there are other gestures that show that their class involvement is appreciated like a pat on the back and applause. Generally, students derive self-confidence from the confidence their lecturers have in them. And if they are confident (of their capability to learn new things) coming into the university, they are more likely to perform better during the entire degree.

My second observation is in the external postgrad unit and how difficult it is to teach a programming component without any visual aids whatsoever! I have been given a sound recorder to record my lectures that external students can listen to, but without any visual tools, the lecture notes really need to be more graphical to help students understand the point. this generalizes to the problem of verbose lecture notes. Lecture notes should sparsely and miserly use text and should contain graphs and figures and other media if possible. this might be hard for areas like literature, I understand, but for fields like computer science, history, politics, I am sure lecturers can find relevant images and include them in lecture notes or slideshows. As I understand (intuitively), images help students correlate the text with the topic thereby acting as learning catalyst.

(15/04) The workshop yesterday emphasized upon the importance of structured classes as compared to on-the-go design (even if that of a workshop). Now here, I am only talking about workshops. An "agenda" should always be prepared in advance. Maybe the students will have enough questions to keep you busy but just in case they want you to explain things one more time, it always helps to prepare some simple examples. I made the mistake of discussing a complex example and that only discouraged the students from getting involved - there's one mistake i won't repeat. NO COMPLEX QUESTIONS FOR GENERAL CLASS! (For those interested, I gave them the question of solving quadratic roots through pass by reference)

(21/04) Wrote eleven practice questions on http://comp115.createforum.com/ for students to help them with pass by reference. Feels nice :)

(22/04) This is a long one so you might wanna get some coffee. Mr. Fox (English name) is a Chinese student in my class and for the first 2 or 3 weeks he was completely and utterly unresponsive. I presumed that he is an uninterested student like a few others and tried to pester him into participating but to no avail. Then in week 4 or 5 I think I called him after the class and asked him why is his performance not satisfactory and he told me about his inability in understanding me ... now I remember, it was actually week 4. We only have one lecture of this subject and no recordings unfortunately. So, I started taking a camcorder to classes and also recording screencast videos using Camtasia Studio. The other measure was the forum I talked about in the previous entry. The results are fantastic. Many students improved performance, and Fox in specific has not become an excellent student, and when I say that, I don't just mean that he answers my questions and gets decent scores but also that he has become "critical" of what I do - he questions... HE QUESTIONS!!! and that, my friends, is a good student, one who questions. Inquisitiveness is the basis of all knowledge. I awarded Fox with a PI mug in the class (I picked up about 30 mugs from a geek shop in crows nest) to appreciate his improvement. It is one of the most rewarding things in my academic career in a while. Before this, I think it was the success of a Masters student Amireh who initially struggled but picked up Java quite well later in the semester. Anyways, moral of the Fox story for me is "show a little concern for students individually and you wil help them tremendously"

(19/05) It was terrible :( I struggled to give a demo in the class today because of unforeseeable problem in technology :( I had an example in mind that I wanted to create in front of the students but as I proceeded, it just wouldn't work. We all pondered over it for a good 20 mins but it didn't work. It was a waste of time for me and more importantly, for the students. Lesson learnt - keep a backup working demo!

(07/06) Today was a good day for a few reasons. I got my "learners evaluation of teaching" from SIBT. and I did not have a single "strongly disagree" against my name :). The average scores were all around 4.7 to 4.8 out of 5. But it were the comments that were really satisfying. My favorites were "Best lecturer ever" and in response to "areas of improvement" someone wrote "NO, he is a great lecturer " (blushing). There was just one student whose feedback I am a bit worried about. (S)he wrote - "he verbally encourages participation but when students give incorrect/ tentative answers/ guesses, they are chided ..." It is in fact the exact opposite what i *try* to do but maybe i DO act a bit harshly sometimes. This is something I would definitely try to work on next semester.

The other reason for me being happy is the unofficial feedback i received from my masters students - my masters students!!! (they are always VERY demanding and unforgiving, having experienced the corporate life and everything). Shirren, who is by far one of the best S/W professionals I have come across, commended my teaching which is a big honor for me (in an email he said "...you were easily my best lecturer all semester...". I had two students this semester for whom I hold special respect, Shirren and Thierry. There are other students who didn't have the same level of experience as these two but I am sure they'll be equally good in 3-5 years (Kok-yan, Alan, Jimmy to name a few). Alan, in his final 20% assignment wrote "I think I am in love" while describing one of the topics implemented. This simple statement shows that your students have actually gotten into what you taught and they are taking it as a fun-thing rather than a sob-this-stupid-assignment attitude they might have if they don't understand it/ like it. That one sentence for me is actually more important than any other LET/ LEU outcome.

poha or pohe (flattened rice)

i was talking to 2 of my students last weekend, charanya and sanjay, when the topic of food came up (are you really surprised!?!?) and there was some mention of poha (flattened rice) which is a staple breakfast dish in many parts of India. Indorians are quite the sucker for this magnifico dish

ingredients to serve 2:

