Cool Maharaja Sandwich

I guess my creative juices are flowing. My wife and I were thinking about what we should make for a quick dinner and experimented with a sandwich. Pavani does not like raw vegetables or Salad or a sandwich but she ended up eating this sandwich twice.

Ingredients

Lettuce

Carrots -1

Cucumber -1

Onion – ½

Tomato – 1

Ginger Mango Pickle (you will get this in any grocery store like Giant or Harris Teeter) – 2 table spoons

Tomato Pudina sauce (you will find this in Indian store)- 2 table spoons

Spicy pepper oil – ¼ table spoon

Pepper Jack Cheese

All purpose Herbs

Ranch Dressing

Process

Apply 1 tablespoon of ginger mango pickle to one slice of bread. The ginger mango pickle is sweet and sour and gives it a unique taste to the sandwich. On the other slice apply the tomato pudina sauce. Peel the carrots, Cucumber and cut the carrots, onion, cucumber into small circles. Put slices of lettuce, all the other vegetables, add a pinch of spicy pepper oil on top, add the all purpose herbs. On top of it all pour ½ table spoon of ranch dressing, add slices of Pepper Jack Cheese and it is ready to eat. This sandwich is a little spicy, little sweet and has all the great ingredients. Enjoy..

Best Dad on Earth

I have been in the US for almost 9 years the one thing I will miss beyond everything is My Dad, My mom and all the family members back home. Yes, I made the choice to come here. Yes, I continue to choose to stay here but there is no dispute to the fact that I miss my country, I miss my family and most of all I miss my Dad. I have been a father only for 3 years but I am not sure I can in anyway replicate or even come close to what my dad has done for the family. There is only one area where I can beat him maybe 2 – 1) I am positive I will grow grey and loose hair faster than him 2) I am sure I will put on more weight than he did in his early years.

You thought us to live life to the maximum and enjoy it with family – I still remember the first major vacation when the 5 of us went out to Bangalore and Mysore trip. It was right after my 10^th grade exams. We all took the train from Hyderabad to Bangalore. You would buy everything that came our way from the vendors passing by from the veg cutlets to the spiced peanuts to the ice cream. There were many more trips after that and many more before that but this trip to Bangalore was the best trip ever.

I remember the Diwali's I spent with you, the favorite of all the Indian festivals. I remember being woken up the day before diwali early in the morning at 5:00 AM to light up crackers and burst Narakasura. I remember standing on the steps waiting for you to return from your Bosses house after wishing him Diwali wishes. I still wish you did stayed away from going to you bosses house but work came before anything else. It has been 9 years since I celebrated Diwali with you but I am sure I will do it soon in the next few years and this time it will be a Grand celebration.

I remember all the fuss I created when I fell sick, all the hungama at home to make me take that stupid medicine. I wanted you to come and give me the medicine or I would not take it. Dad – I have a confession to make, I threw some of these medicines out of the window and never took them. I have grown up since then but I still miss you when I am sick.

I still remember the first Cassette Player and the first Cassette of the Gharshana movie you brought for me from Nellore in 1992 and the umpteen number of times I played the cassette.

I remember the struggles you had to go through for arranging the finance for my brother to come to US, I remember the struggles and the pain we had to go through to arrange for the last installment for our first flat in Ameerpet. I remember the hardships you had to go through in the final leg of his professional career working for an employer.

All through the years dad, you have been a role model for me. As a person who showered all his love, as a person who worked long arduous hours, as a person who thought us a lot about work ethics, work culture by sharing your day to day experiences at work. As a person who thought us a lot about managing financials just by being open to us about the financial situation at home. As a friend who we could walk with hands on your shoulder, as a person who thought us how to love our wife and how to bring up family.

We stand where we are today due to all that you and amma have done. Dad, I miss you. Hope you will have a wonderful Birthday.

