Thai Red Chicken Curry...Indian Style

I began cooking it per the recipe, but after all the substitutions for the exotic ingredients it ended like any normal south indian chicken curry ... here is my version of the curry...

Ingredients

250 gms. boneless chicken
10 Kashmiri red chillies (dry) or Bedgi red chillies (dry) (Note: both are used for colour, I used Bedgi)
4 Madras chillies (dry)
10 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized onion
10 coriander stems (the original recipe also expected me to use the roots, I said "No way, Hose")
1 inch piece of ginger (the original recipe wanted Galangal ginger, I used the Indian variety)
8 tb. sps. Coconut Milk Powder (Note: I used this many table spoons, but it turned very milky, maybe I mistook a shovel for a table spoon, use your discretion here).
2 cups of water.
Rind of 1 lemon
Oil.
Salt to taste.

Method:

1) Dissolve the coconut Milk powder in 2 cups of water and keep aside.
2) Grind the chillies, garlic, ginger, onion, coriander stems and lemon rind with a little water into a fine paste.
3) Heat oil and saute the ground paste for about 2 mins.
4) Add the chicken and salt and cook covered till the chicken is done.
5) Add the coconut milk and cook for another 5 minutes.
6) Serve hot with rice.

My three month weight loss programme begins today....

I was surfing the net and came across this gem....

I'm so fat that...

When I dance I make the band skip.
My cereal bowl comes with a lifeguard.
When I go to the zoo the elephants throw me peanuts.
My graduation picture was a aerial photograph.
My driver's license says picture continued on other side.
When I ran away they had to use all 4 sides of the milk carton.
When I get in an elevator it HAS to go DOWN!
Instead of being born with a silver spoon I was born with a silver shovel in my mouth.
They have to grease the door frames and put a Twinkie on the other side to get me through.
I could become rich and sell shade.
My belly button doesn't have lint -- it has sweaters.

And you think YOU'RE fat?

That got me thinking that it is time I did something before the aforementioned person is me...as I have mentioned in my earlier post on resolutions, weigh loss is kind of like my no-1 priority this year...

Today I began taking baby steps towards the ideal weight...

To begin with I would like to mention that I am 10 kgs above the weight recommended in the insurance charts for my height...there is no way I am mentioning my height...so you can keep guessing what I weigh at the moment...

I have stopped eating the soda rich food that they serve in the office canteen ...for evening hunger pangs I keep a packet of instant soup handy... I know... I know... pacakaged food is not good... but comeon guys I need to wean off these foods slowly... stopped eating chocolates (OK, OK...the past two days I have not had any, honest)...SOB...SOB...HIC...SOB...SOB...WAAAAAAAAAH...SOB...SOB...

I went out this morning and collected the book "French women don't get fat". I had ordered this book a couple of weeks ago, this must be a really effective book since it was out of stock when I asked for it (or another line of thinking is that no one wants the book so it is never in stock)...never mind that...

I have read a few pages and it looks promising... since it is written by a person who has battled the bulge and emerged triumphant... I am sure what she has written will help me as she can empathise with my condition ...

I have also started playing badminton every weekend (starting today)...need an iron will to play tomorrow, as I am sure every muscle (even the ones I never knew existed) will be screaming for attention...so god be with me...

SO far I have done well...all the best to me for the future...

Walk in the clouds

Well, at least the escalator is going up, my career is going nowhere, Rohan has left me and here I am at the mall with a maxed out credit card with payday two weeks away. I have absolutely no clue what I am doing here as I simply don’t have the dough for a spot of Retail Therapy.

I reach the top and who's that?? ... Oh God, it’s Rohan, my ex-boyfriend. I backtrack, miss a step and roll all the way to the bottom.

The next thing I remember is a feeling of weightlessness, a soothing calm as if nothing mattered. I am walking on clouds towards a bright light. As I near it, I hear Rohan’s voice calling me.

Surprised, I look down where I see the scene at the mall; there I am or rather my body is at the bottom of the escalator with Rohan holding it in his arms and crying.

