Butter chicken recipe

Ingredients( serves 8)

• 50 ml Oil
• 100 grams butter
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 onions, finely chopped
• 4 onions, chopped
• 50g cashews, roasted
• 3 tsp garlic ginger paste
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 3 tsp red chilli powder
• 2 tbsp kastoori methi
• 2 green chilli(optional)
• salt to taste
• 60 g unsalted butter
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1.5 kg chicken breast fillet

Recipe

1. Cut the chicken into big chunks (about 2" cubes should be good). Mix the chicken pieces, 1 tsp garlic ginger paste, 1/2 tsp red chilli, 1 tsp coriander powder and salt in a large bowl. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
2. Cook the chicken 
1. Option 1: Heat the oil in a flat pan on medium heat and gently fry the chicken pieces. Remove and set aside.
2. Option 2: Bake in preheated oven at 220 degree Celsius for 20 mins and then 200 degree Celsius for another 15-20 (or till the chicken is cooked from inside).

Gravy:

1. Heat the oil in a deep pan on medium heat, then add cumin seeds.
2. When cumin seeds turns darkish brown, add the chopped onions. Fry till a pale golden brown in color and then add 2tsp garlic ginger paste. Fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add 1 tsp coriander powder, cashews, 2 tsp red chilli, green chilli (optional) and kastoori methi. fry for a minute.
4. Finely, add chopped tomatoes then add some water and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Remove and set aside for 10 minutes.
6. Put them in a blender and blend till it's a smooth paste.
7. Heat butter in a deep pan. Add cinnamon stick and bay leaves.
8. Add blended puree, salt and 2 cup of water. bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. add fried chicken pieces. simmer for 5 minutes.
10. Add cream and garam masala powder.
11. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with parathas/rice :-p

Welcome Zoya

It is my pleasure to introduce to you all, Zoya. The following ultrasound is from week 12. Expected arrival date is 25/04/2011

Gunjan is keeping well. She is eating healthy, still going to the gym and working out based on Doctors' recommendations and doesn't feel too nauseous or weak, which is excellent!


A Wii boxing game acted as the decider for the name between Gunjan's contender, Zoya; and mine, Sanaa. Zoya won in under 10 seconds.


We can already see our lives changing for the better and can't wait for little Ms. Zoya to arrive :-)

Rabdi / Ras-malaai

I went to Melbourne a few months back where I put on 4 kgs in a week, thanks to Alka Aunty's Rabdi and Ras Malaai. Took 2 months to get rid of the lard but it was worth it!

Rabdi is like condensed milk with a distinct flavour of pistachos, saffron and cardamom (optionally cinnamon)

The best part about this recipe is that it can be made in the microwave oven :)

Ingredients (to serve 6 people):

Full Cream Milk 1 litre
A pinch of Saffron
2 cardamom pods
10 pistachos
1 small pinch of freshly ground cinnamon (if you like a strong flavour)
50 grams sugar (or to taste)

In a 1000Watt Microwave, boil the milk in a 2ltr utensil (pirex material is ideal) for 10 minutes. Stir and repeat till milk condenses to 500 ml (should take about 5-6 rounds). You need a big utensil because the milk rises a bit. When you stir it, be careful as the milk gets super-heated and will "erupt" quite vigorously so you might have to wait for 30 or so seconds every time the round finishes.

Add sugar and give it another 3 rounds. It should come down to 300 ml by now. Add well-ground cardamom, saffron, well-cracked pistachos and optionally cinnamon. Stir well, let it cool, and blend. That's the rabdi part - done :). Now this is a dessert by itself.

You can also add readymade rasmalaai (Bikano) if you want.

Enjoy,
Gaurav

memorizing... code!

this semester in my undergrad class, i have a ... well, a different student. not quite sure why he's a bit ... "confrontational" in general but there can be n reasons for that. so i don't want to be rude to him or anything so i try to keep my calm with him during the lecture.

the other day, he kept insisting about how can one memorize Processing language functions like "line(x1,y1,x2,y2)", how does one meorize the code to draw a cube, and so on. to be honest, he caught me by surprise since i had never been asked a question like that before - how does one memorize programming codes!

i tried to explain to the class about how when they practice enough, they won't *need* to memorize functions and so on but quite frankly, i didn't convince myself, if at all the students.

so here's the answer i wish i had given:

Student: "How can i memorize this code you wrote to draw a cube"
I: "Can you tell me what is 73 + 18?"
Student (Hopefully): 91
I: "Did you memorize that?"