Summer Special – Cucumber Corn Salad

This is a simple and one of my favorite summer salads. Inspired from the Raw Corn salad on Food and wine but I have changed the ingredients and added a touch of Indian spices

Time Taken – 15 mins

Ingredients

Fresh raw sweet corn Kernel from 2 sweet corn

Orange Bell Pepper – 1 small

Red Bell Pepper – 1 small

Cucumber – 2 small (small cucumbers are tasty)

Cilantro – ½ bunch

Fennel Seeds – 1 table spoon

Cumin Seeds – ½ table spoon

White Onion – ¼

Lime Juice – 2 tea spoons

Chat Masala - 1 Teaspoon

Salt to taste

Process

Cut the onions, cucumber into small pieces. Mix the cucumber, Onion, sweet corn and add the lime juice to it. Add the fennel seeds and cumin seeds, salt and serve it. The fennel seeds give it a fresh aroma and taste.

East meets West - Panner Pasta

So, I guess I took a couple of days break from our blog already. Today, I will try to give you recipe for a recipe combining the recipes of East and West.

Paneer Pasta
Making time – Active – 30 mins, preparation 30 mins
Serves - 4

Ingredients
For Pasta
Bow Tie Pasta – ½ box
Green Bell Pepper – ½
Red Bell Pepper – ½
Yellow Bell Pepper – ½
Zucchini -1
Carrots – 2
Panner – ½ pack (similar to Cottage cheese and you will find this in the freezer section of Indian stores)
Olive Oil – 2 Table spoons
All purpose Herbs – 2 Tea Spoons
Butter – ¼ stick

For Sauce
Tomatoes – 6 Large Plum tomatoes
Onion – ½ Large White onion
1 tin of Vegetable Starch

Process

Making the Sauce
Cut the Onions and tomatoes, take Olive oil in a pan, fry the onions till they are golden brown. Now add the sliced tomatoes and fry them along with the onions. Let it cool for about 5 mins and grind the onions, tomatoes and salt to taste and then add the vegetable stock to it and grind it for 2 mins.

Pasta
Bring 6 large cups of water to boil, add the bow tie pasta to it and cook the pasta for about 12-15 mins. Drain the water out of the pasta and keep it aside.
Peel the carrots and cut them into long thin slices , cut the other vegetables into long thin slices. Cook all the vegetables together after adding the butter. Once the vegetables are tender, add cubes of panner, the sauce to the mix and let it boil for about 5 mins. Now add the pasta to the sauce and serve it hot.

You can add any other vegetables like Green beans, Mushroom, Potato etc.

Enjoy the Paneer Pasta

On the eve of world cup T20 final

I thought I would post one more recipe tonight. However, one of my friends pointed out to me that of the 3 topics I have covered in my post – Cricket, food, 67% of my posts related to food. Well being a numbers guy that he is from my college days, I did not expect anything more from him. However, that lead to a change in my thought. In this day and age, I cannot ignore the feedback from my viewers- so here goes the article on cricket.

I guess my observations on this might be a little old but as usual, I have 3 things to write about
1) England’s exit from WT20 and why on earth do people think England is still learning
2) My reaction to Cricinfo’s article on T20 final being a Triumph on Human spirit
3) Why my expectations are low for the India WI ODI

Engalnd’s exit from WT20: When England lost their match against WI and lost the spot in semi finals, in the post match interview, Naseer Hussain asked Collingwood if he was proud of his bowlers. That was the first statement / comment Naseer Hussain had made and almost lead Collingwood into a positive spin. I know Naseer is British and it is natural for him to support England. I also know that England beat India in the earlier match but I do not think I would have asked Collingwood the same question. A more natural and unbiased question would have been – How does Collingwood feel about the exit. All through the match, several commentators thought and said England is quickly learning more and more about the format!!! Andrew Miller even wrote an article in Cricinfo about England’s Honourable exit. Now, in their Super Eight’s England won only one match against India and lost against South Africa and West Indies. In the Group matches they lost against Ireland. Now thinking about that way – Ireland are also learning from the format. They have made huge progress in the world cup. I think it is fair to say that Ireland is learning but it is absolutely unfair to say England is learning. By this time, they should have well gone past beyond the learning curve. To me, England did well to beat India but I think they are well past the learning curve. It would be gracious of Collingwood and other English men to accept that they are still an inconsistent team. Oh well – these are just views of a whining Indian.

