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...
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.