10,000 years can give you such a crick in the neck!!

Fall Sunset! Ilsan, S.Korea.

It's been really long....long....before i wrote in here...predictions of life never let you win...some attack you in a good kind of a bad way...and others in a bad way really...(i've saved this draft for long and i really don't know if i wrote those lines..!!)

I was being stuck with the first one...the one i was longing for...finally descended upon me...! yes..i am accepted in Animation mentor and going on the roller coaster ride of CLASS 1.

I thought i would not be able to write back..update and keep a copy of myself preserved here anymore. But the more i'm into AM, the more i needed some thing to breath out. Nothing can come between me and this animating passion, but hey!! my mind needs to be refreshed to get back right??

So, to reflect upon things i like and cut my guilt that i'm not social anymore..i should be posting things back here..

Well this time..i thought i would post about a long pending quest "Green tea". Starting from today i would be posting a series of green teas that i enjoy at home. The history of me drinking green tea dates to...well...i think long..long...ok i'm there....just a few years back..he he...when we landed in Seoul,South Korea. We lived there until a person should; to love the local culture, food, people, their lives and appreciate it after initial resists.

My first introduction to green tea was through "nok cha" a Korean version of tea blended with roasted barley and rice.(I don't think it is rice...a'm i sure????...well something that tasted like rice and plant based...i was told its all plant......'cause you may never know...in Korea seafood is Vegeteraian!!)

Seoul, on a cold winter day!

After i habituated it to keep myself warm in my cold winter office hours. I started looking for variations and was introduced to a whole world of aromas and tastes. I loved a Korean orange marmalade,that was mixed with hot water and drank during cold winters. Hot mushroom cha, Ginseng cha and the variations were endless.

No offences, but still i do not find anything new, interesting or diversifying in this land that's twice far from my homeland as Korea was.

When we travel to someplace new, we are first struck with how to preserve ourselves, second how to preserve us more and then in that process we would have mingled half way into the new culture....and a new YOU!!

Cherry blossoms in Spring! Ilsan, S.Korea.

That happened to us in Korea..in the process of being Indian and eating Indian and thinking Indian we were left with nice warm memories(and some not so nice too.... especially with fruit vendors.....that's a different story for a different time!!!)

OK now to the main post..GREEN TEA!!

....drum rolls.....

....more drum rolls....

..more more drum rolls...
.
.
.
.
.
Me: hey! did not i have the post all ready in hand...!!

MANI : STOP day dreaming, take that !@#$%% stuff and then write your post!!!

(!@#$%%= GREEN TEA!)

Me: HUH..you're right for once..i guess i should come back...say after ....just 4 days....so keep waiting...and take care...bye bye..

MANI: It's u me and your brother who reads this, stop this proclamation!

Me: Guess i need a strong cup of !@#$%%!!!!

Seeraka Sadham - Cumin Rice

You might feel a bit dizzy, if you happen to visit my blog in the last couple of days. I was changing the font, color and photos so often that you might want to quit reading this blog or feel dizzy.:)..i am not easily satisfiable and this lay out was driving me crazy....After hours of googling and doodling, i hope i might settle on with this layout for long (say a week!..he he..).

Ok now to post...what is special about this seeraka sadham?, Well..the recipe is not special but the rice!. When almost all hopes of getting a good quality seeraka sambha rice was ruled out (seerakam = cumin, so it translates to rice that looks like cumin!).....then popped one Ganesh brand with almost the same quality rice i would get in my home town. I am able to recreate it the way i like it, with rice being the main flavour enhancer combined with little cumin seeds. I could not help adding baby peas my recent obsession.
Hope you could give it a try.


Seeraka Sadham

Ingredients:
Seeraka Sambha rice (Ganesh Brand preffered!)- 1 Cup measure
Frozen baby peas -1/2 cup
Cumin seeds- 1tbsp
Mustard seeds
Oil + Ghee or butter - 1 tbsp + 4tbsp
Coconut Milk - 8 Oz (Aroy D)
Salt to taste

1. Wash & soak the rice for some time...say 15 mns.
2. In a 5 Quart pan, heat oil + ghee, pop the mustard seeds. Add the cumin seeds and when they are just brown add a cup of water (Cumin seeds brown instantly so keep the water handy before adding them)
3. Add coconut milk + salt. When the mixture starts to bubble add rice + peas.
4. Boil it for 5 mins on high heat or until almost half of the water has evaporated.
5. Close the lid and cook on very low heat for next 15 mins.
6. The rice should be done now, check by sqeezing a grain of rice in between your fingers. It should not be grainy. Garnish with cilantro if you like. Serve with a curry of your choice.

