Recipe: DOODHI BHAJI

Doodhi Bhaji

I have had some cook or another in my kitchen on and off. Since I love cooking myself, I find it difficult to accept shoddily cooked food. Well, this recipe is one of the good things that happened when Kandu cooked in our kitchen for a period of four months, I think. Being from a village, he was not used to a mixer and used the small pounding stone that I keep in my kitchen. I feel that adds a lot to the flavour.

I find Doodhi quite bland and needs a lot of enhancement before I am ready to eat it. But again, it’s a very healthy vegetable and is a natural coolant. That’s why I grabbed this recipe when Kandu made it. It’s delicious and my kids just love it.

INGREDIENTS

Doodhi (Bottle Gourd) - 1 (500-700 gm; peeled and cut into cubes)
Channa dal - 3 tbsp
Tomatoes - 3 (medium; chopped)
Curry Leaves - 8-10
Oil - 2 tsp
Rai (mustard seeds) - ½ tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) - ½ tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 large pinch
Chilli Powder - 1 small pinch
Jaggery - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Kotmir (coriander leaves) - 2 tsp (chopped)
Water - 1 cup

Masala

Garlic - 4-6 cloves
Ginger - ½ inch piece
Green Chillies - 2
Dhaniya (coriander seeds) - 1 tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) - ¾ tsp

METHOD

1. Add the masala ingredients to the mixer and grind them dry.
2. Take a pressure pan and heat the oil in it.
3. Add the Rai to it and then the Jeera as the former crackles.
4. Then add the curry leaves and the ground masala.
5. Turn the masala around a couple of times before adding the cut tomatoes.
6. Add turmeric and chilli powders along with salt and jaggery.
7. Add the channa dal and water to the mixture.
8. Finally, add the cubed doodhi and pressure cook for three whistles.
9. Open the cooker and pour the doodhi bhaji into a serving bowl.
10. Garnish with kotmir before serving hot with rotis or pooris.

The sabzi is simply yummy, I promise!

Recipe: KOLHAPURI MISAL

Usal, Mixed Farsan, Pav, Chopped Onions & Lemon Wedge

By now, all my readers must have rightly understood that I belong to a family of foodies - Saapaattu Ramans to my Tamil readers.

We all love Misal and have had the best – many years ago – at Bhatt Vishranti Gruh in Chembur. Venkat and I visited the outlet a couple of months back to an extremely disappointing experience. That’s when I decided that I will get the authentic recipe from a Maharashtrian friend and was biding my time.

I visited my friend Nilima on Thursday. As I was having lunch there, I asked her if she would be able to help me with the recipe. Her father-in-law (Mr. Mohite Sr.) came forward to help me with great enthusiasm. He wrote out the list of ingredients and explained the whole process of creating authentic Kolhapuri Misal. Super-thrilled, I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and set out to make it today morning.

NOTE: Kolhapuri Misal is neither for the faint-hearted nor lily-livered. There’s a lot of work in cooking it and you need a strong digestive system as it’s pretty spicy. If you are okay with both, you have a sure-fire recipe for a yummy food item.

Well, the preparation began on Friday evening, actually…. Read on to find out more.

INGREDIENTS

For the sprouts:

Matki - 100 gm
Moong - 50 gm
Brown Channa - 50 gm
Chawli - 50 gm

Soak the above overnight (2 nights earlier, actually). The next morning, drain the water and wrap the soaked grains in a wet towel and keep in a cool corner of your kitchen in a shallow vessel. The third day morning you will find that the grains have all sprouted perfectly. You can also buy readymade sprouts at shopping malls or stylish vegetable outlets.