200 grams medium / thick poha (NOT thin)
3 green chillis (optional, can reduce or skip if you want mild)
1/6 teaspoon (also known as a pinch :D) turmeric
salt to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar (yes)
1/3 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 tablespoons oil
garnish (optional) coriander leaves and pomegranate.

rinse the poha in a saucepan for about 30 seconds and drain the water. you don't have to drain every single drop because the remnant will fluff-up the poha. just drain it until you start getting drops coming out.

throw the salt, sugar and turmeric on this and leave for 10 mins (you can sprinkle water on it twice or thrice during these 10 mins if you think it's not moist enough). 8 mins into the waiting process you can heat the oil in a saucepan on high and when hot add the chopped chilli and mustard seeds (some people like onions and curry leaves too). turn heat on low, then throw the poha in (you can add diced boiled potatoes and peas at this point if you want but i prefer it simple), stir frequently, cook for about 2 minutes sprinkling water twice or thrice.

sprinkle lemon juice before you have it! optionally, also garnish with chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds and you got yourself a winner :) i find coriander gives an amazing flavor but the world won't end if you don't have it at hand ;)

5000 *unique* visits

thanks to you all, the blog got it's 5000th unique visitor today! some of the statistics -

i started the blog on 28th August 2009 and in the last 1 1/2 years, we've had visits from 75 countries

top searched phrase "marathi kadhi recipe"

funniest searched phrase "what is the difference if we use onions instead of structures in linked lists?" - (WTF!?!)

we went to raavi's cumin in crow's nest to celebrate :p indian food doesn't usually get better than at raavi's in sydney (he he, i already started advertising :D)

hoping to make this blog more useful for everyone out there in the coming year! do leave suggestions as comments and request for an Indian recipe - if I know how to make it, I will post it :)

Things to do this year -

1. More pictures to accompany dishes
2. Image slideshow
3. Maybe even a youtube video about all the recipes
4. FAQ section

Dahi ka Kachummar

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if you make tikkas/ keema/ tandoori chicken, usually there are two accompaniments - green coriander chutney, and dahi ka kachummar...

kachummar is essentially a salad that has been mixed very well with hands to get some juices out.

this one is similar to raita but thicker and more flavorful.

ingredients:


200 gms yoghurt
200 grams red onions cut into thin rings
1 cucumber diced fine
1 tomato diced fine
a bunch of coriander and mint
1 lemon

1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon anaar-daana powder (pomgranate seeds, dried and crushed)
salt as per taste

add all the ingredients together and mix really well, don't shy away from crushing it a bit.

serve with fresh pomegranate seeds as garnish if available :)

daal fry

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i am sorry i don't yet have a picture for this recipe yet, but i will post it soon :)

daal fry is a restaurant classic in india. the usual family orders are for 1 daal fry, 1 paneer masala, 1 veg jalfreizi, 2 tandoori roti, 2 parathas and 1 jeera rice :D

oh, about the daal -

ingredients (to serve 4, alongwith another dish):

250 gms toowar daal
1 large onion
1 large tomato
4-5 bay leaves
2 cardamoms
3 cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
1 level tablespoon cumin seeds
1 bunch coriander
3/2 teaspoon chilli powder (2 teaspoon for the adventurous
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
6 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 finger of ginger, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt
50 ml oil

boil the toowar daal in a pressure cooker on high for 15 minutes. if you don't have a pressure cooker, use a narrow, deep saucepan and boil on high for 30 minutes in (1.5 ltrs water whichever way you boil it)

while it's boiling, chop the onions and tomatoes (separately :D) into small pieces (about .5 cm by .5cm for the engineers) and chop the coriander alongwith step (just remove the root and you're good). keep them aside.

heat oil in a pan, and when hot add the cumin seeds followed by whole spices (bay leaves, cardamom, clove, cinnamon). sitre for about 30 seconds and add the onions, fry on medium heat for 5 mins and add ginger garlic, cook for another 2-3 minutes, then turn heat high and add the chilli, turmeric and coriander powders, along with salt and 50 ml water. stir well so that spices solution cooks properly. add the tomatoes and immediately add the boiled daal (with the water). cook on high for 10 mins stirring occasionally and garnish with coriander to serve :)

Raita

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There'd be heaps of Indians who laugh at this post because making Raita in India is like being able to boil eggs, pretty much everyone knows how to make raita. Still, it might be a little mysterious for rest of you, in terms of how do you get the mild refreshing aroma, what can i put in it, how thick should it be, etc...

here i have a few recipes of raita for you all.

