Spring Onion Parata

Spring Onion Parata is a very healthy food packed with nutritional value.I used spring onions from my garden and my kitchen was filled with spring onion aroma for the whole day.

Ingredients:

Spring onions(finely chopped) - 1 cup

Wheat flour - 2 cups

Gram flour - 1/2 cup

Cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Lukewarm water - 1 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Dough Preparation :

Mix all the ingredients listed above and knead the dough well

Parata Preparation :

Roll the dough into small lemon sized balls and make the flat bread using a rolling pin.

Appam made by my mum

Internationalised Domain Names(IDNs)

Plans for naming non-latin-script web addresses, Internationalised Domain Names(IDNs) has been approved by the internet regulator ICANN(The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) . These addresses are expected to be up and running on the web by Q2 of 2010. I would say that this is gonna be a huge tranformation since the invention of the internet.

Making Puff Pastry @ Home

Making puff pastry is a tedious process which needs a lot of patience. Here i've made South Indian style Vegetable puffs with the puff pastry sheets i made.

Ingredients :

Plain Flour - 150 gms
Water - 1 cup
Butter - 250 gms
Salt - 1 tsp

Pre-Requisites:

Butter should be kept at room temperature for 15 mins

Puff Pastry Sheet Preparation:

Mix the flour, water and salt and knead the dough for few seconds and roll it using a rolling pin.
Now place the butter in the middle and cover it with the dough. Roll it again with a rolling pin. Repeat the process 5 or 6 times.Refrigirate it for an hour to avoid the butter melting away . Repeat this process thrice.Finally cut the puff pastry sheets . Freeze it and use when required . This comes in handy when we feel lazy to cook or there's an unexpected guest @ home.

Universal Mobile Charger

The International Telecommunication Union(ITU) approved universal mobile charger which would fit into any handset. Currently every brand manufactures its own charger specific to their handsets. I really appreciate this initiative as it would help reduce lot of wastage in redundant charger production. The chargers are expected to be introduced into the market by Q2 of 2010.

Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:
Wholemeal bread with oats - 1 loaf
Onion(chopped) - 1 cup
Iceberg lettuce - 1
Chicken breast fillets - 3
Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsps
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Gravy preparation:
Heat a frying pan with 2 tsps of oil and all all the ingredients above except lettuce and cook for 20 mins by adding water.
Sandwich Preparation:
Take 2 slices of bread, add some gravy on one slice, top it up with a lettuce and cover it up with the other slice of bread.

Wii & Wrist Strap

On several occasions i have realized that i come close to the TV screen while playing the Wii games. Though the game software is designed to remind us to take rest while we play for a long time, we tend to ignore it while we are busy playing. Itz always better to check our position during break alerts and as a precaution always itz important to wear the wrist starp while playing.

Mutton Vadai (Minced lamb Fritters)

Recipe is the same as that of the Mutton kola i posted earlier. Only difference is making patties and deep frying in the oil.

http://techiecookiefreaky.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post.html

Email Phishing Scam

BBC reported that thousands of Hotmail username and password has been posted to pastebin website. This is really annoying and i don't understand why people use technology for destructive purposes. To be safe it is always better to change our email password very often.

Gongura Thokku

Gongura is very rich in iron and has a high fibre content. These fresh gonguras are from my garden.

 Ingredients:

Gongura - 2 bunches
Red chillies - 3
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad Dhal - 1/4 tsp
Shallots(Finely Chopped) - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Gingelly Oil - 1 tbsp

Cooking Method:

Heat oil in a pan and do the seasoning with mustard seeds,chillies and urad dhal. Add the shallots and fry it until golden brown, now add the remaining ingredients and keep stirring. Switch off the stove when it reaches gravy like consistency. Should not add water to this recipe as gongura has so much water content it. Gingelly oil is the best to try this recipe as other oils will change the original taste of it.

