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Vegetable biryani 

Veg

Layered spicy vegetables, basmati rice and cashew nuts are just the ticket in this traditional vegetarian Indian dish.

Ingredients

• 1 small carrot, peeled, cut into small cubes
• 1 medium potato, peeled, cut into small cube
• ¼ green pepper, diced
• ¼ red pepper, diced
• 25g/1oz French beans, finely chopped
• 50g/2oz frozen peas
• 1 tsp tomato purée
• ½ tsp finely chopped green chillies
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 225g/8oz cooked basmati rice
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 4 roasted cashew nuts, chopped
• ½ tsp cumin seeds, toasted
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• yoghurt, to serve

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/235F/Gas 3.
2. Cook the carrot, potato, peppers, French beans and peas in a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes, or until tender. Drain and return to the pan.
3. Add the tomato purée, green chillies, garam masala and turmeric to the vegetables and mix until well combined.
4. Place half of the rice at the bottom of an ovenproof dish, spread the vegetable mixture on top, and then place the rest of the rice on top, spreading it evenly.
5. Sprinkle the top layer of rice with the chopped onions, cashew nuts, cumin seeds and red chilli powder. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Serve with yoghurt.
   
   
   
   
   

   Chickpea curry

    

   Veg

   

   Healthy, cheap and filling: this tasty chickpea curry is perfect for a weekday dinner.

   Ingredients

   • 1 tbsp oil
   • 1 onion, chopped
   • 1 garlic clove, crushed
   • ¼ tsp salt
   • ½ tsp cumin powder
   • ¼ tsp coriander powder
   • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
   • ¼ tsp red chilli powder
   • 1 fresh tomato, chopped
   • 1 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
   • 5cm/2in piece root ginger, grated
   • pinch of garam masala
   • Pitta breads or plain basmati rice, to serve

   Preparation method

   1. Heat a deep saucepan or a medium sized wok and add the oil or butter followed by the onions and garlic.
   2. Fry the mixture till the onions are caramelised. Then add the salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric and red chilli powders. Mix for a minute and tip in the tomato. Cook the sauce until it begins to thicken.
   3. Add ¼ cup of water and stir. Then tip in the chickpeas and mix. Mash a few of the chickpeas while cooking. Cover and simmer for five minutes. Then add the ginger and the garam masala. Cook for another minute.
   4. Serve with pitta breads or plain basmati rice.

Economic Development vs. Morality

The question about disbelief in judicial system in case of Modi was if we have this disbelief because of political influence then Modi has faced 7 years of his trial under two Congress governments. And specially after 2009 election it was very clear that he is going to be one of the major BJP candidates for the post of the Prime minister of India in next elections. Even knowing so and having political influence of its own as central government if Congress can not prove the case against Modi then either he is not guilty of anything more than negligence or Congress wanted to use this issue as the Achilles' heel in the next election . Even without mentioning 1984 or 1993 it renders it really difficult to believe that Congress is a better choice for ruling party on moral terms.

The Professor pointed out that judicial process is a system and someone else added that in this system it is impossible to prove anything against Modi. Now be careful about this statement as it is not about Modi it is about our own lack of faith in ourselves as a system. We, as a society aiming for justice, do not believe that  we are functioning at the most basic levels of our duty. There can only be two explanations first of which would be external pressure, which is addressed in the first part of this discussion. Second would be our own convictions, like a judge being pro-Hindu or pro-Modi, but wouldn't be the same as we blaming Modi for everything without having proper knowledge about the evidences, and punishing him in the coming elections.
Just keep your eye open for the biases in the articles/documentaries on which you are making up your mind.




The story was pretty much same with the first video. Instead of  portraying the problem fairly the video seemed like provocation to use violent means. One needs to realize in such situations we are against our own people. We don't want to antagonize them, we certainly do not want to force or terrorize them but at the same time we do not want to encourage or romanticize them being against national interests. We want to include them in this development.   

soup noodles :)

Another cooking adventure which turned out quite good.  

Christmas

So I am using my ignored blog as a medium to show off my moderate cooking skills. An empty house and dodgy internet connection pushed me to scary realms of enough boredom and courage that I decided to experiment with my cooking and this post is about this awesome result. 

So here are pics of the steaming curry, curry with rice and me enjoying my food while watching television.

story 1

Vinod was not happy with the situation. His girlfriend had left him just two days ago and now he lost his job too. It was really difficult for him to believe that it was happening just like that. So he went to a park to ease his mind and to relax for a while but in his way, he came across a bar. He could very well recognize the car parked outside the bar. It was his girlfriend's. It was impossible for him to resist the those feelings of confronting her and ask "why not me". So he went inside the bar to look for Ragini but what he saw inside shocked him to death. She was sitting across the hall with Shekhar, the guy who took his job. He lost his temper at the moment. Was it a conspiracy against him or just another prank Ragini has played on him with the help of Shekhar? He went to the place where they were sitting and all of a sudden, hit Shekhar on his head with a bottle of wine. Ragini always knew that Vinod had a bad temper but she never expected something like that for Shekhar who was lying on the floor bleeding heavily. She started running to get away from the accident but Vinod caught her. "How he became such a bad tempered, uncontrollable bag of emotions?", she was thinking in her head while looking for someone who can help. Vinod asked her "why?" and picked up a sharp,broken piece of the wine bottle. She was pleading for mercy but all he could see was a face of a cheater who ruined his life. His hands were shaking with anger and his eyes were burning with the feeling of revenge. That is when something hard hit him on the back of his head. The bartender had come to rescue the girl from the guy who was out of control at the moment. Bartender had also called the cops. She was still not in herself and was trembling with fear. The cops arrested Vinod but he still couldn't understand why her girlfriend, whom he loved so much betrayed her for his enemy so before going with the cops, he asked her. But she was not listening to him, only thing she could think about then was Shekhar who was not looking lifeless by now. She took him to the hospital but Shekhar was in a very serious condition and she had to call her father who was also Vinod's boss to give her the money that was needed for Shekhar's cure. Before she could call her father, she saw Vinod standing on the door of hospital room, she heard two shots and Vinod saying "goodbye love" and rest was only dark before her eyes.

run Forrest run!!

How does it feel like craving for something every moment but not quite getting it. Relief when in pain, food when hungry, water when thirsty, breeze when tired, sleep when distressed, solitude in failure............
I think I know a few of the above unfortunately.