Chicken Chalna

Get together with friends for lunch, is something we love to do. Being new to this place and not sure if your next door neighbour is alive, we love to meet up with friends and spend some time.

Mani is so excited to have people at home, that when last weekend friends called up to turn in for lunch, he volunteered to prepare something out of chicken. His usual chiken kurma turns up yummy every time, but with different taste. He screens almost 3 to 4 recipes and after cooking we end up eating it rather than jolting down the procedure. So this time, to fine tune his culinary expertise & to recreate it again, he sat down to wrote what went in when & i captured it in our digicam. The taste was similar to his hometown recipe, that he christened it "madurai chicken chalna".
Here it goes,


Chicken Chalna
(Servs four)

Step 1: Marinate
-------------------
Chicken - 1/2 KG
Salt(Kal Uppu) - 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp

Mix up the chicken, salt & lemon juice and set aside to marinate.

Step 2: Dry Roast & grind as Powder
------------------------------------------------
Aniseed(Sombu) - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
Black Pepper - 1 tsp
Red Chilli - 4 Nos
Cinnamon (Pattai) - 1/2 inch
Poppy Seeds - 1 tsp

Dry roast the Step 2 ingredients and grind it to a smooth powder.

Step 3 : Masala fry
-------------------------
Oil - As required
Big onion - 1 Nos:
Ginger & Garlic - 1 tsp
Tomato - 2 Nos:
Salt (Kal Uppu) - 2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 1/4 tsp
Scrapped Coconut- 1/4 ~ 1/2 Cup.

1. Dry roast the coconut and grind it separate to a fine powder (no water)

2. Heat oil, add and saute onions until they are bit brown. Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry for a couple of seconds until the raw smell goes off. Stir in finely chopped tomatoes and add salt + chillipowder. Saute until the tomatoes mash up and mixes well with other ingredients. Do not leave until the oil separates.

3. Cool and grind to a smooth paste with coconut powder


Step 4 : Seasoning
------------------------
Oil - As required
Mustard seeds
Bay Leaf - 1 or 2 Nos:
Cloves - 2 or 4 Nos:
Cinnamon(Pattai) - 1/4 inch.
Cardamon - 1 Nos:
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

1. Take a pressure cooker, add oil as required. Pop mustard and add all the ingredients for seasoning except Turmeric.

2. Add the marinated chicken. Stir it once, close it with a plate and allow it cook for 7 ~ 10 Min. Chicken would be oozing out some water and 1/4 cooked. Now add Turmeric powder and stir well.

3. Add the dry powder from step 2 and cook it further for a couple more minutes.

4. Introduce the paste from step 3 + add two cups of water. Check for salt/ spiciness. Cover the cooker with its Lid and cook for one whistle.

5. After the steam has subsided, open and garnish with coriander leaves.

Goes well with Biriyani, Porata, Chappathi, Dosa, Idli and aappam.

Spiderwick, 10000 BC & Horton

We are avid movie watchers....mm..no...no..i'd like to rephrase... we are...addicted movie watchers. Addiction, we would love to continue. Our family has a varied taste and interest which leaves us watching almost 60% of the movies released any time. We enjoy anything from "Juno" to "Golden compass". But with a growing toddler, we often end up watching stuff related to her in bigscreen and others in DVD.

The three movies we were looking forward, happen to be released in consecutive months; Spiderwick chronicles, 10,000 BC, Horton hears a who!.


Spiderwick created a great expectation in us, so we ended up watching it in IMAX. Well, commenting from an animators perspective, i would applaud it.... write pages about it...but hey!.. not all well presented visual effects (Vfx) movies captured peoples interest right?.... I have not read the original book, so i may not be able to comment on the screen play. But i would say, my daughter was amused (bit scared sometimes!)...i was/am still, captured by the flower fairies. In fact it was this shot in the trailer that attracted me to the movie. I cherished nothing but that.


Speaking about 10,000 BC .....a friend & my brother hyped it, as how well it is doing in India. The movie started mysterious and arose expectations with a mammoth hunt. But i would say nothing fancied me except the mammoth part. The saber tooth advt. in all posters, does come only in a couple of shots. The second saber shoot, when it appears in a dry land, might have been done better, with less grains and scaling. The same flaws of "Aslan" in narnia.

