Medley of Many Things

A simple one pot meal with protein rich dal, combined with no over-the-top seasoning and some veggies. Tada... you got yourself a lovely kichdi! Have this with papad, pickle and curd. Kichdi is always light on the tummy and that is what makes me stick to this recipe at least once every two weeks. You can add any combination of veggies in the kichdi! Ingredients : 1)Rice - 3/4 cup 2)Yellow Moong dal - 1/2 cup 3)Onion - 1(medium, chopped) 4)Tomato - 1(medium, chopped) 5)Green chilli - 2(slit) 6)Broad Beans - 5(chopped) 7)Carrot - 1(small, chopped) 8)Garlic - 5 pods(chopped) 9)Asafoetida - a pinch 10)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 11)Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp 12)Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 13)Ghee - 1.5 tsp 14)Salt -  to taste 15)Water - as required Preparation : 1)Soak rice and dal in water for 30 minutes. 2)Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a pan and add asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds, let it splutter. 3)Add chopped garlic and slit green chilli, saute for couple of seconds. 4)Add chopped onions and salt,

One of those fries which tastes perfect with any form of rice. You can change the spices as per your taste. I usually have this with curd rice or rasam rice. But why the hell did I add mustard? Well, what can I say, without the black pearls any fry kinda looks bland to me, hence the unnecessary addition - you may choose to ignore!! :-) Ingredients : 1)Taro Root(Arbi) - 6 2)Oil - 2 tsp 3)Red Chilli Powder - 3/4 tsp 4)Amchur Powder(Mango Powder) - 1/2 tsp 5)Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp 6)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 7)Salt - to taste Preparation : 1)Clean and peel the skin of Arbi. Cut Arbi into desired shape and size. 2)Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. 3)Add the chopped Arbis into the pan and stir well. 4)Add salt. Let it cook, do give it a stir now and then. Make sure the Arbis are tender yet crunchy. 5)Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, amchur powder and mix well. 6)Let it cook for couple of minutes and switch off the flame.

Sometimes, it is all about taste and flavor of the food, and the other times - it is just about the look of it! So yesterday, I felt like adding some color to my food, well - what better way can one add color to their food than adding beet? So here is a simple Pulao with vibrant color! Ingredients : 1)Beet Root(Beet) – 1 (grated) 2)Onion – 1 (chopped) 3)Green Chilli - 1(slit) 4)Long grained Rice – 1 cup 5)Water – as required 6)Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp 7)Cinnamon, Cardamon, Bay Leaves – a little 8)Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp 9)Coriander Powder – 1 tsp 10)Oil - 1 tsp 11)Salt -  to taste Preparation : 1)Soak rice in Water for 30 minutes. 2)Heat oil in a pan(or pan cooker) and add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamon and bay leaves. Saute well. 3)Add slit green chilli, chopped onions, salt and saute until onion turns translucent. 4)Add Chilli and Coriander powder and let it cook for couple of minutes. 5)Add grated beet and stir well.  6)Add soaked rice, water and mix well. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Y

The climate in Bangalore is much acceptable for the past one week, thanks to the recent rains! For those, who are still experiencing the pestering hot and sweaty climate, here is a recipe(Well, for the Coffee Lovers)!! I can handle a strong decoction of coffee, hence the color of Panna Cotta is towards the darker side. If you wish the Panna Cotta to have slightly subtle coffee taste, adjust your coffee powder mix accordingly. Either ways, it tastes just right!! Ingredients : 1)Instant Coffee Powder - 2 tsp( I used " Bru ", please make sure you add less, If you do not like super strong coffee ) 2)Cream ( Low Fat ) - 2 cups 3)Powdered Sugar - ( I added nearly 3/4 of a cup - Please do adjust as per your taste ) 4)Gelatin( Unflavored ) - 2 tsp 5)Cold Water - a little 6)Whipped Cream - a spoonful 7)Cashew nut - 1 ( Not necessary, at all! ) Preparation : 1)Take a pan - add the cream, coffee powder, sugar and mix well, so that the coffee powder blends with the cream and the sugar

