Speak up!

Speak up!

One advantage I had with my French teachers was that many of them were closer to my age and we developed a bond as friends outside the teacher -student equation. One of my teachers used to come from a residential school outside the city and I used to pick her up halfway and the drive to and from the Alliance Francaise used to give us a lot of time to discuss issues as parents and she also brought in her perspective as a teacher.
Once we were discussing child abuse and I spoke about it as if it was a western problem and we in India, of course had no such problems. Then she told me how rampant it is in India and even in rural India. She told me of an instance where one of her students, an eighth grader, used to be very happy in school and reluctant to go back home on vacations. And whenever she came back from vacation she was always moody, quiet and upset. So once C, my teacher decided to talk to her and after much coaxing the girl revealed that she was being sexually abused by her father's brother and she was scared to talk about it to anyone in her family as he was respected by everyone in the family. C was furious and she summoned the parents and told them what the girl had revealed to her.
Now here comes the part that makes my blood boil. The parents refused to believe it and called the girl a liar and attention seeker. They labelled the girl difficult and were furious that she would come up with something so perverse about someone who was like a father to her! And they were angry that the girl was ruining the family's reputation. This is what happened when you sent girls to such fancy schools, they said!
The girl went back home at the end of term and never returned to school. They took her out of the school.

I wonder how many young girls are being assaulted with the connivance of the family and the fact suppressed in the name of family honour. I hope not many but when have hopes been true in such matters! And this is the country where parents do not want sex education in schools as they feel the child's innocence will be lost.Perhaps they feel it is better for their girls and boys to learn it in this way from perverse uncles and servants and god knows who else.

And the statistics are scary. As The Rational Fool says in his comment:

Usha, I thought that you and the readers would be familar with the study on Child Abuse INDIA 2007, sponsored by the Ministry of Women and Child Development Government of India. Here I quote some relevant findings on sexual abuse from a survey of 13 states with a sample size of 12447 children, 2324 young adults and 2449 stakeholders:

1. 53.22% children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse.
2. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest percentage of sexual abuse among both boys and girls.
3. 21.90% child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse and 50.76% other forms of sexual abuse.
4. Out of the child respondents, 5.69% reported being sexually assaulted.
5. Children in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest incidence of sexual assault.
6. Children on street, children at work and children in institutional care reported the highest incidence of sexual assault.
7. 50% abuses are persons known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility.
8. Most children did not report the matter to anyone.

And those of you who are parents, teach them about "good touch" and Bad touch". Answer their questions scientifically and truthfully. please give your child the benefit of doubt, whoever it is that he/she is accusing. There is no family "honour" at the expense of of the crushing of a child's soul and having her scarred for life.
Speak up - against these wherever you find them!

**********************************************************

On a related note, it takes tremendous courage and a lot of support for the victim to stand up and make the issue public and seek redressal. It need not always be physical - it could be innuendos, sexist remarks or anything that offends one's dignity as a woman. There is nothing that needs to be treated as a a joke and tolerated. if you find it offensive and uncomfortable you do not have to put up with it. I do not know how many working women are suffering in silence as they do not know where to turn for justice. I am proud to direct you to a fellow blogger who has set an example herself and also gives you information on your rights at the workplace and what you can do against gender discrimination and abuse at work place.
Please stand up for your rights and your dignity - if you don't you are not only suffering in silence but you are colluding in a perverse crime and perpetuating it. This is your duty to yourself and other women.
Speak up!

Art of eating

Art of eating

In the past week many of us wrote about the kind of things we are judgemental about which also included what we cannot stand, what makes us avoid people,what grosses us out, what we positively detest in people. It is funny how a lot of us cannot stand something and yet there is a large chunk of humanity that continues to do that very thing blissfully unaware or insensitively insistent.Not much one can do- especially if one is married to a card carrying member of the opposite camp.Well, you can blog about it and take comfort in the fact that you are not alone if anyone bothers to leave a comment agreeing with your peeve. There is nothing more comforting to the human heart than the fact that you are not alone in your misery and someone else is equally or more miserable. Life seems so fair.You might even look upon the perpetrator of the misery with a little understanding next time.
Anyway that was not the purpose of this post.