After coming out with a "huh" for the above movies, we watched "horton" unplanned, with no expectations. WoW, i had a lot of hearty laughs....i know each phrase of the movie...but something kept us expecting till the end. They have done justice to "suessian" style of animation with characters that have funny noses and body.


There were a lot of "well-dones" ranging from mayor's introduction, Horton crossing the bridge to kids imitating Horton. All this without loosing the essence of the book!. Now thats what i call a good animated movie. I would definitely give a standing ovation. I blve., anyone watching it would love it too.

Kathirikai Podi Varuval

When it comes to vegetables, there is nothing i hate..but a lot i love to frequent in my menu plans. My recent passion is for Brussel Sprouts, Orange /red/ green peppers and petite peas.

Egg plant would be my all time favorite, but no one in my family loves to eat it. I prepare "yenna katharikai kolambhu" once in a while to gratify my 'katharika' craving. I came across this recipe from Nanditha of saffrontrails. It was a nice way to combine my passion for this vegetable and satisfy my 'crispness' craze family. I've changed a few proportions from the original recipe.


Roasted Eggplant /podi

The podi (powder) is made out of Channa dhal ( split dried garbanzo beans), coriander seeds and white sesame seeds as main ingredients. The result was crispy, spicy Katharikai.

Katharikai Podi Varuval
(Roasted Egg plant with spices)

Purple Eggplants (small round firm ones ) 12
Tip: Choose young ones; the longer the sepals (green skin on top) the younger it is.

Tamarind paste 1~2 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste

1. Wash, trim eggplants and cut lengthwise into slices.
2. Drop them in a saucepan of simmering water with turmeric and tamarind.
3. When the eggplant starts to lose color, say after 4 mins, add salt and reduce fire to low.
4. Remove from heat, when it is almost 3/4 done; drain and set aside

Podi:

Kadala parupu/Channa dhal 1 1/2 tbsp
Dried red chilies 4
White sesame seeds 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds 1 tbsp
Coconut (dried or fresh) 1 1/2 tbsp

1. Dry roast channa dhall until light brown, cool & grind it dry to a coarse powder.
2. Roast the remaining ingredients for 'Podi', grind & mix it with the Channa dhall podi.
The separate grinding is to ensure evenly ground coarse Channa dhall.

Oil 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds to season

1. Heat oil and crack mustard seeds.
2. Add half of the 'Podi', fry a few seconds and add eggplant.
3. Now add the remaining podi and add more salt if needed.
4. Let the eggplants roast in low flame for 10~ 15 mins. Slower the heat, longer it takes to brown and better the crispiness.

It's best with rasam and sambhar rice.

Spice up your life!

Of lately when i was looking for more flavor for my briyani...like the ones we used to get in India...i found the problem was with the spices. In fact i have purchased them from the regular Indian grocer, but the spices were not Indian. The cinnamon, black pepper, bay leaves and star anise are either from Mexico or other places apart from India.

So happened to my trip to PENZY'S spices, in grand ave, St Paul. I read a few reviews about it, sliced sometime and visited them. I actually had a tough time locating them...they are in a relatively small place, with no fancy lights or big banners. Being used to wood bury shopping malls, i was looking for a spacious, ample parking spot, well bannered place...haha.. i learned to navigate in downtown, i should say...

But when i entered....WOW...i was really so impressed with the quality and the variety they offer. I could find the small flaky Cinnamon's (they are called "Ceylon cinnamon" 'cause being imported from srilanka)..Thelechery black pepper ( A place in kerala known for 'kurumilagu'), aromatic bay leaves , cloves from India. The price was bit high compared to a Indian grocer. But i was pulled back to the authentic Indian recipe smell and also i was buying them in the smallest quantity available.


The ones that attracted me most were the corriander seeds, smaller, firmer and more aromatic. I was trying to make some spice powders and it is corriander that dominates them all. This was definetly worth the trip.

Bring them home, i was so reluctant to store them in plastic containers, 'cause plastic reacts with some spices especially, turmeric & chilly powders. Finally i got a lot of Gerber bottles from a friend and quickly cleaned and filled them up. Now i am able to recreate almost something that was missing in my masala and curries. Not to fill my spice box, but just to look at the different spices and learn more about them(nutmeg's outer skin in mace..the lady in there told me...who knows that!) I would be frequenting PENZY's.