T20 final a Triumph of Human spirit? In my previous article – one wish for world T20 – I had wished Pakistan should not win the world cup. However, since then my views have changed a bit and the one article responsible for change is again an article by Andrew Miller and you can read it here. I will have to agree for the sake of humanity that a win for Pakistan will be a well deserved celebration for their country. The headlines for Pakistan are anything but encouraging and it seems like people of the country need a cause for celebration. Will Pakistani’s come out on the streets like Indian’s in 2007 if Pakistan win tomorrow? That is to be seen but I wish them well. I will not be yelling for Pakistan as I just cannot but will not be disappointed if they win. My bet though is on Sri Lanka. Not because of their form but I truly think they have bought innovation into the game – be it the slow bouncer by Malinga, the “Dilscoop” by Dilshan or the bowling by Murali and Mendis. The final will be a final of Innovation , Determination, Passion and team cricket vs Determination, Passion and team spirit. By this time tomorrow we will know if innovation can trump everything else in the long run.

My expectations for India’s ODI series in WI: Last but not the least, my expectations for India win in WI ODI series is very low. I think we have a very young team and a lot of members of this team have not visited WI. We deserved a longer break and I am skeptical about our performance as a team. Dhoni can deny the fatigue from overplaying but that is a fact. If we were to win again 3 things have to happen 1) we have to start seeing the team spirit 2) Dhnoi’s own form with batting has to change 3) we have raise our standards for fielding and create chances out of nothing (as if that is new)

Baingan Dosa

Baingan Dosa Ingredients

All of you must have eaten Dosa or Masala Dosa. I cannot take any credit for making the dosa itself but my wife is good at it. The credit for the recipe goes to my wife. We had some left over Baingan Bharta and we both decided to try something innovative and make a Baingan Dosa instead of the Masala Dosa. The recipe is quite simple if you know how to make the Dosa.
Dosa Ingredients
Rice – 2 cups
Urad Dal – 1 Cup
Chana Dal – ¼ cup (gives the brown color to the Dosa)
Methi seeds – ½ table spoon
Salt to Taste
Baingan Bharta Ingredients
Follow the recipe here – Baingan Bharta

Process

Soak the Chana Dal, Rice, Urad Dal in water overnight. Grind all of them together and make a soft batter. Heat a pan, add one teaspoon oil (if you do not want oil, you can use the Pam spray), pour one small cup of batter on the pan, spread it thin. If you really want to make it like the guy on the street in India, Spread the batter cut a large Onion into half and dip it in Oil and spread it on the dosa.

Now take 2 large tablespoon of Baingan Bharta, apply it on the unroasted part of the dosa. Turn the Dosa around and let the baingan Bharta side also roast for some time. If you want to make it spicy, you can cut small pieces of onions and also apply them on the Baingan Bharta.
Take the dosa out of pan and it is ready to eat. Remember this is a very heavy dish with all the Baingan Bharta on it. Enjoy it.

Hillary Clinton, Indra Nooyi and Azim Premji

I am going to take a deviation from the ordinary as I feel like I have to blog about the USIBC meeting I attended today. US India Business Council (USIBC) as the name suggests is an organization to strengthen the trade/ business relationships between the 2 countries.
There were a lot of speakers at the one day convention but the highlight among them were

Indra K Nooyi – Chairman & CEO Pepsi CO
Hillary Clinton – Secretary of State
Azim Premji – Chairman Wipro

I really had no business to attend this convention but thanks to my CIO and AT&T, I got a chance to attend. First of all, I have to say that I was really fortunate to attend this convention.