1. Boondi raita: You can get "boondi" from any decent indian grocery store. You can also make it yourself. Just google boondi recipe on youtube. It looks like this - 

Ingredients:

500ml european style yoghurt

1/4 (or even lesser) teaspoon red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mint sauce OR (a handful of finely chopped mint + 1 teaspoon sugar)

handful of chopped coriander

OPTIONAL but yummmmm - some pomegranate seeds

Process: mix all ingredients together - yes, that IS the whole recipe. 

---------------------------------------

2. Vegetable raita:

The vegetables replace the boondi in the first version. The veggies should be chopped fine. You can use one or more of the following in order of preference:

a. Cucumber

b. Onion

c. Carrot

d. Tomatoes (firm)

e. Cabbage shredded

f.  Zucchini

g. pineapple (it's not a veggie - big deal!)

h. green mango (just a little bit gives a tangy taste)

Vegetables that should never be used for raita are:

a. Potatoes

b. Eggplants

c. Okra :D (although bhindi ki sabzi when mixed with yoghurt is DIVINE!)

bhindi ki sabzi

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today, i'm gonna include this recipe for the simple yet delicious bhindi (okra/ lady finger).

there are a couple of ways of making this delectable vegetable and there's no way you can go wrong unless you add water :D

ingredients:

bhindi - 1/2 kg
onion - 1 large
oil - 40 ml
cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
coriander powder - 2 teaspoon
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
salt - 1 teaspoon

cut the bhindi into rings of 1 cm thickness, or vertically into 4 pieces, either is ok.
chop the onions into small pieces.

heat the oil in a saucepan and add the cumin seeds. the cumin will turn whitish and then dark brown. add the onions when cumin turns brown (this should be about 10 seconds if the oil is hot), fry the onions on medium heat for about 8 mins stirring occasionally. turn the heat high and add the spice powders (not salt) with 1/4 cup of water, stirring it so that the spices get cooked properly. once the water is evaporate, the spices would be cooked. now add the cut bhindi and turn the heat to low-medium (4 o'clock) and add salt. cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring twice or thrice during this time. best served with chapaatis, daal and rice.

mutton biryani (new recipe better, faster, tastier :p)

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Hi all,


I had an old recipe for mutton biryani on this blog but I am accepting room for improvement and here's the newer, better, nicer, tastier, and easier version.

ingredients (to serve 4 like me)

2 kgs mutton with bone
1 tablespoon meat masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
250 gram yoghurt
50 ml mint sauce

100 ml oil
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon black cumin


whole spices
   6 bay leaves
  10 whole cardamom
  3 black cardamom
  4 cinnamon sticks
  3 star aniseed
 

3 large onions
10 cloves garlic
50 grams ginger

2 tablespoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
salt to taste

300 grams long basmati rice (don't be stingy, get the best one!)
a pinch of saffron (so that it's covers a teaspoon - sorry can't explain it better)
sultanas 50 grams
cashews 100 grams
coriander and mint leaves 50 grams each
eggs - 4

first mix the meat, yoghurt, meat masala turmeric and mint sauce and leave overnight at least (24 hours is even better)

blend onions, garlic and ginger.

heat oil, add cumin and black cumin and the whole spices and then the onin paste.

after cooking on low-medium for 30 minutes, turn the heat to high and add the coriander powder, chilli powder, and the marinaded meat. cook on high for 10 mins and then low for 2 hours

when the meat is done for 2.5 hours, start boiling the rice in 2-3 ltrs water half way through (this should take 15 minutes and the meat would be done for 2 hrs 45 mins by now). drain the water out completely. mix saffron in 1/4 cup of hot water and when the color and flavor comes out, mix with rice. chop the coriander and mint and mix with rice, along with cashew, sultanas, half the salt. (the meat would be done around 2 hrs 55 mins by now and would be PERFECT!)

add rest of the salt in mutton and mix.

now spray a deep oven dish with oil and add a layer of 2 cm deep layer of rice, and then add a layer of mutton pieces. drizzle with some of the curry from mutton. another layer of rice, then mutton, then a drizzle of curry. you WILL have extra curry left over. don't dump it into the rice or else it wouldn't be biryani, it'd be khichdi :D

into the oven at 165 degree Celsius for 30 minutes. meanwhile boil the eggs for putting on top. done :)

2009 was a good year!

in terms of professional satisfaction, 2009 couldn't have gone any better (of course, it would have been great if i got a tenure, but then again, it would be awesome if my wallet filled itself, if we could fly @ 200kph, if pizzas were on the official high-fibre detox diet :D)

anyways, the three best things that happened were (in order of importance for me):

1. getting the best paper award at SIGMAP 2009 - I don't know how ;-)
2. getting an average 4.8 / 5 student feedback score for my postgraduate unit Object Oriented Technology
3. getting the teaching excellence award at SIBT and tax-exempt 1000$ to go with it
4. getting my first submitted grant approved (even though it was a tiny tiny grant request :D)

on the personal front, i got to see my sister after 5 years and one of my niece for the first time. I was completely overwhelmed with joy during that entire month.

hope 2010 can be half as awesome :)