While I was reading the long lists of what we cannot stand, some totally irrational, I realised that we humans have a tendency for the exact opposite too - to be fascinated by some habits/ attributes/ mannerisms/ types of behaviour. Not heroic virtues but simple habits which you are attracted to for no reason.
For example I am extremely fascinated by fastidious eaters - you know the type who completely ignore the elaborate description on the menu card and tell the maitre d' how they want their salad? the ingredients, the dressing and the way they want it arranged in the bowl/plate? or how they want their ice cream with hot chocolate sauce around not on top and nuts on top not around etc?
Like the scene in the film "When Harry met Sally - remember this conversation?

Waitress: Hi, what can I get ya?

Harry: I'll have a number three.

Sally: I'd like the chef salad please with the oil and vinegar on the side and
the apple pie a la mode.

Waitress: Chef and apple a la mode.

Sally: But I'd like the pie heated and I don't want the ice cream on top I
want it on the side and I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it
if not then no ice cream just whipped cream but only if it's real if it's out
of a can then nothing.

Waitress: Not even the pie?

Sally: No, just the pie, but then not heated.

Waitress: Uh huh.

Well I am the type who, like Harry, says "I'll have a number three" and eat it with a smile and leave a 20% tip and leave with contentment. So I am extremely fascinated by those sallies who can be so clear about what they want and how they want it.

And I get fascinated by watching people who handle their food like it is a piece of art. Once I went to a restaurant with this friend from Portugal and he ordered some fish steamed "just so" and then topped with butter. Then he ate it so beautifully that anytime you looked at his plate it seemed lovely - you know the way work in process pieces of art sometimes have a way of looking lovely all the way to their finish? It was like that - only in reverse! You could have taken it and served it to someone else! When he was done there was just the beautiful unbroken skeleton of the fish on the clean plate, still looking lovely. As i write this I can relive how delicious it felt just looking at that plate although I have no clue how that fish tasted.

This is why I love watching meal scenes in films - remember America's sweethearts where Julia Roberts decides to indulge her depression by hogging pancakes and butter in the restaurant? ummmmmmmm, made me drool so much that I went and made a couple of pancakes,slathered butter on top, drowned it in maple syrup and ate it at 10:30 in the night while watching the film! I am crazy that way!!
But remember,NOT any meal scene. It must be eaten beautifully, just the right amount shovelled into the mouth and eaten with mouth closed and no talking with food in the mouth and the right expression indicating bliss. Not the way Joey attacks food in Friends. Food must be treated like a piece of art -not like food, for me to want it!! Didn't I tell you I am crazy?

I am also fascinated by some friends who come to parties and eat parathas and oily gravy with their fingers without even staining the tip of their nails and their lipsticks remain intact throughout. And here I cannot drink a glass of water without wiping my lipstick clean!!I sometimes have a suspicion that they don't eat but just hold their plate as they are worried about their lipstick and fingers. Perhaps they go home and mix a large bowl of rice and sambar and attack it with abandon and then lick their palm and fingers clean for a good measure. Must be such a release!

These "fine" dining habits may actually say nothing at all of the other person - outside of this one fascinating habit, the person could be a total Bush or Osama Bin Laden which you might realise later. But then I always remember them with a little lenience because of this. Totally unreasonable, wouldn't you say? But hey, no one is perfect!

10 million murders unpunished

10 million murders unpunished

10,000,000 female infants killed in the past 20 years in India.
There are states like Haryana where there are just 760 females for every 1000 males.
Causes: sex selective abortion, female infanticide.

Why is there a preference for a male child?

1. You need a son to carry your family name , to ensure continuity of your family line.
What family name and lineage are we talking about when one is struggling to provide two square meals for everyone in the family? The only things that are being continued are more misery, poverty and perhaps some genetic disorders.