Masala:

Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Black Pepper - 8
Cardamom -1
Cloves - 4
Bay-leaf - 1
Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
Grated Coconut - 4 tbsp (heaped)
Tamarind - 1 small ball (size of a tiny lemon)

Other Ingredients:

Onion - 4 (large - finely chopped)
Tomato - 4 (large - finely chopped)
Potato - 1 (large - cut into cubes)
Rai - 1 tsp
Oil – 5 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - ½ tsp
Chilli Powder - 4 tsp (more or less as preferred)
Asafoetida (Hing) - 1 pinch
Garam Masala Powder - ½ tsp
Lemon - a few wedges
Coriander Leaves - a small cup (finely chopped)
Mixed Farsan - 250 gm (you can buy this ready-made)
Salt - as required


METHOD

1. Boil the mixed sprouts with ½ tsp salt and a pinch of turmeric in a pressure cooker. Four whistles should do the trick.
2. Grind the masala ingredients with half a cup of water. This will yield a thick, smooth paste.
3. Take a saucepan and add 3 tbsp oil. Once it’s hot, add the chopped onions. Sauté till golden brown and then add the ground masala.
4. Add 1 tsp salt and the chilli powder. Mix well.
5. Cook for a few minutes on a medium flame, stirring from time to time. Ensure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. (It’s better to use a non-stick saucepan if you have one).
6. Add the chopped tomatoes to the saucepan after about 6-8 minutes and mix well.
7. Cook for a few minutes longer till tomatoes are soft.
8. Cool the mixture and grind the whole thing. If you have a hand mixer, you can grind while it’s hot too. The paste can be coarse this time round.
9. In another saucepan, heat the rest of the oil and add the Rai to it and allow it to crackle.
10. Add the rest of the turmeric powder and hing to the oil before adding the cubed potatoes. Fry till crisp. Now, add the garam masala powder and stir for a minute before switching off the stove.
11. Mix the cooked sprouts, fried potato and ground masala in the larger saucepan with 2-3 cups of water and cook the whole mixture for 5-6 minutes.
12. Switch off the gas and add chopped coriander leaves to the Usal.
13. The Usal is served on a small plate or bowl and is topped with Farsan and chopped onions. Fresh pavs and a wedge of lemon are served on the side.


USAL: The sprouts along with the masala is called Usal
MISAL: The whole thing becomes Misal (mixture of usal & farsan) when you add the farsan to the usal.
FARSAN: This is something like ‘Mixture’ made by the South Indians during Diwali

NOTE: I have linked most of the ingredients to pictures and write-ups so that everyone around the world will be able to understand what they are.

Recipe: VEGETABLE CUTLET

Image Courtesy: http://friskycook.blogspot.in

Vegetable Cutlet was probably the first dish that I learned to make. I was not too fond of cooking when I was young. When I was studying in Std. IX, my school participated in an exhibition. I joined a group of girls who were making vegetable cutlets at a counter. Having tasted the dish only in a restaurant, I was fascinated to see that it could be made with not too much difficulty.

Today, I have added and deleted a few things to make the absolutely delicious cutlets that all the members of my family love.

Ingredients:

Potato – ½ kg
Peas – 50 gm
Carrots – 100 gm (chopped fine)
Beans – 50 gm (stringed and chopped fine)
Chopped Coriander Leaves – 2 tsp
Bread Slices – 2 (I prefer brown bread while you can use white too)
Corn flour – 3 tsp
Bread crumbs – 2 cups
Salt to taste
Oil – for shallow frying

Masala ingredients:

Garlic – 3 cloves
Ginger – ½ inch piece
Red Chilly Powder – ½ tsp
Oil – ½ tsp

Method:

1. Pressure-cook the potatoes, peel the skin and smash it with a pav-bhaji masher in a large mixing bowl.
2. Boil the peas, carrots and beans in a pan with salt and water. Drain the water completely and add to mashed potatoes.
3. Blend the masala ingredients to a smooth paste in a mixer and add to the vegetables.
4. Add salt and chopped coriander leaves.
5. Soak the bread slices one-by-one in a bowl of water for a few seconds, squeeze out the water completely and add them to the vegetables. Bread gives the cutlets extra crunchiness.
6. Mix all the ingredients gently and shape them into balls the size of an orange. You will get around 10-12 of these.
7. Mix the corn flour with water to a thin consistency in a bowl.
8. Take a ball of potato mixture and roll it in the cornflour-water mix while making sure that it’s completely coated.
9. Remove the ball immediately and roll it in the bread crumbs spread on a plate.
10. Now flatten the ball before shaping it as per your choice. Making it round is the simplest way. I make my vegetable cutlets oval in shape. There are cutlet moulds available in the market if you want stylish shapes.
11. Shallow fry the cutlets on a non-stick tawa or an iron skillet over a slow fire till golden brown. There is no need to use too much oil. Add as and when required.

