A Zest For Power

Yes I feel Alive!
As I had been waiting for this
Yes! This, the Power
The air of it is Sweet;
It is Colossal
A worthy time to Revamp halting mind
And to bring the smoothness to a jerking halt

As brain rejoices with joy
For it had been a 'worth-while' wait
For returning the vested might
To glare with all its power!

Masala Puri (Masalpuri)

Sweet chutney

Needed: (per plate)

For Masala of Masal puri-

• Clove- 1
• Cinnamon-a small small small piece
• Nutmeg-very minute piece
• Pepper corns-2-3



Green Chutney

• Jeera-a tsp

-Roast all these in a thick bottomed pan, and grind.

Garlic juice of 2 cloves

Boiled till very soft, peeled and completely mashed up potato-1

Mixie all of these together.

A small cup of peas-soaked overnight n pressure cooked till soft (but do not allow to be mashed up, thou)

Cook the ground mixture with peas till required consistency. It should not be either too liquid or too thick. Lets say, it should be syrupy in consistency.

For assembling:

Puris-5-6

Sweet chutney- Cook dates (5) n tamarind-a small ball separately till tender. add a half tsp of roasted jeera powder, 1tbsp jaggery and wet grind them to get a flowy consistency.

and

Green chutney- green chilly-1, a fistful of coriander leaves, and mint leaves (pudina) each, salt to taste, lemon juice-a few drops. wet grind them.

-about 1 tsp each

For Garnish:

Grated carrot- 2 tbsp

Finely chopped Onion- 2 tbsp

Coriander finely chopped- 1tsp

Sev- 4 tbsp

 Assembling:
Crush puris with hand coarsely and put 2 ladles of masala mixture.
Add sweet and green chutneys
Garnish with onions,tomatoes, carrot, sev and coriander leaves
Serve hot.

Sprouts chat

This weekend was a Rakhi weekend for me. Except for I could not tie Rakhi to my elder brother who’s not in town; I had a weekend blast with my younger brothers.  

For the occasion, I had prepared this unique healthy chat and everyone at home enjoyed it thoroughly.  

Needed: (Per Plate)

Pre- soaked and Sprouted green grams- a handful

Pre- Soaked, Sprouted and boiled Black grams – a handful

Finely chopped-Onion- 1, Coriander leaves- a small bunch, Tomato-1 small

Spices- Chat masala, Amchur powder, Chilly powder, Salt, Black salt, Roasted Jeera powder

A little jaggery syrup (put jaggery & water on low flame till its syrupy in consistency)

A squeeze of lemon juice

A handful of Sev to garnish
Optional-A fist-full of rolled oats- roasted

Procedure:

AAAAAh! There’s none. Just mix up everything. Add all the above spices according to taste, mix a little jaggery syrup, and garnish with Sev.. U’l have a healthily delicious chat when u’r done..  

Custard Biscuit Pudding

Custard is one thing which I like to consume, in either warm or cold form. I googled for custard recipes n finally remixed custard biscuit pudding cake from http://www.sharmispassions.com/ to make my own pudding.

Its a quick & easy recipe, can be consumed warm or chilled too. I couldn't resist till its chilled. I just started munching one stack of biscuit pudding the moment its assembling was done. Warm taste was awesome too :) 

Its a must try for all custard lovers :)

Needed:

Custard - 1 ½  tbsp (Vanilla flavour)

Milk- 250ml (5stacks can be creamed with this)

Sugar- As per taste- I used 3 tbsp

Ghee- 1 tsp

Biscuits- 4 per stack.

Banana/Apple thin slices - 3 per stack 

Instant Coffee Powder (Bru)/ Filtered Coffee Decoction

A little chocolate syrup/Boost/ Bournvita powder

Add custard powder to few spoons of cold Milk and dissolve till it’s a smooth paste without lumps. Place a thick bottomed container on low flame and boil the remaining milk with added sugar. Keep stirring intermittently. Add the milk dissolved with custard to the boiling milk and continue to stir constantly. The custard will start thickening. Add ghee to the mixture at this stage. Continue cooking till it becomes a thick paste of creamy consistency. Switch off fire and allow it cool down to room temperature.

Assembling:

Place a slice of fruit on the biscuit and spread custard generously over it. For the next layer, dip the biscuit for a second in 2-3 spoons of coffee decoction and repeat the process of stacking one above the other. 4 layers’d be just fine. Top layer would not require fruit slice. I used Britannia Marie Gold for the base and top layer, and used 2 Britannia Vita Marie Gold for the layers in middle. On the top layer, sprinkle a little boost powder and instant coffee powder. Refrigerate for 2-3 hrs and enjoy the yum taste of custard biscuit pudding. 