2. The belief that you need a son to perform your last rites so your soul will attain peace.
If they really believe in the above, do these people think of what punishment there may be for killing a child? or do their scripts give them a justification for that too? ( I do not believe in heaven and hell but I do hope they rot in something close to hell. I would like to invent a Hell for them right here as a deterrent for others.)

3.A girl means expense as you have to pay dowry and get her married.
Educate the girl please and she would take care of herself without necessarily needing a man to support her. Or she will find a man who is willing to marry her for what she is and not for what she brings.And how many years is it since dowry became a punishable offence? Please make the punishments more stringent.

4.You need a son to take care of you in old age while a daughter goes away to another's house after marriage.
Well there are good for nothing sons who have no means to take care of their parents. There are drunkards who are a constant source of trouble. There are those that leave their parents in old age home as the parents and wives do not get along.
So how can you be so sure that your son will? Make sure to stand on your two feet at any age.

5.I already have a few daughters. So I want a son so the family is complete.
Father, mother, daughter and son - looks like a perfect picture in photos but life is never perfect. Daughter or son they are your children. How many abortions will your wife go through? How many girl children will you kill? If you still feel that you need a boy, adopt one.That is a certain way of making sure of the gender of the child.

Half a million girl children killed every year and yet there are people who object to banning of gender detection tests. Why?
"I want to get my blues or pinks correct." "I want to start relating to my child from the time he/ she is in my womb. It would help if I knew if it was a boy or a girl." (why would you communicate differently depending on the gender of the child? is there something called bluetalk and pinktalk!?)
Anyway these are "nice-to-have" desires that need to take a back seat in the context of the larger issue which merits the banning of such tests.
And some argue that it is a "right" you cannot take away from the parents.
What about the "right" of that female child to live?

And this is a country where women are supposed to be seen as images of Goddess Durga and Lakshmi. What a country of hypocrites we are? We invoke our scripts and religion when it suits us and do what is convenient for us when it suits us.
With so many years of foeticide, Haryana already faces a situation when there are not enough brides for all the men. So men are buying brides from other States for as little as Rs. 5,000 - a state where buffalos cost more Rs. 40,000. These women are available to all the men in the family. A slave wife for the entire family - can their be a worse degradation for a woman?

I know it is futile to write about it in this forum as no one who reads this needs to be told all these facts. I am just steaming off - trying to see in what way we can stop this crime and injustice. We can inform our maids, perhaps sponsor the education of their girl child. We can make sure never to make gender discriminatory statements and counter them whenever someone says it even in jest.We can treat our sons and daughters equally. We can boycott films and TV programs that have gender discriminatory themes or dialogues. (protest loudly even when it is a "superstar" who says:"after all a woman!") We can be examples of what a woman can be and can do.We can help change the mindset.

Or
we can simply ignore the statistic that half a million girl babies are killed every year and read the supplement on woman power that came with India Today.

P.S. For some more on the same topic here is a poignant and better researched post by The Rational Fool.

Judgementally yours

Judgementally yours

I get very worked up when someone makes a comment like "just the kind of thing THESE PEOPLE do". "These people?" What do you mean?How many of "those people" do you actually know who are like THAT? and what about the kind of things YOU PEOPLE do? I argue endlessly and I pride myself on my acceptance of people as they are for what they are. I consider myself non judgemental and as someone who defends the right of everyone to be the way they want to live their lives.And then The Madmomma decides to expose me by asking me to list what I am judgemental about.Me? judgemetal?? How dare you madmomma?? or wait a minute... may be one or two tiny little things. Let me think...

Ok, here's one. I judge my NRI cousins who come back on their 4 week vacation and grumble about all that is wrong with India.How they miss the old world charm of India and why must we have baristas and malls and all that. It is no different from being in the U.S.
(Excuse me, this is not a museum of 16th century life. We live here day after day and would appreciate some of these too in stead of having to fly over to NewYork for our shopping.)

