Mixed Vegetable Dal Recipe!

This mixed vegetable dal recipe is a very bland variation and is also filled with vegetables and it will prove a boon to many.  Mixed vegetable dal recipe will help if you are tired of cooking dal and vegetable dishes separately you can combine them both into this single delicious dish and be done with the cooking in a record time like 15 minutes. Mixed vegetable dal recipe will also help if you have fussy kids or an even fussier husband when it comes to eating (I have) then you can mix the greens and the vegetables into the dal and they will get eaten this way. Now onto the recipe.

Mixed Vegetable Dal Recipe Preparation-

Ingredients -

  • Toor dal/split pigeon pea ¾ cup
  • Green capsicum 1
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into cubes
  • 1 potato, peeled and cut into cubes
  • 2 small tomatoes cut into four pieces each
  • 1 small onion roughly chopped
  • Tamarind, the size of one-half lemon, soaked in half cup water
  • Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
  • Red chili powder ¼ tsp
  • Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Water 2 cups

For tempering:

  • Oil 1 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds ½ tsp
  • Garlic cloves, crushed 4-5
  • Dry red chilies 2
  • Curry leaves 1 sprig

Method:

Wash the toor dal in water. Remove the pulp from the soaked tamarind, strain and set aside.  Pressure cook the dal along with the vegetables, chopped onion, tamarind juice, ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt to taste, and water for about 10 minutes (or for the duration of two whistles).  When the pressure is released open the lid and stir taking care not to mash the vegetables.  Transfer the contents to a serving dish.  Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.  When they begin to crackle add the dry red chilies, crushed garlic cloves, and curry leaves.  Sauté for a minute or two and add to the cooked dal.  Stir and check the seasoning.  Close the lid and let it stand for a few minutes before serving.

Note:  Increase the amount of red chili powder according to your taste.  Accordingly you can also increase or decrease the amount of tamarind juice too.

The Power Of Power Napping…

It has been a while since I posted anything here (the cost of running a business) but at last I purposed that I would post something (hopefully useful to all) here and so here goes.

I have always been burdened (sort of like a Damocles sword hanging over my head) about improving myself and making myself the better (please note its not making myself the best over others or in any competitive way because I prefer anonymity and the numerous pleasures it accords me), but just the desire to be a better person, to produce more, to help others more… benefit myself and society at large in anyway that I can.

One hindrance to this was always the lack of time. I’m always running on time that never lasts. It seems I never have enough time to do all that I want to do in life and I’m always short or running out of time. This is really not true because everybody has 24 hours in a day and its up to them what they do with it, but lets just say I was not satisfied with what I could do in my given 24 hours and I wanted more hours in the range of 36-40 hours in my day. While I could not do that or manufacture a time machine, I did find out a way to increase the number of hours available to me (and consequently more time to accomplish what I want to do) by cutting down on my time of sleep.

Yes, I’ve found the eureka moment for myself wherein today I can sleep only 4-5 hours in a given day and that gives me a good 19-20 hours everyday to work on completing all that I desire to do, and mind you the 19-20 hours are full of energy and purpose driven too. The solution was simple, beginning to experiment with and learn how to powernap. Simply put nap (sleep) for short durations of intense sleep from 15-30 minutes at any given time. This powernap in fact gives me more rest and I wake up feeling more energized that with ordinary sleep. My 24 hour period runs something like this.  I sleep at 3 or 4 am and wake up at 8 am everyday and then in the afternoons I take a powernap of 15-30 minutes anytime between 2-4 pm. In effect any given day I sleep from anywhere like a maximum of 5.5 hours to a minimum of 4.15 hours.  The rest of the entire 24 hours are left to me to decide on how I want to spend them.

If you are wondering why would anyone want to do this… well think in terms of increased productivity. If you can accomplish x in 12-15 hours then it goes without saying you will accomplish x.x or x.xx in 19-20 hours. More time for work, more time for entertainment, more time to be spent with the family and… well more time for everything! This is only with one powernap of 15-30 minutes a day and normal sleep of 4-5 hours a day.  I’m planning to upscale this to 2 powernaps a day and reducing the normal hours of sleep and work on going all the way wherein I will only powernap and give up on normal sleep (unbelievable right?). This is still in experimental stages and I will share my findings on this blog from time to time.

If you are wondering any caveat, yes there is.  I’m not sure how those with regular employment like an office with regular timings will be able to accommodate a powernap in the middle of their schedule but other than that its possible to one and all provided they are willing to put in the effort.

Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce Recipe!

I promised the recipe for Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce! and here it is.

Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce Recipe!

Ingredients For The Chicken Satay:

  1. Boneless chicken breasts 400 gm
  2. Dried red chilies 4
  3. Garlic 6 cloves
  4. Coriander seeds 1 tsp
  5. Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
  6. Salt to taste
  7. Coconut milk 3-4 tbsp
  8. Lemon juice 1 tbsp
  9. Soy sauce 2 tsp
  10. Bamboo skewers/wooden toothpicks, soaked in water as required
  11. Oil, to shallow fry

Ingredients For The Peanut Sauce:

  1. Roasted peanuts, coarsely powdered 1/4 cup
  2. Onion, 1 small chopped
  3. Garlic, crushed 4-6
  4. Coconut milk 1 cup
  5. Soy sauce 1 tsp
  6. Water ¼ cup
  7. Oil 1 tsp
  8. Salt to taste

Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce Recipe!

Method:

Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts with a clean kitchen towel.  Soak the bamboo skewers/wooden toothpicks in water.  For the chicken satay, grind the dried red chilies, three garlic cloves, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds to a smooth paste adding a little water.  Crush the remaining garlic cloves.  Slice the chicken breasts horizontally and cut into smaller pieces depending on whether you are using bamboo skewers or wooden toothpicks.  In a bowl add the ground paste, crushed garlic, coconut milk, lemon juice, and salt to taste and mix thoroughly.  Add the soy sauce and chicken pieces and mix.  Marinate for a minimum of one-half hour preferably in the refrigerator.  String the chicken pieces onto the bamboo skewers/wooden toothpicks. Heat a non-stick grill pan, add little oil and place the satay sticks on it.  Cook on a medium flame for 2-3 minutes on both sides and then turn the flame to low and cook till done. Turn sides a few times so that the chicken gets cooked evenly on all sides.  While the chicken is cooking prepare the peanut sauce.  Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onion, and sauté till translucent.  Add the coarsely ground peanuts and fry for a few seconds. Add about two to three tablespoons of water and cook for a few seconds. Add crushed garlic, coconut milk, and salt to taste and cook on a low flame for a few minutes.  Add the soy sauce and mix well. Add a quarter cup of water and cook till the mixture reaches the consistency of a sauce. Serve the chicken satay hot with the peanut sauce for accompaniment.

Milana Movie Review!

Akash (Puneet Rajkumar) is depressed after a breakup with his girlfriend (Pooja Gandhi). Yes guys she walks away telling him “you’ll find someone better”… don’t all girls do this? Akash at the insistence of his parents agrees to marry a girl of their choice, Anjali (Parvati Menon), but the very first night of their marriage Anjali asks for a divorce. It turns out Anjali is forcibly married to Akash against her wishes (yup parental pressure again), but is in love with Hemant. Poor Akash, double whammy!!! 

Akash agrees to give Anjali a divorce and also help her find Hemant but when they do locate Hemant it turns out the guy is a cad and was only pretending to love Anjali for her wealth. This time around its Anjali who goes into depression (all jilted lovers do) and even tries to commit suicide but Akash saves her and convinces her she must live first and foremost for herself and accomplish the goals she set for herself i.e. complete her studies/M.S. in the USA and settle there.

Milana Movie Review

As Akash later puts it what happened to me before marriage happened to Anjali after marriage and a deep friendship forms between the two of them with Akash becoming Anjali’s benefactor. As time passes Anjali falls in love with Akash, but is unable to say anything for the fear of rejection, and the days for her move to the USA near.  Finally (and for a happy ending), Akash realizes his love for Anjali and stops her from flying off to the USA after the usual round of fisticuffs with the baddies (remember Hemant).

Puneet Rajkumar as Akash is excellent and pretty much does everything like acting, dance, action with aplomb, Parvati Menon as Anjali is pretty impressive too, and the beautiful Pooja Gandhi plays a cameo as Akash’s first love (Priya).  The music by Mano Murthy is excellent with some really catchy and melodious numbers.  I caught up on a Kannada movie after a really long time and must say it was good.

Google Translate On Google Chrome!

Of late, I’ve been checking out content on some Chinese and Japanese sites.  I’m able to do it with ease because Google Chrome comes with Google Translate inbuilt and it will offer to translate pages into English for you.  It can also be configured to do this on the fly.

Google Translate Automatic On Google Chrome!