MMOORREEE TTIIRRAAMMIIISSSUUU

It seems, like just a week back i had a talk with sujatha in marina beach, on a daily walk ritual with my dad. Memories float and keep coming back fresh. Well, this took bit of a toll, on my daily routine and now it seems like I'm back on the track...i remember sujatha (later on repeated by SV shekar) saying Tamil makkal are "yelu naal makkal", i.e., Whatever incident happens ..the buzz would not survive for more than a week. However, i will not forget the fact that he is no more, even though we share a pure "vasagar, yeluthalar" relationship.

Backing up to Tiramisu, i planned to take a picture of my hybrid version and post the perfected recipe almost a couple of days back. But due to reasons known, i was not able to. Meanwhile Tiramisu is eaten, emptied and no more photographs. But to give you a feel....i have posted the one from http://freshsprout.blogspot.com/.
The look and feel was similar to this, except for the white chocolate.

I'm just posting the improvised version.


Ingredients:
1. Mascarpone (2* 16 oz..Italian mascarpone..the one imported from Italy is preferable)

2. Whipping cream 2+ 1/3 cup cups (old fashioned heavy cream, not the ultra pasteurized one)

3. Icing sugar 1 1/2 cup (powdered sugar)

4. Egg yolks 5

5. Granulated sugar 3/4 cup

6. Ladyfinger cookie 1 pkt

To prepare coffee dip:

Cocoa powder 3 1/2 tbsp (dutch processed preferred)
Instant espresso or thick strong coffee 2 1/2 cups
Heavy cream 1/2 cup
Sugar 4~5 tbsp

Mix cocoa powder + sugar to coffee when it is hot. Allow to cool and mix cream. (Heavy cream curdles when mixed with hot coffee). Taste it now, you should be tasting a thick, less sweety version of our traditional coffee, if coffee taste is tooo strong mix more cream. But a bit of strong coffee taste is recommended for this.


Procedure:

1. In bowl beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar beat at medium speed until pale yellow, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add 1/3 cup cream to yolks and beat at medium speed until just combined, 20 to 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Set bowl with yolks over medium saucepan containing 1 inch gently simmering water; cook, constantly scraping along bottom and sides of bowl with heatproof rubber spatula, until mixture coats back of spoon and registers 160 degrees. Remove from heat and stir vigorously to cool slightly, then set aside to cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.


2. Beat mascarpone in another bowl for 10 secs. Alternatively fluff them with a fork until they are not lumpy.

3. Add cooled yolk mixture + Icing sugar to this mascarpone and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.


4. In another bowl beat cream at medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.

5. Follow from Step 6 of previous tiramisu post.

Tip: Line the tiramisu pan with alluminium foil and then cling wrap(alluminium foil reacts with mascarpone so a second lining of cling wrap is needed), that allows you to lift the tiramisu once it is set and slice easily.

Adieu to sujata

I never thought the first picture to appear in my blog will be the veteran writer sujatha.
That too about him demise. He has engulfed me with his writings and thoughts, especially "katrathum petrathum" in vikatan. May be he is one of few normal persons, who would comment about death so casually. He once commented in Vikatan, that he has started looking at Hindu obituary regularly these days and if the person demised is older than him, he would think he still got innings and if younger...he is out running them all. I may do this talk now, but not when i am dialysed almost regularly and expecting death. This is just a tip of the iceberg of his writing....may be i have not even mentioned a tip.... His simple, unpolished 'talk the truth without slapping in face' kind of attitude attracted....... well slaved me ....you can say. I am yet to explore his oceanic writings..i believe he would have expressed just a 1/4 of his thoughts in writings. He was in his early 70's, well a die-able age, you may say....but if you have read his last "ganesh vasanth" story...i was not able to follow his slangish up-to-date trendy writing, i have to read it again. His anniyan dialogues attracted me to. I may not have explored is real literary writing i.e his contributions to tamil ilakiyam , but i cannot come to term with his death either.

I read news about his demise on wednesday evening. Something strong and hard struck me. The next thing i was angry, i felt like a close friend had left me without saying a goodbye. He is the second person i am mourning for death next to vethathiri maharishi.

I wouldn't say i am a tie-to-rope follower of these two persons, but i miss them a lot, like someone elder to look upon, left me. His writings have really cheered my dull days.

May their thoughts linger in the universe more than ever and guide us all to enlightenment!.

Adieu Sujatha!

More tiramisu!

It seems like i am stuck with tiramisu fever. Yeap...this desserts haunting me on and on...and i have been gulping......tiramisu almost for the last three days...well to savour it....and to know what i missed...(better to admit i savoured the most!).