First about Indra Nooyi – What a great speaker she is. She is eloquent in her speech, well prepared and whenever she talks, it looks as if she has control over the issue. She is also very clear and articulate about the message she wants to give the audience. I had seen videos of her speeches, her interviews before I went into the conference but nothing like seeing her on stage and seeing her talk. She commends a lot of respect from Hillary and the other secretaries of state that were present at the conference. She is respected for what she is doing as a leader and her visionary thinking. In One word – Amazing. I would really like to see her as a Prime Minister for India. I guess she is a US citizen now and hence forfeits’ the rights to become a prime minister of our country.

Hillary Clinton- the moment she walked in, the entire room gave her a standing ovation. We all know how great she is as a person and how good an orator she is. Again, seeing her in person and listening to her talk is a great experience in itself. After the democrat primary last year, media would not get away from the fact that she did not win the primary and continued to say that she was not 100% behind Obama. I thought the media was being crazy. After listening to her today, I think she still regrets not being elected in the primary. At one point she said – India had great leaders like Indira Gandhi and that US has learnt from them but US still has more to do.. now you can read in between the lines here. If you were present at the convention, there would be no need for you to read in between lines – her expressions would say everything.

Azim Premji – A great speaker, Orator, visionary and Leader. He got the award for Global vision. There are few people in India who have taken advantage of the right opportunity at the right time and Premji ranks on the top. He used the occasion to give a stern message. His message was sharp and clear. 3 points that I cannot forget in his speech 1) he called what we are going through right now as a global reset and not a global recession. He thought a lot of things will change after this – the way we live, the way we work, the way governments function and the way countries build relationships. 2) He said the way things are going in the US, one of these days there will not be anything Government will not own and we thought India was backwards in this area. Finally, when there was talk of protectionist policies around the world, Premji gave a classic example and I paraphrase – a subject went to Lord and said – Lord show me Heaven and Hell. Lord took the subject to a room and showed him a group of people who were all unhappy. They had stew in front of them, really long spoons to reach the stew from the pot but the spoons were no good to feed them (they were too big). Then he took the subject to the second room – the same set of people, same stew, same spoons but everyone was happy. The subject asked the Lord – how is this possible and the Lord said they had learnt to feed each other.

Eggplant - Punjabi Style

Baingan Bharta (Eggplant curry)
You will find a lot of recipes on the net for this dish. This however as usual is my version of the Punjabi special.
Ingredients
1 large Eggplant (Baingan) (3-4 long brinjals if you are in India)
2 Large tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of Ginger
½ Large White Onion (2 Indian onions)
2 Teaspoons Cumin powder
2 Teaspoons Corriander powder
3-4 Tablespoons of Canola or Vegetable Oil
4 Green Chilies
½ bunch of corrainder
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder (optional)
1 cup of green peas (soaked overnight and cooked. Adding frozen peas really spoils the taste. Avoid this ingredient if you cannot find fresh peas.)
Process:
Preheat the oven to 450 Degrees. Oil the tomatoes and the Baingan. Pierce the Baingan at random in various places with a fork (Do not pierce it too much or too hard otherwise the eggplant will break part). Bake the eggplant for about 35- 40 mins till it is really soft. Bake the Tomatoes as well (for 20 mins).
Take a pan and put the oil in it. Add the onions and the chilies and fry the onions till they are golden brown. Whisk the tomatoes slightly for about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes to the onions and continue to fry them over a low heat.
Now take the eggplant out of the oven, wash it under water (to reduce the heat) peel the skin and cut it into small pieces. Add the eggplant to the onions, chilies and tomato and mash the eggplant, stir in the peas. Add salt to taste, Cumin and coriander powder and let it be on the pan for 4 mins. Now add the coriander leaves (cut into small pieces) and serve with Naan or Chapati.
Coming up next: Baingan Dosa – a fusion between North and South Indian cuisines