Note: If you’re using rectangle biscuits like Parle-g or Krack jack you can lay four or six biscuits in one layer and make it appear like a cake.  

Here is its variant with Parle G Biscuits..

ರಾಖಿಯ ಆಯ್ಕೆ!!

ರಾಖಿಯೆಂದರೆ ಮುಗಿಯದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ

ಅವತರಣಿಕೆಯಂತೆ ವಿನ್ಯಾಸ ಪ್ರತಿ ವರ್ಷವೂ ಹೊಸವು...

ಒಂದರ ನಂತರ ಒಂದು ಅಂಗಡಿಯ ಸುತ್ತುವುದೇನು

ಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಕೆಲವು ರಾಖಿಗೆ 

ಎಲ್ಲವನು ಬೆಳಕಿಗೆ ಹಿಡಿದು ತಿರುತಿರುಗಿಸಿ ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇನು

ಇದರ ಬಣ್ಣ ಚಂದ ಅದರ ನಮೂನೆಯೊಂದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಚಂದ 

ಮುಂದಿನ ಅಂಗಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್ನೂ ಚೆನ್ನಾದುದಿದ್ದರೆ ?

ಇದ ಬಿಡಲೂ ಇಷ್ಟವಿಲ್ಲ - ಒಮ್ಮೆಗೇ ಕೊಳ್ಳಲೂ ಮನ ಒಲ್ಲ... 

ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಪ್ರತಿ ಅಂಗಡಿಯಲ್ಲು ಒಂದೇ ರಾಖಿಗೆ ಆಯ್ಕೆಯ ಭಾಗ್ಯ

ಬೇಕಲ್ಲವೇ ಇನ್ನು ಚೆನ್ನಾದುದೊಂದು?...

ಎಲ್ಲ ರಾಖಿಯ ಕೊಂಡಾಯ್ತು ಹಾ!

ಎಂದು ಸಮಾಧಾನಿಸುವ ಮೊದಲೇ,

ಕೊಂಡದ್ದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಬೆಲೆಯ ರಾಖಿ, 

ಮಿಂಚುವ ಅದಾವುದೋ ರಾಖಿ,

ನಾ ಕೊಂಡದ್ದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ವಿಭಿನ್ನ-ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ರಾಖಿ

ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ರಾಚಿ ಉತ್ಸಾಹ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕೆ?  

ಕಲಿಕೆ

ಮಂಜು ಬಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಹಬ್ಬಿದಾ ನೀರವತೆ
ಈ ಮುಗಿಲಿಗೂ ಬಡಿದಿರುವಂತೆ ಮಂಕು
ಮೆಲ್ಲಗೆ ಕವಿದಿವೆ ಬಿಡೆನೆನ್ನುವ ಗೊಂಚಲ ಮೋಡ
ಬೇಡವೆನ್ನುವ ಕಾಲ ಕಳೆಯದೆ ಕಾಡಿಹುದು
ಬಾರೆನೆನಿಪ ಕಾಲಕೆ ನಾ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಹಾತೊರೆದಿಹೆ
ಕಯ್ಯ ತುಂಬಿಹ ಹಣತೆ ಸೊಡರು ತುಯ್ದಾಡಿ
ಹರದಾರಿಗಳು ನೂರಾರು ಸಾವಿರವಿರಲು
ತಾಳ್ಮೆಯ ಕೊಂಡಿ ಜತನ ಮಾಡಿಹೆ
ಬೇಸರಗಳು ನೂರುಂಟು ಬದುಕಿನಲಿ
ಈಸಿ ಗೆಲ್ಲುವುದೆ ಜಾಣನಾ  ಪಥವೆಂದು
ಎಡವುತ್ತಲಾದರು ಸರಿಯೆ ಮುಂದೆ ಸಾಗಿರಲು
ಅಣಕದಿಂ ನಕ್ಕು ಸಮಯ ಮಾತ್ರ ಮೋಜ ತಾ ನೋಡಿದೆ

Potato Wedges

Wedges are always on our menu when we have pizzas. Being such a certain choice, i wanted to try it out at home. I browsed through web and finally designed as per my spice preferences. It came out lip smacking though! And here is the recipe i followed:

Needs:

Potatoes (1/4 KG)

Oil for frying

Rice floor (1 Cup)

Garlic (one medium sized)

