Abracadabra ! Baba Ramdev has disappeared off the media. The great Indian Media is Houdini indeed! They can make and break, anything you want baby!
Poor Guy Ramdev, and poor Anna Hazare. What politcians and media can do together, only if they meant good!
Gandhiji said…. “…be the change…”. I wonder how will that help today?
Just some random thoughts…. I think I should just take a nap!
Vaishali is my cousins wife. She is super talented. What can I say, everyone I know are super talented people (my peeps 
)
So, when we visited her last time in Pune, she made a big spread for lunch. Fish curry (next recipe), crab curry, fried prawns, some vegetables, and this raita. Everything was so good. Yumm-O rating!
So finally, I called her yesterday and took these recipes from her. This raita is made with lots of yogurt, so I cannot call the yogurt a dressing, but technically it is I guess. God Knows! Well, who cares!
Here is the recipe!
Ingredients:
Yogurt, 2 cups, (dahi)
salt, sugar for taste
oil for the ‘tadka’
mustard seeds (raai), curry leaves (kadi patta), asafoetida (hing), green hot peppers (hari mirchi) for the tadka
boiled and chopped in small size (like corn and peas) potatoes (optional carrots, etc)
boiled sweet american corn, green peas
grated beet root
First get the vegetables ready and cooled.
For the tadka, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, when they splatter, add the green peppers and curry leaves, and finally the asafoetida. Turn off the heat, let the tadka cool a bit. Then add it to the whisked yogurt.
Add the vegetables to the yogurt, and finally add salt and sugar as needed.
Eat it as a evening snack or part of your meal. What did I say, Yumm-O!
A different recipe for the king of vegetables. (remember the serial ‘baingan raja’ we used to watch as kids in India).
I saw this recipe on TV, and I cannot wait to try it out. It looks so beautiful, so visually tempting. Yumm.
Ingredients:
oil,
mustard seed 1 tsp,
cumin seeds 1 tsp,
garlic,
green hot pepper chopped (hari mirchi),
asafoetida (hing),
red dry chilli,
turmeric (haldi),
yogurt mixed with rice flour and little water,
eggplants (baingan) baked or roasted on flame
Method:
Heat the oil, put the mustard seeds, let them pop, add the cumin, let them sizzle, add the garlic, green peppers, and curry leaves. Add some water to prevent burning. Add the hing and the haldi. Now put the yogurt rice flour mixture, stirring continuously. Let it come to a boil, add salt, and then drop the eggplants one at a time.
(While roasting the eggplants, cut some slits through them, then roast over flame, or on barbecue, peel off the skin, when they are hot)
I think this will taste great with rice, naans, rotis, or even a slice of bread!
Past few days, I have been just hogging away! Brain’s dead, no warnings or realization of consequences. Just eat, eat, eat, and eat.
One of the devil dishes I had was Rabdi (pronounced ‘ra-buh-dee’). Its just milk which is basically boiled down to be 1/4 th its original volume (think Fat, yeah, thats it). Add some sugar, some dry fruits, some cardomom, some saffron, and you get good old fashioned Rabdi. Best eaten chilled. Complements so well with fresh fruits, gulab jamuns, maal-puas, jalebis, etc etc.
Its so good, its just evil (though I would describe the taste as pure heaven)
Oh by the way, incase you are wondering where is the recipe, thats it. Let the milk come to a boil, and then on simmer, keep stirring occasionally, taking care, you do not burn the bottom. Then do the rest, as I mentioned above.
Enjoy!
Thanks Madhu Aunty!
Note: Jitendra Store at Goregaon (a small suburb in Mumbai city), on S.V. Road near the railway station has great Rabdi in little earthern pots. Though, they also mix in fresh fruits, dry fruits and mini rasgullas in it. Yumm!
Chock full of vitamins in this recipe. So many vegetables you can use, and there are very high chances your kids are going to love it. No fuss, no mess, easy recipe. Few ingredients, lots of vegetables!
Here you go!
Ingredients:
For the basic white sauce, (which has been used by me in some of the previous recipes too with pasta, with cauliflower and broccoli, etc etc, the Beshamel sauce used by Turkish friends)
unsalted butter, 2 tbsp
all purpose flour (maida), 2 tbsp
milk, cold 2 cups
Vegetable mix:
carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, french beans, (any combination, chopped into equal bite sized pieces)
peas, american corn (off the cob that is)
(you can optionally throw in some boiled chicken too)
seasoning: salt, white pepper, red chilli flakes
Method:
First boil the vegetables and keep separate the stock. Retain the stock, do not discard it.
To make the white sauce, heat the butter, and fry the flour in it, till the color changes, and you get an aroma. (maybe 1 or 2 mins). Do not let it brown. Slowly add the cold milk, and whisk quickly with the other hand. Stir continuously till the sauce thickens. The sauce is ready.
Now if required, thin the sauce with water, stirring constantly. Then when it comes to a boil, add the vegetables and some salt and white pepper powder. (To make it a bit spicy, add red chilli flakes).
Done, go ahead, get a spoon, eat it right out of the pan. Don’t burn your tongue though. 
Yum-O rating!
Just one thought. Today, on the occasion of the Prince Williams wedding, a mothers absence will be felt. Princess Diana, you will be missed today, especially today.
Funny huh? Even a Princess cannot stand against God’s will.
Crab curry with rice
I am a chicken, when it comes to handling dead stuff especially if it is not cut up and cleaned. Like a whole chicken, lamb or a goat, a whole fish….all these freak me out! So you can imagine, how I must have reacted when I saw a bunch of crabs in my friends kitchen’s sink!