Blackberry Jam

Jam comes in handy when i feel lazy to cook. I always buy it from the stores and stock it.Never thought that i wud be able to do a homemade jam. Usually jam is made by adding lot of preservatives but i don't prefer to add any preservative. I had lot of blackberries from my garden. Literally had no idea of what to do with it and ended up making jam.

Ingredients :

Blackberries - 500 gms
Sugar - 1 kg
Lemon juice - 50 ml
Water - 50 ml

Jam making process:

Add water and blackberries into a heavy pan and boil it in medium heat for 10 mins. The fruits become softer, at this stage add the lemon juice and sugar and keep stirring until the fruit pulp turns into a jam like consistency. Make sure the jam is not watery. If you don't prefer to have the seeds, use a muslin cloth and filter the fruit pulp before adding sugar.

Latitude Z - Recharge Wirelessly

I've got a good news for those who are fed up of charging their laptops. Dell is introducing a laptop with wireless charger, The Latitude Z.

Gr8 Innovation! first of it's kind.

Tomato Pickle/Thokku - Mum's recipe

Tomato thokku is my most favourite .When i got this recipe from my mum, was not confident enough of doing it. The recipe looks simple but it needs lot of patience while stirring.


Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 15
Red chillies - 10
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
salt - 2 tsps
Gingelly Oil - 100 ml
Curry leaves - 2 strands
A little Tamarind (optional)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad Dhal - 1 tsp
Garlic - 1

Pickling Method:

Slice the tomatoes and peel the garlic. Grind the tomatoes, garlic,red chillies and tamarind(optional) and make a paste out of it. Heat a pan with a very thick base and add the oil into it. Do the seasoning with mustard seeds, urad dhal and add asafoetida into it. Finally add the ground paste,salt and curry leaves into it . Close it with a tight lid. Keep stirring........Keep stirring............Keep on stirring...........Done!!!!!

Bussssyyyyy Beeeee

Lot of recipe requests from my readers. Very busssssyyyyyyyy @ work.Will try and post some of those during this weekend........

Live Coding

A couple of days back, i was watching an interesting demo in the BBC about 'Live Coding'. Live coding is nothing but on-the fly programming in which the program is modified while its running without stopping or restarting. Its is the process of writing computer code, in real time, to compose and play music or any kind of animation. This may not sound be very easy but its visually more attractive. You can make your own one man live music band with the computer.

Onion Pakoda - (This is my first recipe to be published on popular RR DGS March newsletter)

Onion Pakoda is a crispy, crunchy teatime snack in Southern parts of India. Cooking time is very less and i make it very quick when there’s an unexpected guest at home. Onion has good healing properties and hence used as a key ingredient in many Ayurvedic medicines. Adding onion in our day-to-day cooking helps boost up the immune system of our body in the long run.

Ingredients:
Red Onions – 3 medium sized Gram Flour – 1 cup (Approximately 100 gms)

Rice Flour – 2 tsps Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

Hot chilli pepper – 1 Chilli Powder – 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder – a pinch Garlic – 2 cloves

Sunflower Oil – 100 ml Salt – 1 tsp

Water – ½ cup

Pre-Requisites:

• Peel the skin of onion and garlic and coarsely chop them lengthwise

• Finely chop the hot chilli pepper

• In a large bowl mix the rest of the ingredients into the gram flour one after the other by sprinkling water little by little. It should be between dough and a batter consistency, which is sticky but not watery.

Cooking Method: Heat the oil in a large frying pan for about 10 minutes on a medium flame. Now add small portions of the pakoda mix into the oil by using a fork and deep fry until it becomes crisp.

Serving Suggestion:

Should be served hot. Goes well with any sauce or dips.

Tips for Weight Watchers:

While making the pakoda mix add 2 more teaspoons of rice flour. Split the pakoda mix into small portions and top it up with oil of your choice and roast it in the grill.