Intuitive understanding would say that programming is rather similar to Math, where understanding of fundamentals is critical towards solving more complex problems that are built on top of simpler problems.

Thus, the brain (IMO) goes through a process of analyzing each separable component of a problem (and by problem, I mean mathematical or computing) to determine

1. if it's solvable as-it-is, or
2. whether it can be broken down, or
3. whether the next separable component should be looked at first.

the brain gradually trains itself to come up with the problem solving process just described above and eventually when faced with a problem, applies the process, and adds any new information in its knowledge base.

I know this is all very intuitive and random hypothesis, but hey, that's why it's going on a blog and not in a research journal :D

Over and out :-)

Cairns - Port Douglas trip

As some of you might be aware of, Gunjan and I took some time off work and had a wonderful holiday in cairns and port douglas. in this edition, i would like to share some stories from the trip and more importantly some information i wish i had before going.


We took jetstar flight to cairns, stayed there overnight at Queen's Court which is a very basic and economic place to stay. Next morning we picked up our rental car (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone visiting Queensland, or any place for that matter). We were with AVIS and the staff were not very helpful (at the same time, they weren't too bad either). Although they didn't have the free upgrade we were entitled to, I was pretty happy with the small manual Getz over there as it's really really flat as compared to NSW. So my first suggestion is to get a small (1.3/ 1.6 ltr car and opt for the free extra day instead of free upgrades that rental companies offer as you will NOT need anything heavy duty).

We took off for Port Douglas, and on the way Gunjan finally accepted that  I wasn't bluffing about there being mango trees on road side.

  


We had a dip at a beach on the way and was quite nice - the water was amazingly warm for September (at least for us, who live in Sydney, it was)





In Port Douglas, we stayed at Mercure TreeTops which is 5 mins drive from the city center. The city itself is just one main street and kinda reminded me of Hatod, which has just one road, Nandlal Road. Of course, apart from similar city structure, there's nothing common between the two.

Our evenings were mostly spent in the town where our favorite dinner place was Mango Jam. The vegetarian pizza was excellent and we stuck to that the two nights we were there.

 



We also tried Rattle Hum where the food was ok, but it ain't no Mango Jam.

The main beach in Port Douglas is Four Mile beach and is serene!

While we were in Port Douglas, we went to see Mossman Gorge and Daintree rainforests.

Mossman gorge is a lovely place and has some pretty interesting flora. The natural landscape is beautiful and offers ample opportunities for good pictures. There is also a tiny pond at the end of the trail where you can have a dip with the fish (so take the swimming gear, snorkel mask and tube, no need to take fins along).

 

 

There are a few mosquitos and bugs there so either apply repellent beforehand or better still take it with you. You might also wanna keep a ltr or so of cold water as it gets a bit hot in there.

We then drove to Daintree rainforests and on the way, stopped for an hour-long crocodile river cruise which was nice as we could witness wildlife without restrictions. You don't see tens or hundreds of crocs but you do see a couple of adult crocs and a few babies too. On a lucky day, you can also see some pythons and snakes in the mangroves.

Dainetree rainforests themselves were nice but since we were a bit tired from the trip that day, we chose not to explore them comprehensively. We did have a swim at the beach at the end of the trip (What was the name of the beach...... Cape Tribulation beach, yes!) It's not that great for swimming as it has quite a few rocks within 10 meters of the shore. Hence, you have to be a little careful, otherwise you might seriously hurt yourself.

 

But on the way back, we saw a beautiful yellow belly snake, at the sight of which, Gunjan, logically, ran away but I decided to take some pictures from about 15 ft away. I had enough time to change my lens and the reptile offered some good shots. (S)he got a bit upset towards the end and that's when I decided to run away too :D

The main attraction, at least before we had left Sydney, was the Great Barrier Reef. It was spectacular to see the reef and the sea life down there. 

  

There's a cafe in Port Douglas which has one of the funniest signs at the door I have ever seen. I wish their coffee were equally good too :-(

Port Douglas weekly markets were also really good and had lots of fresh fruits on offer. I gorged on my childhood favorite - sugarcane. Had heaps of juice while we were there. Trust me, it can't get any sweeter than that, or better, with a twist of ginger in it ... yumm :-p

From cairns, we did a day trip to Paronella Park, named after it's builder and owner, a Spanish migrant who worked in cane fields and was wise enough to save to buy a property and build a nice small castle on it. It is definitely worth going to, with a small picnic basket.