This is definitely a welcome addition to those who browse non-English websites and want pages/content translated to English or other languages.

Why Is Lalit Modi Not Running India?

Lalit Modi

With Shashi Tharoor’s exit it is apparent that Lalit Modi controls the IPL, TV (for IPL), Mobile (for IPL), Cricket Teams, Income Tax Department, Vijay Mallya, and even Twitter (it can be hacked and data wiped when he wants).

Now why is he not running the country?

Just think, if he can generate so much money and keep everyone happy with just the IPL then how much more would he achieve with the entire country.

I am not being sarcastic here. Just thinking if Indian cricket can make so much money then why not the rest of India and Indians?

Google Follow Finder! Let Google Find Your Twitter Friends!

Google Follow Finder! Let Google Find Your Twitter Friends! 

Google Follow Finder works this way “Follow Finder analyzes public social graph information (following and follower lists) on Twitter to find people you might want to follow.” Simply put Google will analyze and suggest people for you to follow on Twitter and it does help if you have been using Twitter for a while.

To begin with visit http://www.followfinder.googlelabs.com/, and enter your Twitter username/handle and hit search. Google will then suggest people you should follow, of course based on your past Twitter usage. I must admit the first couple of pages thrown up by Google Follow Finder were pretty accurate and indicative of the kind of people I would want to follow. Give it a try, I’m sure you will find a few interesting people to follow like me for instance.  Even otherwise you can follow me at http://twitter.com/moserw.

Fish Fry Recipe!

Fish Fry Recipe

Ingredients

  • Any river fish fillets 750 gm
  • Chili powder 2-3 tsp
  • Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Juice of one small lemon
  • Green chilies, slit, 8-10
  • Curry leaves 2-3 sprigs
  • Garam masala powder
  • Fresh coriander leaves, washed and finely chopped, 2 bunches
  • Oil to shallow fry

Method:

Clean and wash the fish fillets.   Add the turmeric powder, chili powder, salt to taste, and lemon juice to the fish fillets and toss thoroughly.  Set aside for a minimum of one-half hour preferably in the refrigerator.

Heat a pan (tawa) on medium heat.  Add three to four tablespoons of oil.  Add a few of the curry leaves.  Add  three to four fish fillets and cook on medium heat till crisp.  Add one or two of the slit green chilies.  Flip and cook on the other side till crisp.  Sprinkle a pinch of the garam masala and a few chopped coriander leaves and cook for a few more seconds.  Drain and transfer onto an absorbent paper along with the curry leaves and green chilies.  Repeat the process for the remaining fish fillets.  Serve hot garnished with onion rings and lemon wedges.

Should We Stay In India?

The past few days and weeks I’ve been thinking a lot on this subject. Should I (or anyone else for this matter) stay on in India and continue to work and make our living here (pay our taxes, etc.), or simply say enough is enough and head overseas for greener pastures. Consider the alternatives for Australia!

The Cons -

  • Get beaten and attacked racially (but this can happen in India too from fundamentalists and terrorists).
  • No family or friends (or at least find and make new friends).
  • Do your own work (no maids or very expensive maids).

The Pros –

  • Great place to live.
  • Good pay.
  • Great civic services.
  • Clean and green place to stay.
  • No power cuts.
  • Good roads.
  • Clean water.
  • Cleaner air.
  • Latest in terms of technology, goods, services, medicines, essential commodities.
  • And a lot more thrown in terms of food, clothes, public transport system, cost of living, cleanliness, and general standards of living.

Similar parallels can be drawn for any other “developed country” like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan or many parts of Europe.

Now consider what we have in India. Garbage on the streets, litter everywhere, no drainage system, no roads, no water (yes I buy “mineral water” to drink and also water in a tanker for the rest of the activities), no power, and then consider the money we spend in terms of tax, 40% in direct taxes and then so much more considering everything from a toothpick to anything and everything you buy in the market in taxed.

The last two days there was no power at home from 6:30 pm to 11:30 pm the first day and then from 7 pm to 2:30 am the next day. On hot days when the temperature is at 41 degrees Centigrade it seems the government does not even want its citizens to sleep. What is the use of having an AC at home when there is no power to power it?

I agree the tax in say a country like the United States is more than what one would pay in India, but at least the tax money is spent on its citizens and they do enjoy clean air, clean water, good roads, power supply at all times and other great infrastructure in terms of their public transport system (there are no roads to talk of in India), goods, products and services.