But it was all accidental, i did not plan to visit any place and get a tiramisu....it all fell in place..you know i do not believe in "serendipity". You get obviously what you think you want. I wonder does my tiramisu fever is sever...you never know the power of your thoughts until you realise it.

So happened my accidental trip to an Italian restaurant...in downtown, called "Yarusso-Bros".
The food (well i think i did not have the appetite to appreciate it)...was mediocre. What interested me was their tiramisu. I was actually waiting for my dessert to arrive. Gulped the manicotti i ordered, stuffed the remaining in box, and then came the tiramisu in a glass goblet. I was disappointed.. May be i should not be looking for an olive garden or rainbow tiramisu everywhere.

It tasted good at first... and then i did not like the potent rum flavour, less sweet, more pungent taste. Later a friend, told me that the one i was eating should be the real tiramisu and the others i savour are in fact Americanised clones. I did not pick up an argument.

Well, it may not be original, but sometimes you like something, irrespective of it hierarchy and origin. But know what, the trip was not a total failure, i found an Italian grocer nearby, where i was able to get real mascarpone that was flown from italy.....hipeee....italian mascarpone are really cultured and fermented, unlike the one made in US with cream and citric acid.

May be even i thought of fermenting my own mascarpone with heavy cream and curd. But i believe i have to be more captivated with tiramisu fever to perfect that....

I am now.. well experimenting....with my new ingredients and hope to post the recipe again tomorrow.

Tiramisu

Tiramisu

I am a fan of desserts. Anything sweet and gooey you name it....i love it (but not the tapioca pudding they serve in Chinese eat outs!!!!). I used to try Rainbow food cakes once a week, the convenience is that they sell special gourmet cakes in small single serves. I meet tiramisu then, but i was not impressed (i could say this not until i tasted better version). Then came this wonderful, soft, creamy but not dense real "tiramisu" i would say, from olive garden in a friends place.
the dense coffee taste was the first one i liked with the subtle cream flavour...mmmmm

Then when it was my snack turn in our group meet, the first thing that came to my mind, for a desserty snack, was this.

As usual i crossed my fingers, browsed over 20 recipes and trusted my usual recipe source at last. (ppsst!..that's a secret!) this one calls for cooking the raw egg yolks which made me choose 'cause for the snack will be consumed on large, by kids and a pregnant lady. And i omitted the large quantity of rum they called for.

Well the procedure was simple, but once i came to the cooking raw eggs part ...i was, well....... scared....the recipe calls for cooking the yolks until it turns thick. But i wanted to know when exactly will the yolks get cooked..like a temperature.....run to google...when the yolk is on stove.....found that egg yolk coagulates and cooks at 158degree F (http://www.enc-online.org/f_a_q.htm).

run back to the kitchen, grab a thermometer...now the temp was....160....but know what?? .....the gollum inside me threatened me again and finally to be sooo sssuuureee...i waited until it read 185.....and proceeded on...

The result was good and nice..as friends commented....but i am gonna try it out again...perfect it more and post it back here for me.

now to the real cooking...

TIRAMISU

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups strong black coffee , room temperature with 2 tbsp of sugar
6 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 pounds mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup cream for adding to yolks
3/4 cup cream for whipping
14 ounces ladyfingers or half sheet plain sponge cake
3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate , grated (optional)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Stir coffee and sugar set aside.

2. In bowl beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar beat at medium speed until pale yellow, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add 1/3 cup cream to yolks and beat at medium speed until just combined, 20 to 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Set bowl with yolks over medium saucepan containing 1 inch gently simmering water; cook, constantly scraping along bottom and sides of bowl with heatproof rubber spatula, until mixture coats back of spoon and registers 160 degrees. Remove from heat and stir vigorously to cool slightly, then set aside to cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.

4. Add mascarpone to this cooled yolk mixture and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.

5. In another bowl beat 3/4 cup cream at medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.

6. Working one at a time, drop half of ladyfingers into coffee mixture, roll, remove, and transfer to 13 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.

5. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers; use rubber spatula to spread mixture to sides and into corners of dish and smooth surface. Place 2 tablespoons cocoa in fine-mesh strainer and dust cocoa over mascarpone. If using sponge cake, cut into small fingers and proceed.

6. Repeat dipping and arrangement of ladyfingers; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers and dust with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Wipe edges of dish with dry paper towel. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, if using; cut into pieces and serve chilled.

Welcoming myself!

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