Serve the super-yummy cutlets with Green Chutney and Tomato Sauce. Believe me when I say that the vegetable cutlets taste finger-licking good.

I avoid deep frying for two reasons - the cutlets absorb too much oil which can get quite nauseating and there is a chance that they might break into pieces when placed in hot oil for frying.

Sharing: HOW TO BLOG

A few of my new author-friends from Indireads were keen to know how to blog. I have created this article especially for them and of course, for anyone else who is interested.

What’s a Blog?

A blog is a personal space where you can jot down whatever you feel like. You can keep it private, share it with just some friends or open it to the public. It’s basically like an e-diary where you can pour whatever runs through your mind. There is also the extra facility for adding photos, videos and links.

Better yet, the blog space is absolutely free of cost. So what are you waiting for?

Blogspot and WordPress are the most popular forms of blog spaces available on the internet. Having never used it I have no idea how WordPress functions, but I am sure there is a whole load of information that you can find on the internet.

I will call myself an expert on Blogspot offered by Google. I used this blogspace for my blogs.

How to set up a blog on Blogspot?

Go to www.blogspot.com and sign in with your gmail id. Click on Create a new blog and the screen will show you Title & Address.

The Title can be changed whenever you please but the address cannot be. Think well and come up with one. Mine goes like this – sundarivenkatraman.blogspot.com.

Then are a number of standard templates to choose from. Explore and check them all out. That can be quite a cheering experience as there is a wide variety to select from. And it can be changed at will too.

Explore all the buttons and keep experimenting with the design. That’s the only way to improve your blog.

You can fit the settings to your taste on whom you want to see your blogs – only yourself, specific email ids of friends that you can invite or the whole world.

How to post articles?

You have a title for your article and then the blog itself. Type this out on a word document. Many people do it in a notepad, but please note that a notepad does not offer spell-grammar check and that’s the reason why you find a lot of typos on blogs. Reading a badly spelt article can be quite irritating. Don’t be lazy! Use a word document to type out your blog. Check for spelling & grammar and then copy paste the whole thing on a notepad.

Why do we do this? Sometimes, the web does not accept symbols and punctuations used from the different kind of TEXTS (Eg.: Georgia, Comic Sans, Calibri, Bookman Old Style) that we use on word. These may show as gibberish on your blog. That’s the reason it’s important to paste the whole matter on a notepad and then paste the title in the box meant for it and then the blog into the body space meant for it.

Labels or Tags

There are also Labels or Tags as they are commonly called. These are very important in any article posted on the web. Generally, your article or blog has a unique title; then there is your name (author’s name) and of course, more labels can be used depending on the article posted.

For example, when I write a film review for Special Chabbis, my tags will be:

Film Review, Special 26, Special Chabbis, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpai, Kajal Aggarwal, Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta, Neeraj Pandey, Viacom 18, Sundari Venkatraman, 

Ensure that all tags are separated by commas and the last one is also followed by a comma. Automatically, the labels will be listed alphabetically.

The labels are important for your blog to get picked up on Google when someone searches using different keywords. That’s the reason why I have used two different versions of the film’s name Special 26 as well as Special Chabbis. Try to cover as many suitable words as possible and make sure that you get your spellings right. That’s the way to enhance the chances of your blog getting picked up on Google Search.

Posting a picture

There is no compulsion to post a picture. But if you do it, it definitely garners the reader’s attention. If you are picking the picture from the internet, do give credit to the host website. It’s only polite.

Umpteen features to make your blog attractive

There are a number of features that can make your blog interesting and all the tools are available at the back end at the click of a button. Every feature is self explanatory and don’t hesitate to explore. Keep checking out the tools, use them and see the final product instantaneously. You can keep adding and deleting to your heart’s content.

Making your blog popular

You can post the link on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and a host of other social media networks. Make the effort and email the article link to all your contacts. Invite your friends to follow your blog.

Well, I think I have managed to cover the basics. You are welcome to get back to me for any queries via the comments form.

Happy Blogging! It’s a whole new colourful world out there.