If you think I’m being unpatriotic then let me correct you that I’m a patriot and that is precisely why I’m still hanging around in India when all the people I grew up with are in countries like the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and so on.

Now I’m having second thoughts on what is the use of being a patriot? Just consider the alternatives in terms of governance for my state of Andhra Pradesh.  On one side is a grandfather who should be playing with his grandchildren, Konijeti Rosaiah, who is past his prime, and the other contender is Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who does not know anything about politics or governance but wants all power citing his father’s name. I can only shudder at what the future holds for the people of this state.

Now coming to the country. It seems the IPL and the money it generates is more interesting to the politicians than the country and its people.  At last count there were 2 Union Ministers, Minister of State for External Affairs Government of India Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi, 2 women (Sunanda Pushkar and South African model Gabriella Demetriades) and mind you none of them play any cricket!!!

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) Rock, Play Like Champs, Are Just Brilliant, Awesome…

Sounds silly right? When Will Our Commentators Get In Touch With Reality? Just a while back I heard Krishnamachari "Kris" Srikkanth sing praises about the Chennai Super Kings and about how great they were and how awesome they were. Then immediately Arun Lal in the studio says the the Kolkata Knight Riders have a 35% chance and again with emphasis “but they do have a 35% chance of winning” and begins to talk great of them as usual. Mind you this on a day when both teams are on the verge of being ousted from the tournament that is IPL, yes if either of them lose a single match they are out. Also, both have lost more matches than they have won. Yet they are praised to the skies by their most ardent supporters.

Hence, I thought I might as well heap praises on Preity Zinta’s team the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) simply because I love Preity Zinta, never mind Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) are at the bottom of the table and out of the tournament!

Preity Zinta

Who Will Save Our Media?

The media is supposed to be the Fourth Estate and the watchdog of society but our media has really made it to the dogs and very easily that too. I was out the past couple of days and passing by the Taj Krishna and the entire place was surrounded by the news media companies and their vans so much so that it was difficult to drive by that road. The reason was our “own” Sania Mirza marrying a Pakistani (yes the same country that has been sending terrorists into our country and bombing us) Shoaib Malik. Well if Sania Mirza does not have any sense what happened to the rest of the country and especially our media?

Taj Krishna Hotel - Hyderabad Photograph of the Taj Krishna!

The fun part was the media crews were reporting from the roadside (outside the hotel) as they were not allowed inside. This very month CRPF men were killed by naxals and our media has all but forgotten it, but Sania Mirza and her Pakistani husband will be covered (never mind that no one can actually see or talk to Sania Mirza or Shoaib Malik). Even the past 10 to 15 days have been full of Sania Mania and the love triangle between Sania Mirza, Shoaib Malik, and Ayesha Siddiqui. If not Sania Mania then the other option is Twitter, Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor.

I’m now really scared to switch on the news channels.

But at least I can blog about who is dumber on Twitter – Lalit Modi or Shashi Tharoor???

Should We Save The Tiger?

I keep watching these ads on TV and even so called initiatives from the likes of Aircel, M. S. Dhoni, Kiran Bedi and others and I have begun to ask myself should we save our tigers?

Do not get me wrong, I love the tiger. I love all animals including man. But is there any reason why we should listen to the media? I have all but given up on all media a long time ago (more on that later). All the media cares about is Sania Mirza and her man, never mind there is no water, no roads, no drainage and no power in these hot summers. I have not heard back from NDTV regarding their Gold Safe scam (guess Barkha Dutt too is covering Sania Mania).

But my question is what do I have to do with saving the tiger? Isn’t that the Indian Government’s job and also the Indian Forest Service. Why are we even being asked money to pay towards saving of the tiger? Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not in love with money and nor am I a stingy Uncle Scrooge. But I do have issues with the common man being asked to do what is not his job. All it seems to be is just another ploy to collect money so that another corrupt official/politician will dig into it just as well.

Instead of asking the common man to pay for saving the tiger why not ask the Royal Challengers Bangalore to put the tiger as their brand ambassador instead of the likes of Deepika Padukone or Katrina Kaif. The money saved thus would be more than enough to save all the tigers methinks!!! I’m just kidding though. If the idea of asking Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deepika Padukone or Katrina Kaif money to save the tiger sounds sacrilegious then it should be even more so when the common man is asked for the money.

The tiger for its misfortune of being born in a country like India should die. The common man is being bled dry by corruption and corrupt administration, officials, politicians and just about everyone else. So why should the tiger be any different? Or is an animal even more important to us than the common man?