Musings on time

Somehow you don't realize how quickly time passes until you have a child. I mean - just look at Colwin in this picture. Doesn't he look all grown up? And he's only/already 2! (Well, 2 and a bit by now :)



Well, maybe it's just mums who have the feeling that the days and weeks rush by and all of a sudden you look around and you see a much older version of your child than what you last remembered.

Hmm, or maybe I'm just getting old?! No, please don't answer that one :)

started writing my thesis

yay !!! i started writing my thesis and i'm loving it (not writing but the fact that i have already written quite a lot and now i just need to organize most of it). you'd be amazed how efficient can continuous thesis writing can be - if you don't have experiments to do/ papers to read/ just feeling lazy, just write a page or two for your thesis (review/ experimental results/ introduction, etc) and it's going to make life a lot easier for you when it comes to wrap up time :-)

palak paneer (spinach with cottage cheese)

hey!

a lot of people (ok, a few people ....... fine, one person, one time) asked me how i got into cooking - it was when my mom had a boutique and sometimes me and my sister cooked for her. i was confined to chopping and cutting and laying out the plates - an apprentice you might say. i used to cook maggi noodles sometimes with veggies. I still remember the first dish i cooked from A-Z was for my parents - malai kofta and that is one of the best feelings I've ever had. it is considered to be a rather complex dish, especially for a beginner like me. i used to have 2/3 signature dishes in the beginning - rajma (red kidney beans) recipe of mankad aunty, alu and gobhi parathe (potato and cauliflower stuffed naans) and the recipe over here - palak paneer. i was watching khaana khazana (cookery show) one afternoon after i came from college and the chef - sanjeev kapoor was making this amazingly tempting, simple and foolproof dish, and i thought i might have a go at it.

I didn't know how to make everyday food till quite late, it was only when I went to Bangkok for 3 months to be with my Dad in 2004 that I started cooking healthy everyday food. anyways, here's one of my early specialties - palak paneer

ingredients (for 4 average people) -

1. spinach - leaves weight 400gms
2. paneer - 300 gms
3. onion - 200 gms
4. tomato - 100 gms (1 big tomato)
5. cumin - 1 teaspoon
6. crushed ginger - 1 tablespoon
7. crushed garlic - 1 tablespoon
8. bay leaves - 2 big leaves
9. cinnamon - 1 stick
10. star aniseed - 2 whole
11. milk - 125 ml
12. chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
13. coriander powder - 3 teaspoon
14. turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
15. canola/ vegetable/ sunflower/ groundnut oil - 50 ml
16. thickened cream as a topping - optional

********* (for all future indian recipes, generally chilli-coriander-turmeric - in alphabetical order goes in the ratio 1:3:1)
remove stems from spinach, boil water, put the spinach leaves in and leave for 2-3 mins - turn the heat off and let the leaves stay there for 5 mins.

take the leaves out immediately and leave them in COLD water for a couple of mins (helps to retain the shiny greeen color)- put them in a blender with 50 ml milk (if needed) and blend. empty into a bowl. throw in the another 50 ml milk and run the blender again - it is going to rescue the spinach stuck to walls of the blender and you won't waste spinach (I really hate when i have to wash the blender with spinach remaining on the sides). put this in the bowl as well - and mix together.

dice tomatoes and onions fine.

heat oil in a deep pan and when hot, add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick and bay leaves.

after half a minute, throw in onion, crushed ginger and garlic - (it's important to let the dry spices release flavours for about 30 secs because once you put the onion, ginger and garlic, the oil cools down and then the cumin flavor is not spread which is a waste of spice). stir occasionally and cook o medium high until onions and brown - but not burnt.

mix chilli, coriander and turmeric powders in a small bowl with about the remaining 25 ml milk and mix well - add to the onions and cook for 20 secs. then add the diced tomato and cook for 2 mins. you don't want the tomato to become mushy and soggy buy just become soft. add the spinach and milk paste and salt - turn down heat to 4 o'clock position (refer to lamb curry recipe to find out what that is) and cook for a about 5 mins - stirring occasionally.

while it is being cooked - get the diced paneer, heat a frying pan at medium high and spray oil in it. also spray oil on the paneer cubes. put the paneer on the heated pan and fry for 2 minutes tossing and turning in between. the idea is to get a nice light brown color to the paneer.

add this paneer to the spinach-onion-tomato mix that has been cooked for 5 mins now (heat is still at 4:00) and cook for another 3 mins. empty in a serving dish. whisk 2-3 tablespoons of thickened cream in a small bowl and swirl around on top of the dish. serve with rice/ naan/ roti/ bread.

p.s. it's a good dish to have on the table with a second meat based dish. complements the other dish (like lamb curry) nicely. bon appetite! peace.

lamb/goat curry recipe (shorter cooking time)

A few people have asked me the recipe for lamb curry and here it is - ingredients (for feeding 4 average people)

marinade -

1. 600gm diced lamb (1.5inch x 1.5 inch pieces are best suited) or 1kg goat meat with bones - HAMKA butcher in auburn arcade sells SOOOOOOOPER meat (thanks to michelle's parents for introducing me to the place!). address: 10/75-77 Auburn Road, Auburn 2144, Phone 97492421 - their lamb chops and cutlets are pretty good too and you might wanna try their minced lamb with herbs)
2. 200gm thick yoghurt
3. 1 teaspoon turmeric
4. 1 teaspoon indian meat masala (brands - badshah/ everest/ mdh)
5. 1 tablespoon ginger paste
6. 1 tablespoon garlic paste
7. 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
8. 1 tablespoon olive oil
9. 2 tablespoon lemon juice