Sharing: Becoming a Published Author

Click here to send a Digital Rose to your Valentine

Sanya is a young 22 and totally lost when she leaves home in London to holiday with the Sharmas in Mumbai. Believing herself to be in love with Arth, she finds that she is more attracted to Ansh, his twin. Watch Sanya bloom under the love and nurturing offered by Ratna Sharma, the twins’ mother and how she evolves into a confident young lady. Will she find love?

That’s for you to find out when you read my e-book named Double Jeopardy.

It’s finally happening after waiting for 13 years.

It has been my dream to become published since the year 2000 when I wrote my first romance novel. Writing was a bolt out of the blue for me as I could never string two sentences together before that. But that did not stop me from dreaming of becoming a published author the moment I finished writing my masterpiece.

I did get The Malhotra Bride published at a cost only to realise that it was a waste of effort, time and money. Well, that’s water under the bridge and I don’t want to concentrate on that any more.

Indirom is a fresh chapter and I finally have found the right platform to publish my work. The publisher has the perfect tagline – romance for the Asian soul.

I have been a fan of romance since the age of 13 and avidly read Mills & Boon as well as many historical romance books. For all that, I found that my daughter was never interested in reading western novels. The moment I penned my first novel, she read it very enthusiastically and so did some of her friends who could never relate to western characters. That’s when I realised that there was a huge market out there for romance novels with Indian characters.

But getting published was a different ballgame altogether. I had tried a number of Indian publishers as well as foreign ones – the first one beings M&B, of course. But all I can say is that my file consisting of rejection letters grew bigger and fatter.

Did that stop me from dreaming of getting published? Never! It was obviously the call of the soul as I just could not give up my dream.

Well, Indirom happened to me after 13 years, in the year 2013, in answer to my prayers. Just as I have always believed that something will turn up for me, some day.

It was a lucky day when someone contacted me via LinkedIn all thanks to my friend Nilima Kadam Mohite’s recommendation calling me ‘Indian Mills & Boon Queen’ and as they say the rest is history.

My e-book DOUBLE JEOPARDY, can be purchased on www.indirom.com from February 17, 2013 onwards. The website will be officially launched on Valentine's Day with 14 books available for purchase.

Click Here to LIKE my author page on facebook

You may Click Here to LIKE Indirom page on facebook

You will be able to purchase my e-book Double Jeopardy and other romance novellas if you CLICK HERE

Film Review: VISHWAROOP

THE FILM IS A DAMP SQUIB

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Rahul Bose, Nassar, Shekar Kapur, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah,
Director: Kamal Haasan

It has been a while since I watched a film in the theatre as I find that most of them are too violent for words. I have kept away from the big screen since four months which is some kind of a record.

I was to have seen the Tamil version of this movie on the day of its release at Chennai. Well, the plan fell apart when the film was banned from the theatres. Yesterday, Kamal’s interview with Arnab Goswami was quite moving with the actor doing his best to hold back his tears. That’s when Venkat and I thought that we should watch it if and when it released. Well, it did today and we went for the evening show.

THE STORY: Nirupama (Pooja Kumar) has a doctorate in nuclear science and is married to Kathak dancer-teacher Vishwanath (Kamal Haasan). It’s a marriage of convenience for both of them as Nirupama had been keen to move to the USA to complete her PhD while Vishwanath appears to be a Transgender. Nirupama plans to ditch her husband for her boss. She hires a private detective to find something against her husband that would help her file for a divorce. The detective is killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and Vishwanath and Nirupama are kidnapped by terrorists. That’s where Nirupama discovers that her husband is not quite what he appears to be.

I will stop here to avoid giving out spoilers. The film belongs to the crime fiction/thriller genre.

MY PERCEPTION:

Well, let me give the positive feedback first.

• The film is not too long and runs for about 2 hours and 20 minutes. Thank God for that!
• There is but one song that has been choreographed by Birju Maharaj and the 58-year-old Kamal Haasan’s Kathak performance is excellent. All other music is only in the background.
• The cinematography is superb.
• Editing by Mahesh Narayanan is perfect.
• Rahul Bose has done quite well as the villain.

