Twenty- five Seven

Moong daal Chaklis

September 4, 2012

Going on a honeymoon is very common – what is not very common is going on a holiday after an important religious occasion like the initiation ceremony every little Brahmin boy undertakes around the age of 8 or so. In the olden days, this ceremony actually marked the young boy’s send off to the Gurukul or his guru’s school where he spent the next ten years or so attaining the knowledge that would make him into a man. Today’s Boarding school would be the closest to this system where a boy is sent off for his secondary school education. This religious ceremony which is conducted by priests normally concludes like all occasions with a big feast for friends and family. Apart from the sacred thread and the sacred mantra that is whispered into his ear, the boy also receives lots of gifts in cash or kind from those who attend the function. This event (known as the Munja in my part of the world) is almost like a wedding : so after my brother’s Munja, the family decided to go on a holiday. While we drove through the countryside, we had a special game – who could read the signposts/milestones as the car went past. Things were fairly easy till we were in the State of Maharashtra but the moment we entered Karnataka, we got lost. The closest we could come to identifying them was “chakli” and “kadboli” the savoury tidbits that we made specially for Diwali.

But special food for special occasions has completely lost its significance in today’s day and age where birthdays and festivals are celebrated on convenient holidays rather than on the day itself. So making “chakli” is now no longer confined to Diwali or weddings or even special events. However, my attempts at making “chakli” have always been disastrous so it is with great trepidation that I try to make this dish. Yesterday my mom gave me a quick never fail recipe which I tried, and wonder of wonders – I did get the perfect “chakli” or at least as near perfect as possible.

I took a cup of moong daal which I cooked in a pressure cooker along with 250 g of flour. After the pressure came to normal, I pounded the lump of flour back into a powder and added it to the cooked daal. To this I added salt, chilli powder and some cumin seeds. Then I pressed out the chakli with a chakli maker and deep fried them to a golden brown crisp.They were definitely yum
Kimchi on Sunday

September 3, 2012

Cucumber and cross section (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It all started with the humongous cucumber Kadam brought home from the farm. Since we had already decided to have Chinese for dinner, I decided to make some kimchi to go with the meal and use up the cucumber which otherwise would have taken me at least a month to chomp through.

Kimchi is actually a Korean dish. more of a salad or appetiser served along with the meal. Lightly spiced with vinegar and sugar, it provides a delightful crunch during the meal. It was first introduced to India by Nelson Wang who provided this on his tables at China Garden to distract and tease his diner’s palates while they waited for their noodles to be Hakkaed and their Chilli to be fried.

So I cleaned up the vegetable and made a dressing of vinegar and sugar. I discarded the inner core of the cucumber and made the rest into thick juliennes before dunking them in the dressing. A few hours later, I removed this from the fridge and served it with my meal.

Definitely worth a try – epecially when you come across a fat cucumber!
Justice of Politics – Making monkeys of men

September 2, 2012
Photograph of Ajmal Kasab, one of the ten terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Victoria Terminus station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever since Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and BJP MLA Maya Kodnani + 29 others were awarded life imprisonment for inciting the riots in Gujerat post-Godhra in what is known as the Naroda Case by a Special Court , the media has gone viral in its praise for this quick decision. Mind you, the riots took place 10 years ago but considering the fact that there are cases pending which, it is rumoured, would need 300 years to see the light at the end of the tunnel, this would seem pretty fast track indeed!

While destruction and death of any kind is morally wrong and needs to be addressed in the lifetime of those affected, it would seem that this decision was politically motivated and was dealt with indecent haste.

A case in point is the justice meted out to Mr.Ajmal Kasab – a non Indian person who came to our country to destroy and kill. No Indian can forget seeing his face captured on camera, lugging his gun and looking for people to shoot. For days we were fed footage of the carnage on the platform, his walk towards the TOI building, his mad car caper in the police van and finally his photo taken in the hospital. After such evidence, we still keep him under wraps and are wasting public money to keep him alive. And for what?

He deserves to die NOW and it is high time the people of INDIA get the justice they deserve. While going the whole hog with the Rule of Law and the procedures set down, we may prove to the world that we are not a Banana Republic but we have also proved to the world that we have a government that is making monkeys out of its citizens.
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