As I start walking towards him, a chariot with angels emerges from somewhere in the bright light and approaches me. I suddenly don’t want to leave Rohan and start running, but the chariot draws alongside me and I feel myself being lifted by the angels. I plead with them to release me, but they refuse to listen and continue towards the bright light ... away from Rohan ... I struggle to free myself...

That’s when I woke up; struggling with the sheets and realised it is a brand new day with no mistakes!!!

This is a story I have written for the "Ascension" short fiction contest after Vin threatened me with dire consequences if I did not participate :P

If you haven't participated yet, then rush your entries. Contest closes on 14th of this month...looking forward to read your entries :)

The Road not taken!!!

The Road Not Taken
- Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Lovely Poem, deep insight...life is all about choices...it is the choices you make that make or break you!!

When I was doing my time as an article clerk, a colleague commented, "Sen, there will be times when you will come on crossroads, and the choice you make will determine your destiny..."

Profound words from someone who had no clue about what he wanted in life...I laughed it off at that time but, off late, this thought has come back to haunt me...

We unconciously make choices everyday, every hour, every minute, for that matter every second of our life...Every morning when we wake up...alive...we make a choice to live...get out of bed...go to school/college/work...we make a choice to see what the world has to offer outside the cosy confines of our home...we meet or avoid people...again choices...answer or avoid phone calls/ emails...choices...

Every destination has more than one approach route...when we select one we conciously choose to enrich our lives with the experience/people/memories this road has to offer...but then we also select not to experience what the other road has to offer...often we think that we will take other route some other time but, chances are we never may...cause the choices we make may take us far away and we may or may not be able to retrace our steps back...our lives may be better or worse for these choices...

Think about it...There is no one-fix-all-solution in life...the choice made may give different results to different people...even though the choice is the same...
e.g: not everyone who runs away from home to become a bollywood star achieves that kind of success...some end up in places we would not want to talk about in mixed company...Is this why wise old men say, Keep your conscience clear, if your conscience tell you that something is wrong don't do it...atleast you can face the challenges the next day has to offer with a clear heart...

All said and done the road not taken will always haunt you, by reminding you of the things that may have been if only you chose to go there...

Spaghetti in tomato sauce

I am starting this blog by listing my all time favourite recipe. It is easy to make and serves three people.

Ingredients

• 250 gms. spaghetti
• ¾ packet tomato puree (about 150 gms)
• ¾ cup tomato ketchup
• ½ capsicum (deseeded) (chopped)
• 6-8 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• ½ onion (chopped)
• 1 cube of cheese(18 gms) (grated)
• 1 cup of water
• Ground pepper to taste
• Oil

Method:

Spaghetti:

1) Boil about 6 glasses of water with a little salt and a tsp of oil in a large pan.

2) Break the Spaghetti in half and put it in the boiling water and cook till it is firm to bite (about 8 minutes).

3) Once cooked remove from the flame and drain excess water. As the spaghetti continues to cook when removed from flame, keep the spaghetti under running water to cool the spaghetti. (Tip: Use a perforated vessel while draining the spaghetti). Alternatively you can use ice, since we are using a perforated vessel the water will drain out on it own. Keep aside.

Sauce:

1) Heat oil.
2) Add chopped onion and fry till golden brown.
3) Next add the garlic and fry till slightly brown.
4) Add the Capsicum and fry for about a minute.
5) Add the tomato puree and cook for a couple of minutes.
6) Now add the tomato ketchup.
7) Mix in the ground pepper.
8) Add water and let it come to a boil.
9) Add the cooked spaghetti and grated cheese and mix well.
10) Serve hot.

Crash Course on how not to make Vegetable Au Gratin!!!!

Well I have been raving about the Vegetable Au Gratin I ate at Radhakrishna Restaurant, Andheri. It seemed like a simple recipe, boil vegetables-make white sauce-mix in the vegetables-adjust seasoning-transfer to oven proof pot-cover with grated cheese and bread crumbs-cook in microwave.

Easy peasy, piece of cake...however what was not anticipated by the Sen clan (by which I mean my sister and me) was the inherent tendency to be lazy (me) and over ambitious (my sister). My mother hates foodstuff that comes for across the borders of India (by which I mean comfort foods like pizzas, burgers, chips, continental foods etc etc) so washed her hands off the enterprise.