Now that I am done with all that, let me get to the minus points.

• I am amazed that Kamal Haasan and his brother had the gumption to invest about a hundred crores in this film. Well, one cannot deny that it has been well-researched. But it ends abruptly, leaving the audience wondering what the hell they paid Rs. 220 for! And to think I waited four months to watch this one on the big screen!
• The film is totally violent after the first couple of scenes. At the end of it all, if we had good triumphing over evil, it would have still been worth a watch. But…. ?
• I can accept that there is no glamour at all as that could have taken away from the film’s main story. But the end is so lame that one wonders what one had been waiting the whole time for.
• Actors like Nassar and Shekhar Kapur have been wasted with minuscule roles that have no impact.
• While Kamal Haasan has acted well, he looks too old for the role of an active RAW agent. Why don’t you grow up, man?
• Films like Ek Tha Tiger and Agent Vinod are drawn on similar lines. While Salman’s flick went on to mint more than 100 crores, Saif Ali Khan’s thriller did not do that well at the box office. Well, both these films are way better than Vishwaroop. They definitely had much more entertainment value. Need I say more?
• It’s best that I don’t say anything about Pooja Kumar and Andrea Jeremiah. You can’t call them sidekicks nor can you call them glamourous. I wonder where that leaves them!

A sequel has been planned. Is Kamal turning senile?

VERDICT: After all the hype with the ban and tearful press conferences, the film is a damp squib.

RATING: **Shaky

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

How I envisage life on EARTH on December 21, 2012!

Strangers hug each other

Archangel Michael: We have told you often, you are and will continue to be the cause of all the rest. Your questions remain. When? You are the key. What? You are the key. How? You are the key. And the larger the scope of change you look for, the more of you are part of the key. Do you understand? So if you are looking for huge changes, spend time giving energy and thought to what those changes will be.

Archangel Michael

Click here for reference link for the above-mentioned quote.

I was quite excited to read this message from AAM as I had been planning to write a blog on what I feel will be the scene on December 12, 2012. What comes after that date can of course only get better.

Click here to read what my Antaryaamin has to say about the onset of the Golden Age.

It’s barely a week to the dawn of the Golden Age on December 21, 2012. Can you feel the excitement in the very air we are breathing in?

I can hear my heart thudding louder than ever and my pulse fizzing in anticipation of the great times to come.

A few scenes that I could envisage in my mind’s eye:

• The air feels so clear and invigorating with not a particle of dust. Pollution is a thing of the past. Can you imagine that!
• The sky is a brilliant blue with fluffy clouds floating around
• The trees and plants are a brilliant green with love emanating from them as they sway in the gentle breeze with joy
• There is no honking as people are not rushing any more to get from one place to another. They take more time to experience the atmosphere and all things around them
• Automatically, the lack of noise brings forth the sounds of birds singing and squirrels screeching
• The very air is filled with excitement, joy, harmony, unity, balance, love and peace
• All the terrible insects, pests, viruses, etc. have all gone back to where they came from and Pandora’s Box is finally shut tight, not to let any of these out
• The Doctors are super-excited as they write out discharge sheets for every single patient in their hospitals. All medical tests turn out negative and everyone is given a clean health chit. Well, maybe some of the gynaecologists will find themselves busy as they help welcome new citizens into the world.
• No report of a single death
• The Police Department enjoys leisure as not a single crime – theft, rape, murder, whatever – is reported. Accidents are unheard of!
• The Military, The Air Force and The Navy are deployed on peace missions as war has ended forever in the world
• The Fire Department is celebrating the dawn of The Golden Age by singing and dancing with joy
• The Mainstream Media has been going about their work as usual while the newspapers go for print till the Zero hour. Suddenly, everyone AWAKENS at 00.01 AM on 21.12.2012 and they call off the printing of the papers as the news is all negative. There are no printed newspapers available on December 21, 2012 while online updates - all positive - appear as if by magic while everyone in the industry has been working hard through the night.
• Strangers stop to grin at one another and share warm HUGs

Into this scenario glide in our Star Brothers and Sisters on their Spaceships to dance along with us in JOY! 

I invite each and every one of my readers to share their views as comments on what they can foresee for December 21, 2012.