2. I judge my cousins again when they say how much they miss "home" but "what to do?"they "have to" live in the U.S where the quality of life is so much superior and it is all a sacrifice they have to do so their kids can have the best.
(Do you know 1 billion people actually live here ? ya, children too and our mortality rates are declining! Guess what, we have hospitals and doctors and some top class educational institutions. internet? ya that too!)

3.I judge people who hit their kids. I think violence is an expression of their impotence.

4. I judge people who don't love animals.

5. I judge people who are too lazy to give their dogs a nice name and call them Jimmy or Rosy. I judge them when they use them as workers and do not spend a few minutes talking to them or playing with them.

6.I judge people who are in too many casual relationships as in sleeping around. I think they are either too insecure or too depraved.

7.I judge people like Aishwarya Rai whose smile doesn't seem genuine - you know a smile has got to be in their eyes ,from their soul and all that?

8.I judge people with an accent - not a tamil or telugu or malayalam or punjabi one but those who have lived in India all their lives and put on an american accent!Worse when they speak their mothertongue with an accent.( Enku Tahmeel saryA varAdu)

9.I judge people with flamboyant CVs.

10.I judge people who use too many buzz words in ordinary conversations.

and...and...and....
Oh my god, I am a bigot. I am totally prejudiced. I am too judgemental... I need help!

Now all of you who come here who haven't done this already, tell me what you are judgemental about. Come on be a sport! I won't judge you. As you know I never judge...

Note

Note

Ajoy has left for US today for couple of months.. So the main person to taste and certify my recipes isn't here.. Apart from that Ma and baba (in laws) are also here.. So not cooking anything :) Just enjoying food by ma :)

Result is experiments are stalled for some time.. So I might not be able to contribute much here but will try and posting stuff atleast once in 2 weeks :)

Muttor Bhaji and Samosa

Muttor Bhaji and Samosa

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Mom use to cook muttor samosa quite often and that was, is and will always be one of the best snacks item by her :) Everytime she prepared it my help/contribution :D increased and so was my commision :D This time when Ma Baba were visiting us I decided to impress them by this recipe :) [Samosa making sound bit tedius for the first time but after couple of attempts its actually very easy and interesting item to serve guests]

Muttor Bhaji


Ingredients
3 cups of Muttor
1 potato chopped
1 spoon Mustard
1 onion finely chopped
1 tea spoon garlic paste
1 tea spoon ginger paste
3-4 green chillies
1 spoon jeera powder
1 spoon corriander powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Heat oil in a pan and let Mustard sputter in it
• Add chopped onion, garlic paste, ginger paste and chillies(finely chopped)
• Add jeera powder and corriander powder to the mixture after onions are light brown
• Add potatoes and muttor and cook by adding water
• When vegetable is cooked well, add salt and heat till vegetable is completely dry

Notes
You can keep it little wattery if you are not going to use this bhaaji (vegetable) for samosa. But samosa needs dry vegetable.
You can also add little groundnut powder to the vegetable

Samosa


Ingredients
5 spoon heaps of Maida
2 cups of muttor bhaji
Oil

Method

• Mix maida(4 spoons only) with little oil and Cold Water to make dough.
• Mix rest of the maida in a cup with water to make a paste
• Take small portion of the dough and roll it to make thin roti
• Heat the roti from both sides on tawa (low flame) till its half done
• Cut the roti into half
• Take this hald roti at a time and fold the straight edge to form a cone.
• Use maida paste to seal the side on the cone.
• Fill in the muttor bhaji in the cone
• Seal the round edge with maida paste
• Fry in oil on medium flame till its brown

Notes
While making cone, the folds should be such that if it is pressed flat it would be 1/3rd the size of half roti.
Also while sealing the round sides, seal it such away that the fold edge is on right or left side of the samosa