Salt, Pepper powder, Chilly powder, Amchur powder (as per taste)

Garam Masala (Optional)

Rosemary

• Cut each potato without peeling it off into 8-12 pieces longitudinally. Boil them in cooker with a little sea salt till the pressure is raised and put it off the fire. They should not get mashed up.
• Add a few spoons of heated oil to the rice floor. It ensures crispness of the outer layer of wedges, when done. Take a little rice flour or all purpose flour and mix with water till a little flowy in consistency.
• Add salt, pepper, very little of chilly powder and amchur powder. If you want it to be more spicy, add a little garam masala.
• Juice the garlic cloves. either mash it using a thick spoon, or crush it in a mixer. Just be cautious that only its juice is added to the batter. 
• Add a little Dehydrated or fresh Rosemary to the batter.
• Heat the oil and deep fry those potato pieces till golden brown, after dipping them in the batter. 
• Drain excess oil on an absorbent paper.
• These wedges taste great with tomato ketchup.

Note: The batter around the potatoes should never be very thick or they may become soggy.

Find your reason to live

We’re all bewitched with happiness. We’re totally amused when happiness engulfs us. At the moment, all the sorrow vanishes and we’ll be in a state of bliss. But, like other emotions, happiness is also not permanent. Though we won’t be willing to accept it, sooner or later the balloon of “All is well” bursts up into mystified sorrow.

This is actually a cycle which keeps repeating itself in anyone’s life about which everyone keeps complaining. But, this time, I actually gave it a deep thought. We always feel emotions. That means, emotions actually doesn’t exist all the time. We feel, and any emotion is just a state of mind. That implies, though we are in a tight and tedious situation, we can still be happy or at least not worry, by controlling our state of mind. I know that it just looks simple.  And it’s terribly tough to bring it into vogue. But when a small disturbance can spoil all the happiness or the bliss that surrounds us, why can’t it happen the other way round? Why can’t we feel calm when in fix, or when we think that we’re totally jinxed?

Life is a bitch. Agreed. It never gives an impeccable choice for any person to be in only one kind of position in life’s game. The position keeps changing. But when life has all reasons to make us feel sad, ideally it should have at least one good reason to make us feel light hearted, and thereby make us be happy.

There might be thousand reasons to pull your mood down. But there somewhere will surely be a reason which is why we can still lift up our moods, which accurately is the reason to thrive good even in midst of dwindling hopes, from simply being gloomy unnecessarily.

Find that one reason, find that one spark in you, find that one sole reason which refrains you from feeling down……… and you will have all the strength to slog on, for the rest of life without complaining. it may be a person, an unforgettable moment, an achievement, or might even be an inspiring song!

Now.....,

 People say that its the easiest to dig into oneself :)  So,  Happy digging in to "YOU'! Find your reason to always keep that smile on!!

"EEga" - The revenge of a reincarnated life!!

Wanted to watch “Eega” movie since all the promos started rolling. One reason was that it has Sudeep in its casting and another being the weird story of a house fly taking revenge on him. Expectations were a little less since usually the movies that give a lot of hype fail to meet up to them. Titles start with “Katha Chaptaanannaav” from a little girl to a father…. And the story begins..

Sudeep is a bad boy in the story who resorts to unfair means to get his business on rolling and who is also a playboy who firmly believes he can make any girl fall for him except his wife who refused to write her property to his name and finally had died mysteriously. He meets Bindu (Samanta) who works for an NGO and likes her. But she doesn’t fall for him, owing to her love towards Nani. When Sudeep realizes that she won’t even realize that he’s trying to make her fall for him, he kills Nani and makes it look like an accident.  Nani is reborn as a house fly and owes to take revenge on Sudeep and threatens to kill him.

Now, the whole crux of the story lies in how the fly kills him.

It’s a movie which will keep you curious until the end. It’s technically an awesome movie with the entire graphically created house fly and its tricks to make the villain’s life miserable.

The -falling in love- part of the movie is something which everyone can relate to, and the fun when the fly torments the villain is hilarious. Till now we, Kannadigas have watched other languages being used in Kannada movies, for a change, in this one, you get to hear Kannada dialogues by Sudeep. And obviously that gives you a sense of pride. Everyone in it have given their best but, it‘s the technical work in the movie that secures rank one. Sudeep has proven his acting abilities again. There is a tremendous improvement in Samanta’s acting too.

Note: Please do not get up and go when the movie seems to have finished, or you will miss 5more minutes of fun part that’s in queue after the ‘Eega’ song.