Technology & Cooking

Although the reason behind naming my blog is to write about technology , cooking and my places of visit, my focus is only on technology and cooking. Hereafter i'm planning to blog only about these to make it more focussed.

Rhuburb Halwa

Souuuuurrrrrrr taste, the vegetable that immediately comes to my mind is Rhuburb. Just wanted to experiment to change its original taste, initially made halwa with cashews and raisins , look was good the taste wasn't. This time made halwa using a simple method and guess what .............yum ..yum....yummy.......

For the simple recipe here you go ....

Rhubarb - 3 stalks
Sugar - 250 gms
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Ghee - 2 tsps

Make sure the stem is red while selecting the rhubarb stalks. Slice each piece into an inch size.
Heat a pan and add 2 tsps of ghee into it, heat it up for a min and add the sliced rhubarb pieces. Do not add water as rhubarb has ot of water in it ,now add the sugar and keep stirring.Garnish it with cardamom and serve

 

Kerala Parota

Kerala parota is a flat bread made with eggs and plain flour. Though it doesn't carry much of nutritional value i try to compensate with mixed veg spicy kurma to compensate it.

Ingredients :

Plain flour - 2 cups
Free range eggs - 2 medium
salt - 1 tsp
Sunflower Oil - 1 tbsp

Dough preparation :

Mix all the ingredients and knead it for 10 mins continuously to make it soft.

Parota preparation:

Roll the dough into small balls , apply oil on top of it and keep it aside. Now twist the dough balls
and into a spiral shape . Again roll it back into its original shape. Repeat the process thrice. Now roll the dough with the rolling pin and bake it.

Banana Kesari

UK Street View by Google

Google launches Street View in the UK. Though the Software has used technology to blur faces and number plates, cent percent results were not achieved. From Aberdeen to Southampton almost 25 cities are covered.Before the UK, street view was launched in the US and some more countries.

Saffron Cake

Ingredients:
Softened Butter - 150 gms
Self-raising Flour - 150 gms
Caster Sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 3
Saffron - 2gms

Baking Method:

Beat all the ingedients except Saffron. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.Transfer the contents to a baking tin. Now slowly spread the saffron on the top layer of the mix. Set the timer of the oven about 25 to 30 mins and bake it. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 mins. Delicious Saffron cake is ready!!!!!!!

After the break......

Am back after the break with mouth-watering recipes and technology updates.

Mutton Kola Urundai( Meat balls in gravy)

Ingredients:

Minced lamb - 500 gms
Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Garted Coconut - 1 cup
Bengal gram - 50 gms
Curry leaf - 5 strands
Cummin seeds - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 4
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 1 piece
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsps

Method of Cooking:

Chop the onion and tomatoes. Grind the remaining ingredients and roll it like balls.
In a frying pan heat 2 tsps of oil and add cinnamon and cloves once it splutters add onion and tomatoes and fry it for 5 mins. Add a cup of water and boil it for 5 mins . Finally add the mutton
balls and boil it for 20 mins. This is a perfect combo with rice /dosa.

Be aware of Downadup worm......

Win32.Worm.Downadup is a Computer Virus which is spreading at a faster pace.Computer experts warns about the potential danger it could create on PCs. It seems to be mainly using USBs to infect computers. Please thoroughly check your USB before copying any information.

Happy Pongal/Sankranti!

Gulab Jamoon

Ingredients:

Gulab Jamoon Mix (Preferably MTR) - 300 gms pack
Ghee - 1 tsp
Cardamom - 7
Sugar - 1 kg
Oil - 2 tbsps

Sugar Syrup Preparation:

Add 1 kg of sugar with 1 litre of water in a bowl and boil it with medium heat.Add 1 tsp of ghee and cardamom . Keep stirring for 15 mins.

Cooking Method:

Add required amount of water to make the jamoon mix to a dough.Roll it as small balls and deep fry it in the oil till it turns brown.Allow the sugar syrup to cool for an hour.In the sugar syrup add the fried balls .