I screamed so loudly, that everyone in their house came running to check on me. So you see, me and a crab or a lobster; dead or alive is out of the question!
But dont worry lifensuch readers, my daring and bold friend Tehsin is not a chicken like moi. She has very generously contributed a recipe, she learned from our dear friend Anita and Anita’s mom. i.e. Crab Curry!!!! Also, she has taken a lot of pictures for you all. (even the pictures scare me 
)
So here you go!
Ingredients:
crabs; ofcourse
oil for cooking,
coconut, shredded
turmeric,
corriander (dhania) powder,
red dried chillies (or chilli powder)
tamarind paste (if you dont have tamarind, you can use tomatoes, it will give a slight different taste than tamarinds)
chopped onions,
salt as per taste,
water for cooking
Method:
Heat oil, then roast shredded coconut until light brown. In a blender, grind roasted coconut, red chillies (whole if possible; if not available, you can add chilli powder), turmeric, corriander powder, and little tamarind paste (this entire coconut paste should be very fine).
Fry chopped onions in oil until light brown. Add the coconut paste (described above). Fry for about 5 more mins; add crabs; add salt and little water; let stimmer for abt 5-10 mins until crabs are done.
To make sure crabs are cooked; check if the blue color on crab has turned orange/white; if yes then its cooked.
Garnish with corriander leaves.
Serve with hot steamed rice.
Tips for handling live crabs: Anita’s mom suggests getting the live crabs in a brown paper bag, and putting them in the freezer section of the refrigerator. Let them be in there overnight. Or you can drop them alive in hot boiling water. I know sounds horrible right? But I guess this is the way its done.
Notes: You can use the exact same coconut paste to cook chicken, fish, mutton etc. It will taste completely different.
I watch a lot of television these days, what to do, nothing else to do (you know I am lazy).
Anyhow, here is a recipe I watched on a Television show, that I am dying to try out.
Ingredients:
1 Apple chopped,
1 cup chopped cabbage,
1 cup grated carrot,
1 cup sweet corn,
1 cup orange (peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
1 tomato chopped,
1 cup cucumber, chopped
For Salad Dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, salt, sugar, black pepper
Method:
Put all the above ingredients in a big salad bowl. Mix the salad dressing in a separate bowl with a fork. And drizzle over the fruits and vegetables. Toss with 2 big spoons. Let it sit for 5-10 mins (this gets the juices flowing out of the vegetables and fruits).
Thats it! Don’t you all think this will be excellent for the hot summer, which is right around the corner? And of course super low calorie too, so excellent if you are dieting.
Dried apricot and almond
= Cookie? Nah.. I dont think so.
I read on MSN’s website somewhere that it tastes like a cookie, but it so does not taste like a cookie. A cookie is a cookie. No replacement.
BUT, what they suggested does not taste bad. A pulpy dry fruit, and a nut is always a good combo.
Like Raisins and walnuts, that tastes good together.
Fresh Pineapple and fresh avocado is my absolute favorite. I love the sweet, tangy, and crunchy taste of pineapple and the smooth creamy bland taste of avocado together. I think I have written about it earlier too.
Good for snack or dessert time.
Okay, today I did a freaky thing! Dipped my legs into a fish tank with hundreds of hungry-looking finger long fishes. Freaked out, duh, Yeah, big time!
I had gone to eat Rajdhani Thali today. Confession: I hogged!
Okay, moving on to Fish Spa.
This is a new trend in India. In malls, there are these little 10 ft X 5 ft rooms, where there is a little fish tank in the floor, with no top, and hundreds of fishes called Doctor fishes swimming in it. They wash your feet with water first, wipe them, check if there are any cuts or bruises or rashes. Wipe your feet with a clean towel. Then these girls, convince you that its okay to dip your feet in.
I first went to check it out earlier before my Lunch. It seemed okay to look at feet of another girl covered with hundreds of fishes. So I thought I could do that.
I came back got my feet prepared and then pulled up my pants over a bit and then I froze. I just could not get myself to put my feet in the tank. As I was looking in the tank, all the fishes gathered together in a big bunch right below my feet. If I moved my feet to the right, they would move to the right, if I moved them to the left, they would move to the left. They were hovering over the water surface, ready to attack my poor little feet!!!
I was sweating from my head to toe. I was nervous.
After a couple minutes, I decided, time to be brave, what can the little fishes do? (The girls promised me they don’t have teeth, so biting was out of question). I thought, let me just dip my heels in the tank and see how it goes.
I slowly started to lower my heels in the water, and WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!
I screamed, and the passerbys stopped to look through the glass wall. I was screaming, but again, I didnt want to freak the fishes out, so I was trying to stop myself, but it was hard. I had taken the 15 minute package (you dip your feet for 15 minutes, and then one of the girls, wipes your feet, and massages your legs for a couple minutes with lotion).
15 minutes felt like a lifetime (not human lifetime, but more like a fish’s lifetime).
It took me a couple minutes to dip my feet entirely in the water. The girls said, it feels like vibrations, somebody else had said, they felt ticklish, somebody said, it felt like a massage.
I felt like, I was getting countless little electric shocks. Not in a bad way, but in a good way. And sometimes it felt like the fishes are trying to pull your feet in slowly.
Weird experience. But definitely worth trying once. I don’t know if this fish spa made my feet soft and that I would go back… but it was quite entertaining (especially for others who were watching)