Sunday, 28th December

So there we were, all enthusiastic about making the dish, my sister and I went to the supermarket and bought a packet of cut vegetables(to save time) and realised that Time is indeed money, they charged about Rs.55 for less than half a kilo of cut vegetables. Then we bought some cheese, I had a major fight on my hands trying to drag my sister away from the cheese section, but she more than made up for not buying cheese by buying two buckets of Dinshaw's ice cream, I give up, you can take a donkey to the water, you can't make it drink (you see I am trying to get my sister to join my campaign to lose weight). This accomplished we returned home all set to make VEGETABLE AU GRATIN.

By the time we reached home, mum had already prepared lunch, so the dish was scheduled for dinner, in the evening I was feeling particularly lazy and decided to postpone the cooking to the next day.

Monday, 29th December

Monday being a working day, I conveniently used it as an excuse not to cook.

Tuesday, 30th December

My mum used the cut vegetables to make Pav Bhaji and as far as I am concerned the Vegetable Au Gratin enterprise died an ignoble death.

Thursday, 1st Janauary 2009

I realise that we have all the vegetables required for the dish at home, in uncut form of course (courtesy the vegetable vendor who comes everyday) and once again I see a faint glimmer of hope that the dish will see the light of day. Mum had already made lunch, so once again I decide to postpone the cooking for dinner and promptly went out to meet Vin post lunch. This is when my sister who was a mute spectator to all this decided to take matters into her own hands and set about making the dish. By the time I came home all there was to see, was a sticky mass of boiled vegetables in white viscous material that you could have used as modelling clay. I decided to stick to mums cooking for dinner!!!

Mum narrated the sorry tale of how the white sauce refused to stay liquid no matter how much milk was added to it so much so that my sister conceded defeat.



Friday, 2nd Janauary 2009

This morning I came across the dish still untouched and decided to make one last damage control attempt. I added some more vegetable stock and milk to it and cooked it on low flame till it became fairly smooth. After adjusting the seasoning, transferred it to an oven proof dish and covered the same with cheese and bread crumbs. Microwaved it for three minutes on medium. The result is for all to see. I am eating it as I type this and can assure you it tastes quite nice.

Welcome 2009...

OK, time to list out my resolutions for 2009 which I hope and pray that I am able to keep...I normally don't believe in resolutions, but this year want to make an exception and try and straighten my life a little... so this formal declaration of Resolutions for 2009...

1) Lose weight...haha...if you thought I am going to disclose what I weigh or how much I intend to lose...fat chance, I am not going to disclose that...suffice to know that I plan to lose quite a bit...someone told me this morning that I should not give Kareena competition by trying to be size zero...so I will honour the request and try not to get too competitive...

2) Learn to play the guitar proficiently...want to be able to strum it for songs not just melodies like I do just now...I strum abominably at the moment...but by the end of this year should be able to strum basic songs atleast...my dream is to play the guitar like Slash from Guns and Roses(Yeah I see, people giggling, but no harm in dreaming big right!!!)...the guitar piece in November Rain is to die for...

3) Learn a foreign language...I know about five Indian languages fluently (Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada & Tulu) and can navigate me way around most of Western and Southern India with these in my kitty...now is the time to make my foray into international languages...maybe I will learn Italian or Spanish...Italian is so that when I have my dream vacation in Italy I will be able to understand if some good looking hunk is flirting with me...and Spanish is so that I can understand the meaning of the songs sung by Enrique Iglesias, the videos dont give much of a clue..if you know what I mean, he may actually be singing about friendship or about brotherly love but the videos are strictly of a not-to-be-watched-with-parents variety.

4) Drive the car like a seasoned ace and not shivering like an aspen, which is what I am reduced to at the moment, when I see a bus bearing down on me...

5) Start Trekking again, its been a while since I went on a trek, this year I intend to trek more regularly, maybe I will go for a forest safari, it is something I always wanted to do...

So thats about that...these are the main ones...the others which are hanging off the pheriphery better take care of themselves...