Mochii Yogurt

Mochii Yogurt

1530 16th St, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 441-2601

Saturday night while hustling over to Nishiki to meet some friends, I noticed a convergence of folk across the street at the now defunct Fuel location. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a pale pink sign sporting the words "Mochii" (with two i's) and in smaller letters, "yogurt" on the corner of 16th and P. My inner hapa perked up at the thought of a Japanese dessert shop and I made a mental note to get the details later on as I was tardy as it was. After a filling dinner, the group of us meandered across the street to investigate. Turns out "Mochii," was having a soft opening. The owner was very welcoming and nice enough to fill us in on the pertinent details (the official grand opening would be in a week) and gave us small glasses of celebratory champagne along with samples of mochi with yogurt. For those who have never had it, mochi is basically a Japanese rice cake made from glutinous rice that's pulverized into a paste and then decoratively colored and shaped. Sometimes wagashi (Japanese confections that indulge all five of the senses - appearance/taste/texture/scent and sound) are filled with ingredients such as an azuki bean paste, fruit or a jelly. Trust me, it tastes a lot better than it sounds.

During our visit, we were offered two types of plain mochi, pink (strawberry) and orange. Both flavors were soft and fresh tasting with just the right amount of chewiness. Since I opted to skip the frozen yogurt (damn lactose intolerance), they were nice enough to give me a big cup of just mochi cubes! Yum! My friends tried both complimentary products and remarked that the frozen yogurt tasted like...well, yogurt...good but nothing remarkable. It also appears that the shop will be offering fresh fruit toppings (purchased from the local Fremont Park farmer's market ... yay, for using local producers!).

The interior was tastefully decorated in soft hues and there was seating both indoors and out. The place is on the small side and I can see crowding being an issue, but it seems like it would be a perfect place to duck into to grab a dessert to nibble on while taking an after dinner stroll through Midtown.

Hopefully, Mochii fares better than its previous predecessor. The location should get some of the foot traffic generated from the Fremont Building eateries, as well as the locals in the grid out wandering about in the balmy weather. It's main hurdle will be whether Sacramentans will be receptive to this new (to Sacramento anyhow) concept.

Seikou wo inorimasu, Mochii! (I wish you success, Mochii)

Corn Pattice

Corn Pattice

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This one is my mom's recipe.. It turns out amazing and kind of easy to cook compared to the way it tastes.. I don't remember exact recipe that my mom uses because when I had got it from her i didn't note it down and by the time I cooked it I had forgotten except some basic stuff.. So its not going to taste like the one mom makes but offcourse today I got it Best till date and decided to post it here :)


Ingredients
2 potatoes
1 cup corn
1 spoon jeera powder
1 spoon red chilli powder
1 tea spoon corriander powder
1 tea spoon garlic paste
1-2 spoon corn flour
Salt to taste
Rava for coating the pattice
Oil

Method

• Cook potatoes, in pressure cooker, well enough to form paste after removing cover
• Cook corn in the pressure cooker
• Mix mashed potatoes, chilli powder, jeera powder, garlic paste, salt well
• Add cooked corn to the mixture
• Add corn flour to the mixture so that it becomes sticky and dense
• Take lemon sized mixture at a time and make it little flat to give it a pattice shape
• Heat the frying pan/tava well adding little oil
• Roll in the prepared pattice in the rava so that its fully covered with rava coating
• Shallow fry it from both sides on tava/pan on medium heat till the coating becomes thick and brown on both side
• Serve hot with tomato ketchup

Notes
Corn flour gives denseness to the pattice without it pattice might kind of dissolve in the oil while frying and loose its shape. Normally 1-2 spoons of corn flour is good enough but if mixture still seems to be loose add in some more to make it dense.
Muttor Pattice can be prepared same way replacing corn by muttor

A cupful of heaven

A cupful of heaven

I am looked upon like a bit of a stranger when I visit my relatives and it is coffee time. While their tastebuds are getting ready for a treat alerted by the smell of fresh decoction dripping down the filter and the smell of milk put to boil, I ruin the atmosphere by declaring that I want tea.The shock on some of the faces might make you think that I just announced that I was converting to another religion. People who know that I am a fairly reasonable person try to see the reason behind such a stupid choice. They gently ask me if there is a health reason.They feel let down when I say "No, I love tea." Silence follows as their thoughts trail along their stunned expressions in invisible subtitles: "how could you?" "You, traitor" "Et tu Usha?!" "Are you OK?"