mix all these together and keep in in the fridge for 12-24 hours - yes, that long :(

ingredients for curry -

1. 500gm onions - chopped decently fine (about size of your nails)
2. 250gm tomatoes
3. 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
4. 4 bay leaves
5. 6-10 cardamom
6. 6-10 cloves
7. 1 teaspoon whole black pepper
8. small piece of cinnamon
9. 300ml thickened cream
10. 3 tablespoon coriander powder
11. 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
12. 1 tablespoon chilli powder for indian hot
    OR
13. 1 teaspoon chilli powder for medium hot
14. crushed ginger 1 tablespoon
15. crushed garlic 5 cloves
16. oil (any except olive) 75 ml
17. salt - to taste (i recommend 1 teaspoon)
18. 1 teaspoon garam masala (from indian store)
19. coriander to garnish

heat oil in a deep pan - throw ingredients 3-8 in it when hot (if you don't have some of the ingredients no. 3-8, don't worry). after exactly 8.673276 seconds,
throw in onion, crushed ginger garlic and turn heat to medium-high, cook until onion turns brown (keep stirring ocasionally). this should take 15 mins.

mix corainder powder, chilli, turmeric in a bowl with 50 ml water so that it forms a liquidy paste. throw in this paste when onion is brown. stir constantly for about 15-20secs so that it doesn't stick to the base or burn and add diced tomatoes. cook for about 15 mins till the whole thing thickens.

add cream and cook for another 15 mins - the oil will (or atleast should) separate at this stage.
add the marinaded lamb and garam masala, turn the heat high, stir intermitently for 5 mins. cover the pan with a lid (it's actually best to use a pressure cooker - picture below)

and cook for 35 mins on low heat (i call it the 3 o'clock position because the knob points to the hours hand at 3:00)
don't open ASAP - let it stay for 10 mins - open and garnish with chopped coriander leaves - serve with rice/ naan/ bread/ pizza base - whatever you like (ok, not pizza base)

c++

as a tutor in macquarie university for c++, i come across hundreds of students, 10% of them much better than me, 10% better, 70% to whom i relate, and 10% who need work on their thinking attitude first and then on the syntax.

c++ is not just programming - it's putting into a syntactical form your solution to the problem. so whenever you are going about a problem - write the solution on paper - each and every step, then start coding it - any line of solution you have problem encoding, think about it - what are the ways in which you can solve it - most of the time a combination of arrays, loops, conditions, structures/ classes, functions and some good and nice old-fashioned logic will do the trick.

as an example - try and solve this one - display a ten digit input (example 1234567890) in LED display format (the way numbers are displayed in calculators, well, atleast the old ones)

once you finish the solution, think - and then think some more and optimize your solution - how can you reduce the size of code, the number of variables, the time taken, etc.

best of luck.

i hate cars (well, not exactly)

i was just watching this ad which depicts a flashy car as a necessity rather than a luxury item.
all this marketing that surrounds us, not only for automobiles, but electronics, furniture, is creating a parallel world in our brains where leading a simple life is seen as a sign of being a loser. i don't say that don't buy a car - but one, a functional one, which is enough to take you from your 2 bedroom house to your 4 sq. mtr. cubicle. buy a tele which is pleasent enough to watch without hurting your eyes. buy furniture on which you can place your rear rather than one which is just gonna sit there itself. a functional life is what we are missing, and cars are at the front of it. numerous problems relate to the car craze - you want a 3 ltr. jeep cherokee which guzzles up a litre of petrol every 5/6 kms. you can drive this distance in 3 mins on a decent highway (legally). now fill a 1 ltr. bottle with water and try to empty it in 3 mins - this is how fast your 4-wheeler drinks petrol. i say, instead go for a "smart" car or a hybrid car which will give you 18 kms (thrice that of cherokee for the mathematically challenged). maybe if people aren't so emotionally attached to their automobiles, companies will back off, governments will actually be ruled by people and not corporations, wars avoided and thousands of life spared - now if that ain't a reason enough to live modestly, nothing is.....

sports

i am crazy, in general, and specially for sports. if it was upto me, saturday would be reserved for sports ONLY. i love the excitement of competing physically and putting in 110% to reach for that one ball or shuttle. i play almost all games but for table tennis - haven't got a chance to try it out much - played it a couple of times but couldn't control the light ping pong ball. but thanks to colwin, i might get into it soon. well, that reminds me of COLWIN















he's menno (works in the same dept. as me) and tanja's kid - extremely sweet and nice kid. me and gunjan love him a lot and you can say we are more of his friends than his parents'. he's 2 now and growing up really quick. amazing to see how kids change so fast.

about me

named gaurav by parents on 25th Nov. 1980, I was raised in Indore, India as a typical Indian kid - was quite average (say B+) in studies in school (St. Paul) - under average in sports (B-) and pathetic in music, etc. Did play some guitar by myself but never seriously. But I think people heard me playing quite seriously and must be thinking "is this also music :(" did my undergrad from IIPS India, Masters in Computing from NUS, Singapore and came to Sydney in early 2005 with Gunjan, my wife. It was in undergrad that we got together, we've known each other for 9 years, been together since almost 6 years now, married for almost 3 :)

In sydney, I am pursuing Ph.D. degree from Computing department, Macquarie University, tutoring in the same department and lecturing ISYS123 in SIBT. More info is on my university home page.

why the name "qpmz"

my blog's title is four corners coz i started out with the ambition that i'd cover all the things i am interested in here - which is highly unlikely :( anyways - "qpmz" are the four corner characters on a standard keyboard moving in a clockwise direction - hence the name "qpmz" (yes, NERD!)