My one wish for T20 World Cup and India's loss

There have been many reasons given and the opinions continue to flow on why India lost to England. While I am no authority on cricket, I follow the game with a lot of passion and I feel like I have the right comment what I feel – does not matter if it is right or wrong.
Here is a link to the article on Cricinfo and the comments from various people
Cricinfo
Here is the article from BBC which has the comments from the rival captains
Dhoni’s Comments
Collingwood View’s
Before I express my views on this issue, a disclaimer – it is always easy to comment on these issues as an outsider but one really has to be part of the team and experience it firsthand.
There are 3 main reasons why India lost the 2 matches
1) We were very defensive – the tag of defending champions probably put additional pressure on us and we were trying to be cautious in our approach. Several examples to depict the same 1) Dhoni did not want to send Yuvraj out in a pressure situation and sent RA Jadeja to bat 2) we should have batted first and setup a big target to chase for England. However, we opted to bat second. As such this was a pressure game. To bat second and try to achieve a target in a pressure game is never easy. We strengthened our batting line up by adding Jadeja but we still opted to bat second?
2) Dhoni the “uber cool” captain? - I guess he is now a very conscious captain and wants to live up to the expectations. For ex again take the match against India and WI. When Pragyan Ohja was bowling. Suresh Raina threw the ball to Ohja in an attempt to effect a run out of Simmons. Ohja missed it and Raina yelled at Ohja. Right at the end of the over, Dhoni called Raina and had a word with him. Roll back 2 years in 2007 and Dhoni would have probably let it go and let Raina and Ohja sort it out themselves. A simple example but goes a long way to show how small details show the mood of the side, the captain and everyone else in the team.
3) Fans of Indian cricket – To some extent all of us (millions of fans of Indian cricket) are also responsible for the defeat. We have high expectations of the team, if the team loses we analyze the situation to death, we play the scenes of last ball 100 times in our channels. We take Yusuf Pathan’s sit down before the last over out of context and portray that as if he was brooding over the loss. We even ask if Dhoni is the right captain just based on loss in one tournament. Last but not the least people like me also start blogging about this.
Having said all this, there is only one desire left for me. I do not want Pakistan to win the T20 world cup. If Pakistan happen to win the T20 cup – that will be the saddest day in my life so far…

Mango Cheesecake

I have been thinking about putting my thoughts out on the web and I guess it is time for me now to do so. My experience to share today is the Mango cheese cake. A touch of Indian taste to the all American cheese cake. Very similar to carrot cheese cake but a few ingredients changed to make the cake not as sweet as the mangoes add natural sweetness. So here are the ingredients.
For the cake
All Purpose Flour, 2 Cups
Eggs , 2 Large
Sugar, 1 Cup
Mangoes, 2 Large – peel and cut one into small cubes and make a puree of the other
Vanilla Extract, 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon Powder, 1 teaspoon
½ cup buttermilk
Baking powder, 1 teaspoon
Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
Pecans, 4OZ
For the Frosting
Cream cheese, 1 8OZ pack softened
1 Stick of Butter softened
1 cup of powder sugar
Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Process

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat the pecans, cut them into small pieces. Whisk the eggs into the all purpose flour, add the sugar, mango juice, buttermilk, cinnamon powder and all the other ingredients and whisk them thoroughly. Add the cubed mangoes and the pecans into the batter. Flour the pans and butter the parchment sheet. Pour the batter into two equal parts into pans and bake it in the oven for about 1 hour at 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, with a electric beater, beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract for about 5-7 minutes till it is really soft.

Take the 2 cakes out, let them cool for 30 minutes, peel off the parchment sheet. Apply frosting on the cake. Invert the second cake on top and apply the remaining frosting on both the cakes. Refrigerate it for an hour and then serve this summer dessert.