Waking up to the aroma of true brew (NOT BRU!) South Indian Filter coffee is my earliest memory - perhaps this was a time I was still in my mother's womb. And this was a tradition I proudly carried on after marriage. One of the beliefs in our tribe is that a girl's culinary skills need no further proof than her ability to brew a good cup of filter coffee and a potful of Rasam. I passed with flying colours on both counts.Each time fresh milk would be boiled and fresh aromatic decoction brewed, I'd "warm the cockles of their heart". You should have heard the proud and smug look on my mother in law's face when visitor's would come to see the new bride and she would tell me to make coffee for them. I was their star daughter in law , a jewel in their crown.

And then fate intervened when i was posted to new Delhi for my first job. The first day at work and it was 10:30. The canteen boy placed a cup of coffee on my table and I hungrily took one sip of it and nearly threw up. What was That? It tasted like poison for sure! A spoon of instant coffee in a cup of thick milk and three spoons of sugar!I spent the rest of the morning fighting a head ache and contemplating the wording of my resignation letter. In the evening I discussed this with a close friend and she said ,"Try tea. It is difficult to spoil a cup of tea unlike coffee." So I cheated for the first time just to save my job.What started out of necessity became a passionate affair in the years to come and soon I could not stand the smell of coffee!


Now Tea, for me, is not a beverage. It is a mood, it is a spiritual thing. I drink it not to shake off lethargy or kickstart my brains. It is not a ritual but a rite and I drink it to celebrate, to savour the moment, to relax, to pamper myself. Tea moments are special when the world around me ceases to exist. Those are moments when I am there and tea is there and the moment exists. Nothing else.

As the japanese say "Zencha ichimi," - Tea is Zen.


One of the contemporary Tamil poets, Vairamuthu,my favourite, has written a whole ode to Tea. Please read it; it is called: Alukoru kOpai.

I have tried a rough translation below but it is tough to capture the essence of Tea or the beauty of Vairamuthu's words in a translation:


Ode to Tea
(Alukoru kOppai by Vairamuthu)

Tea times are flash festivals.
Teacup is a compact shrine
Tea is an accessible God,on call to grant your desires.

Firing up the lips and caressing the tongue with warmth
stroking each bud to wake up to its taste
Sweet and faintly bitter
as it descends down the throat
the blood vessels flare up like blooming buds;
brushing past the heart
like a romantic brush against
the fringe of a lover’s sari.

Arriving in the intestines, it ignites the switches in the brain
and the soul is near salvation.

Tea embodies the five elements.
Earth that has seeped all over the leaf through the roots
Water that has lost itself in the essence of the leaf
Fire that made the sweet brew
A waft of air announcing the aroma of the tender leaf
Sky that had washed the leaf in tiny droplets of rain
The five elements locked up in a cup that bubbles with Tea.

But folks
you do not know how to drink Tea.

You stare elsewhere without looking at its golden hue
You chatter empty words without listening to its bubbles

Drinking tea is not a ritual like kissing a wife of years.
Every sip is a hungry kiss of new love;
Should you not,then,close your eyes
and kiss your tea?

Locking lips with the loved cup
as you take a noisy sip
you must lose yourself and transcend the present
in a momentary death
and rise to the region between
the sky and earth and wander among clouds
and then...
fall back with a thud
again on this earth

You, who do not grasp the essence of tea
how will you understand
Life
Death
God
Love
Atom
Universe
and
my poem
that waits last in your line
palm against its cheek?