A simple, refreshing and tangy rasam. No specific ingredients required and no need to grind anything, you don't even need Dal extract to make this rasam, can make this with whatever is lying around in kitchen :-)! Simply put, you are gonna spend hardly 5 minutes in making this rasam and it definitely tastes good with hot plain rice. Fryums or Pappad goes very well with this humble rasam. Ingredients : 1)Lemon - 1  2)Tomato - 1(chopped) 3)Green Chilli - 2 4)Garlic - 5 to 6 cloves 5)Water - 3 cups 6)Chilli Powder - 1 tsp 7)Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp 8)Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp 9)Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp 10)Salt - to taste 11)Sugar - 1 tsp 12)Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp 13)Cumin Seeds -  1 tsp 14)Asafoetida  - a little 15)Whole Red Chilli - 2(small, crushed) 16)Ghee - 1.5 tsp 17)Coriander leaves - good amount Preparation : 1)Crush Green Chilli and Garlic cloves. Keep aside. 2)Heat ghee in a pan and add Asafoetida, Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Red Chilli and let it splutter. 3)Add the crushed g

Who doesn't like Poori Masala? Although, good amount of oil goes into making pooris, once in a while this is a great breakfast for sure! Here, I got my version. Ingredients : For making Poori : 1)Wheat Flour - 2 cups 2)Rava (with fine texture) - 1 tsp 3)Oil - 1 tsp 4)Salt - a little 5)Water - as required To deep fry pooris : 1)Oil - 1 cup For making Masala : 1)Potato - 2 2)Onion - 1(chopped) 3)Tomato - 1(chopped) 4)Oil - 1 tsp 5)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 6)Split Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp 7)Channa dhal - 1/2 tsp 8)Green Chili - 2 9)Besan or Gram Flour - 1 tsp 10)Curry Leaves - 2 to 3 sprigs 11)Asefoetida - a pinch 12)Ginger - 1/2 inch(grated) 13)Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 14)Salt - to taste 15)Coriander Leaves - 2 to 3 sprigs Preparation : Poori : 1) Mix Wheat flour, Rava, Oil and Salt together in a bowl. Add enough water and make the dough. Make small ball sized rolls. 2)Flatten the dough balls with a rolling pin. Use oil instead of flour. 3)Heat oil in a frying pan. Deep fry the flattened

" Vatha Kulambu " is one of those tangy gravies, which tastes perfect with plain rice! Although, this is not a staple at home, I end up cooking pretty often. Mind you, this gravy can stay for a week when refrigerated. You just need a spoon full of gravy for a good amount of rice, but do not forget to sprinkle a little ghee on to your rice - Oh! just divine! Ingredients : 1)Sunda Vathal - 2 tsp (Okie, what on earth is this? :-) It is called as "Dried Turkey Berry", you can get this in small sachet from super markets. If not available, you can make this gravy using just shallots or loads of garlic or okra!) 2)Shallots or small onions - 3(chopped) 3)Garlic - 7(chopped) 4)Tamarind pulp - a lemon sized ball, soaked in luke warm water(2.5 cups) for 15 minutes. 5)Gingelly oil - 3 tsp 6)Sambar Powder - 2 tsp(I used Shakti Sambar Powder) 7)Curry Leaves - 3 sprigs 8)Salt - to taste 9)Jaggery - a pinch 10)Asafetida - a pinch 11)Mustard seeds - 1 tsp 12)Split Urad dal - 1 tsp 1

After an IT Industry bashing session with a dear friend, we changed the topic to ads. She asked me, if I had seen the latest " Idea cellular " ad - but, I had no clue. When I was heading back to my apartment, I youtubed to see, what the ad is all about. And trust me, it is an interesting commercial. Take a look. Every time we encounter ads in between a match or a movie or a TV show, all we do is frown, but why? Because advertisements are mundane, boring and not cool. Not to forget, ads are the primary source of revenue for any program that is being aired in TV. So the broadcasters are never gonna spare us from telecasting ads in between our favorite shows. Hence, the obvious question which comes to anybody's mind is - Why are they not making ads that are cooler or at least watchable? Well, there are quite a few good ones available. But yes - not many, just a handful. So here, I'm trying to dissect the perception, what works and what doesn't in advertisement. No

The other day, I was talking to my cousin sister, she asked me - what other sport( other than Cricket ) can her 8 year old son be a part of, either by playing or watching. I suggested, Formula One Racing. She asked me to teach her kiddo the basic nuances of the race, so that he can pick it up and start watching the race. I gladly agreed. The main reason she wants her son to learn some form of sport is that, she can stop him from spending umpteen number of hours watching cartoon( Chota Bheem - Seriously, why  kids are crazy about this, right? ) or playing video games or meddling with laptop or phone. Why sports is not ONE OF THE best, but THE best way to a kid's well being? Read further: 1) Discipline and Physical Fitness : Current generation of kids are fighting the pandemic called obesity. Blame their sedentary life style(Blame Chota Bheem, :-)). To be honest with you, this is reason enough to consider enrolling them in sports. Anything that is being taught, will start with the b