Corn And Mango Chaat

Corn And Mango Chaat

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This one is my own creation :) I just love raw mango with red chilli powder and salt.. Also I like corn chat with chilli powder, salt and lemon juice.. So I decided to try out this one.. And it was yummyyy :)


Ingredients
3-4 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 raw mango
1 spoon butter
Red chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
2 spoon corriander leaves (optional)

Method

• Cook corn in pressure cooker
• Grate the raw mango
• In a pan put butter and let it melt
• Add cooked corn and raw mango
• Also add salt and chilli powder
• Keep it on stove till its warm. and seems properly mixed.
• Decorate with finely chopped corriander leaves

Notes
It tastes better if its hot - spicy.. So use chilli powder without kanjusi :)

Pudina Paratha

Pudina Paratha

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Last sunday when I prepared cutlet I decided to try out pudina chutney.. I asked ajoy if he can get pudina.. And when I just needed around 3-4 spoons of pudina he came back home with 3 gaddis :) So we had kind of pudina festival at home. The best dish out of it was pudina paratha..


Ingredients
4 spoon chopped Pudina
1 spoon chopped corriander leaves
5 spoon heaps wheat flour
1 and 1/2 spoon besan
1 tea spoon red chilli powder
1/2 tea spoon Jeera powder
1/2 tea spoon corriander powder
Salt
Oil/Ghee

Method

• Mix all ingredients except oil.
• Add 2 spoon of oil
• Make dough of this mixture using water.
• Keep aside for 30 min
• Roll parathas with 3 folds..
• Cook on hot tava and serve with butter, pickle and curd

Notes
With corriander leaves parathas become more tasty but if you like pudina a lot then you can skip corriander leaves.
I cook parathas with oil and put little ghee when its half done. That way taste of ghee mixes with partha and it tastes better.

Roxy Restaurant & Bar

Roxy Restaurant & Bar

2381 Fair Oaks Blvd,Sacramento, CA 95825,(916) 489-2000

My friend J. and I for years indulged in girls night out dinners where we went all out-- a bottle of wine, apps, main courses and of course desserts accompanied by a strong cup of coffee. For awhile these gluttonous feasts took a back seat to a hectic work schedule (me) and back-to-back pregnancies (for her). This Tuesday, we decided to resurrect our dinner night and chose to venture out to Roxy, the sister restaurant to downtown's hip Lucca.

Although located outside of the grid, in a strip mall, Roxy is still able to encompass the trendy, smooth atmosphere akin to the various chic eateries popping up around the downtown and midtown dining scene. The exterior is very non-descript...the inside, however, sports a cross between minimalist decor (subdued color scheme, clean lines) and well...Bonanza. There are large windows in the front allowing natural light to illuminate the dining area, comfortable seating, cowgirl art and a sparkling chandelier all harmoniously intermingled together.

My dining companion and I opted to start with drinks in the bar. Corey, the bartender, did an excellent job with my extra dirty Kettle One martini. I like my martinis salty enough to rival the Dead Sea and my first one was. Although we had thought ahead to make reservations for the dining room, we decided to forgo our table and have dinner at a deuce in the bar. The hostess was accommodating and provided us with the dinner menu to peruse. The menu is unusual and could most likely be classified as New American or New Western, perhaps? It showcases a haphazard mix of dishes from mussels in curry, pork stroganoff to a hefty filet mignon with a zesty side of mac 'n cheese (made from sharp cheddar and roasted poblanos- yum!)

Being ravenous, we decided to start out with the black sesame ahi cones with nopales-jicama salad and cara-cara citrus sauce. While aesthetically pleasing, the dish did nothing to captivate my tastebuds. The ahi tasted fresh... true, but it was unexciting and the cara-cara citrus sauce tasted suspiciously of overly sugared applesauce. My dining companion also expressed that for the price (12.95) the portion was quite minute. From the appetizer, we moved on to sharing the flatiron steak salad with red chili-vinaigrette. Delicious! I loved the crispy onions adorning the top of the salad (reminiscent of the age old green bean casseroles that make an appearance every Thanksgiving season) and the steak was delectable. Do be careful of the spicy, sliced red habaneros which are slyly interspersed throughout the salad and can pack a mega-wallop! Unfortunately, we were only able to get about two bites of salad in before the rest of our order arrived. The waitress that was assisting the bartender apologized and offered to keep the plates warm in the back if we wished. We advised her it wasn't necessary and took the opportunity to order another round of drinks since the bar was getting quite busy.

For the main courses, J. ordered the petrole sole with a shallot-caper butter and I chose the lobster ravioli with a citrus cream sauce. We swapped bites and mutually decided we each liked the other's dish better and exchanged plates. The petrole was pan-fried perfectly and wasn't oily in the least bit. Although I could have done without all the ornamental frisee on the plate, I do have to say that Roxy's does do a nice job on plate presentation. While we were dining, Ron, one of the owners took it upon himself to swing by and take our main courses to the back and have the cooled selections reheated. J. was quite happy with her plump raviolis with arugula. We both agreed that the stuffing was sweet in taste...comparable to butternut squash ravioli. Our second round of dirty martinis arrived and this time around were quite strong and without a hint of olive juice...the bartender rectified the situation as soon as we brought it to his attention and graciously poured us a rocks glass with olive juice.

For the finale, we dived into two desserts. The smores pie and the berry cobbler with gelato. Neither were awe-inspiring but both were tasty...the perfect way to conclude our meal and satiate our sweet tooths.

Like a rhinestone cowboy, Roxy sticks out from the other typical suburban restaurant haunts. It's full of culinary hits and misses but given time, I believe that the hits will outnumber the misses. I liked my dining experience there and would definitely go back and give it another shot. Next time, I'd like to try the steak and skinny fries which looked mouthwateringly good. The service was efficient and the food though not creative is solid. It seems that if you stick with the "comfort food" menu items, you can't go wrong. Also, it's highly advisable to make reservations as the place seems to fill quite quickly.

Dim-er Dhoka

Dim-er Dhoka

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This is one bengali recipe I learned while I was surfing.. I tuned it to my taste.. Dim in bengali means Egg.. Dhoka is Dhokala :) so its gravy of Egg Dhokala :) Egg Dhokala without putting in gravy is also very tasty and nice breakfast or snacks item.. When I prepare gravy its very hard to resist eating these dhokas and save them for gravy :)

Dhoka


Ingredients
6 eggs
1 small finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped corriander leaves
3-4 finely chopped green chillies
1 spoon ginger paste
3 spoon milk
Salt to taste
A pinch of baking powder

Method

• Beat the eggs in a bowl.
• Add chopped onions, chopped green chillies, finely chopped corriander leaves, ginger paste, pinch of baking powder, milk and salt. Beat well.
• Put it in a greased pressure cooker bowl and cook in your pressure cooker without whistle.
• After its done take it off heat and from cooker as soon as possible so that the dhoka doesn't stick to the bottom.
• Cut in cubes and Serve them or store for gravy.

Gravy


Ingredients
2-3 medium sized onions
3-4 medium sized tomatoes
1 spoon mustard and jeera
1 spoon ginger paste
1 spoon garlic paste
1/2 cup curd (optional)
2 spoon jeera powder
2 spoon corriander powder
2 cups of water
2 tea spoon sugar
1 spoon red chilli powder
3-4 green chillies finely chopped
Corriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Make Onion and tomato paste separately.
• Heat Oil in pan and add Mustard and Jeera
• As soon as it sputters add the Onion Paste and Sugar. Saute till the paste turns a light brown and you see the oil separate from the paste.
• Add the tomato puree, garlic paste and green chillies. Saute till the tomato is nicely done.
• Meanwhile in a bowl mix the curd with ginger paste, Cumin Powder, Corriander Powder and Red Chilli Powder.
• Take the pan off the heat and add the the above mixture.
• Mix well and then put it back on medium heat.
• Cook till gravy is well done and keep on adding water if it starts becoming too thick.
• Add salt boil it nicely. Add the dhokas and thicken the gravy on medium flame.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves if you wish

Notes
You can additionaly try putting chopped tomato in Dhoka but I don't like tomato mixed with beaten egg.
With 6 eggs it makes around 20 Dhokas.
When I cooked this for the first time I had used curd but yesterday I didn't use it and it suited me more. Curd gives typical odour thats what I feel.