I always draw parallels between my professional and personal life. Anything, one learns in their professional life can be customized and applied to their personal life but vice versa may not be true. So here is one such topic called SWOT Analysis . The interesting thing is, you can use SWOT analysis personally for self awareness & personal development without having to spend considerable amount of time, breaking your head. Basic Definition : SWOT is an acronym for S trengths , W eaknesses , O pportunities , and T hreats . Who uses SWOT analysis professionally? SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing and analyzing an organization, environment and individuals. SWOT analysis is the first stage of planning which helps professionals, managers and marketers to focus on key issues. Also from the IT industry perspective, we use this analysis for performance appraisal & feedback of any individual. What is the aim of SWOT analysis? The aim is to turn our weaknesses into strengths, and our t

Inspired by the subtle infusion of whole spices in variety of rice recipes(by Nava), here I got one. No powdered spices required, just the whole ones should suffice. This is a simple recipe, but tastes pretty good. I added raw mango to give that kick, since we are not adding any powdered spices. The coconut milk, gives the mild sweetness to the rice which gets enhanced by the sharp sour taste of raw mango. If you are one of those, who appreciates the innate taste of whole spices or veggies, probably you will like this rice. Give it a try. Ingredients : 1)Long Grain Rice - 1 cup 2)Raw Mango - 1/2(chopped) 3)Carrot - 1(chopped) 4)Green Chilli - 1 to 2(slit) 5)Onion - 1 (small, chopped) 6)Coconut Milk - 3/4 cup(thick, add 1/4 cup water to dilute it) - ( I got Dabur brand Coconut Milk ) 7)Ginger - 1/2 inch (grated) 8)Salt - to taste 9)Oil - 1.5 tsp 10)Cumin seeds - 1 tsp 11)Cinnamon stick, Cardamon and Cloves - a few Preparation : 1)Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Heat oil in a pan

After watching the movie "The Avengers"( where more or less all the interesting super heroes joined hands to save the world ), I had little hope on Iron Man 3 - after all there is only one super hero in this movie. Man, can I be any further from the truth? But I must admit - I have always liked this uber cool, cocky, playboy, industrialist and an amazing engineer, Mr Tony Stark(dubbed Iron Man). I dunno, there is something so good about this guy, he is not the typical macho man, nor he has this chocolate boy kinda face - but I guess the charm of this character comes from the innate intelligence he possesses and flaunts them with elan. I'm only pitching in my take on why you should watch this incredible movie.( Spoiler alert! ) Pros : 1)For starters, the movie is made with a budget of whopping 200 million dollars. 2)Director: If you had watched Iron Man 1 & 2, you can predict the directional style of Jon Favreau, but this time around, the new director Shane Black too

Yesterday was my long-walk-day of the week! I walk for couple of miles every alternate week, usually the pace would be faster but I don't run. I usually take the really long-stretched-road, which connects Whitefield area with Varthur area . I wouldn't dare say, the traffic is lesser in this route, but it is bearable during off periods and holidays, hence the choice. It was 6:30 PM - trainers on, music on and there I go. I walked for 10 minutes and there was hardly any traffic, thanks to May Day. I saw Mainland China Restaurant to my right and there was nobody inside, I was wondering - did they even do a research before building this restaurant here, especially in this stretch of road with no big stops per se - anyways doesn't matter, as long I'm not a share holder, so I changed my concentration to my side of the road. I saw a bike parked near the shoulder of the long-stretched road, from a distance of 100 feet. And the owner of the bike, walked across the shoulder an

Tindora or Ivy Gourd is one of the most interesting veggies ever, because they have a unique taste and they are easy to cook. Upon accentuating this veggie, with couple of spices - they taste perfect. When buying Tindora, you have to make sure they are not too ripe - in that case, the inner chunk will be red or orange in color and it doesn't taste good, when used for frying. So make sure they are just right, i.e. green. Ingredients : 1)Tindora or Ivy Gourd - 1 cup(chopped to thin slices) 2)Onion - 1(chopped) 3)Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp 4)Red Chilli Powder - 3/4 tsp 5)Coriander Powder - 1/4 tsp 6)Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp 7)Salt - to taste 8)Oil - 1.5 tsp 9)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 10)Split Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp Preparation : 1)Cut the Tindoras into thin chip like slices. 2)Heat oil in a pan and add mustard and split urad dal, let it splutter. 3)Add chopped onion, salt and cook until they turn translucent. 4)Add ginger garlic paste and saute until the raw smell goes off. 5)Now add t