While we were in cairns, we went to the Art Gallery, that was holding the FNQ 2010 exhibition and two paintings really impressed us. I have forgotten the name of the first one, but the second one was "The love song of J Alfred Prufrock"

  

is THAT why it's wrong!?

Usually, I refrain from putting up political posts here but this one had to be shared!

I quote the following from Sydney Morning Herald (08/09/10)

The concerned news, with similar take, can be found on other western newspapers such as New York Times and The Telegraph.

A Florida evangelical church has vowed to go ahead with plans to burn the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary, despite fears it may fuel an angry backlash and endanger US and allied troops in Afghanistan.

The White House lent its voice to growing concern from military leaders that the incendiary move could trigger outrage around the Islamic world, as well as stoke a growing anti-Muslim tide of feeling in the United States.

"It puts our troops in harm's way. Any type of activity like that that puts our troops in harm's way would be a concern to this administration," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, reiterating comments by top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus.

So the White House thinks, and western newspapers concur, that the only (or at least the primary, and worth mentioning) reason it's wrong to burn religious texts is because it might harm THEIR troops - Genius! Score from today's game - Tolerance - 0, Whackos - 1

Guacamole - Si! Hurra, Oh Si!

Source: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/guacamole-520-b.jpg

Guacamole, in my opinion, is the quintessential dip with lebanese bread, nachos, chips or crackers at any party, lazy evening, or just because ...

Traditionally from Mexico, this delightful side made with ripe avocados, lemon, <garlic>, <tomato>, <coriander> (<x> implies that x is optional) is refreshing, healthy, and tasty all at the same time unlike many Indian dishes :D

Ingredients (serves 3-4 as a dip before mains)

3 just a little ripe avocados (i don't like them too ripe, else you get a squishy smelly brown guacamole). the easiest way to check ripeness is a) color - bright green implies not ripe (but sometimes due to artifical ripening, even green ones can be ripe) and hence b) just press them a bit at the top and if they are soft like a fresh banana, they are ripe. they should NOT be tooooo soft like a banana turned black

1 clove of garlic

salt to taste

1 green chilli

1/2 lime

Optional:

1 tomato (not too ripe), diced fine
1/2 spanish onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander

crush the garlic (and if you are using, green chilli) really well in a mortar pestle to get the juices out. trust me, you don't want to have a conversation with anyone after you have chewed on one of those bad boys, especially if you have made it for a first date :D

if you are using them, dice the tomato and onion fairly finely

scoop out the avocados, mix all the ingredients, serve in a bowl with bread/ chips/ doritos, naan, etc.
My favorite bread with guacamole is lebanese

Pyaaz tamatar ka kachummar (Onion Tomato Salad)

Nice and simple stuff. Great on the side for many dishes like Pav Bhaj, Mutton Curry, Biryani, Palak Paneer, Pulao, Khichdi, and more!

Ingredients (for 4 people): Red Onion - 1 medium, Ripe Tomato (but not collapsing) - 2 medium, Coriander (to have 1 tablespoon chopped), Lime - 1/2, Sugar - 1.5 teaspoon, Salt to taste, Chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon (or even lesser if you don't want it spicy). Slice the onions nice and thin. Dice the tomatoes into small pieces (not so small that they squish into puree :D), Mix all the ingredients together well with hand so that the juices all mix well. 

Last minute tip: Optionally, you can add a tablespoon of olive oil but if you want.

pav bhaji / paav bhaaji

Pav bhaji is probably the most coveted fast food in India. Though it is widely believed to have it's origin in bombay, millions of people relish this delicious dish everyday all over India.

Earlier today, I cooked Pav Bhaji for 200 people. I was very lucky to have Gunjan, Sagar and Tracy to help with the Bhaji. With their help, we finished cooking the bhaji in under two hours. At the event, we COMPLETELY SOLD OUT! Unfortunately we had to turn a few people away but at least there were 200 satisfied (hopefully) foodies. Here're some pictures from the event:

Source: Den Angelles

Ingredients: to serve 8

24 hamburger rolls (3 at least per person)
butter 300 grams
potatoes 400 grams
onions 200 grams
cauliflower 200 grams
eggplant 200 grams
peas 200 grams
tomatoes 200 grams
capsicum 200 grams
ginger garlic paste (make fresh preferably) 2 tablespoon
cumin seeds 1 heaped teaspoon (i wouldn't mind 1.5 actually)
badshah/ everest (i *know* these are good) pav bhaji masala 1 teaspoon for simple, 2 teaspoon for spicy
coriander for garnishing
lime - 1, cut into half and another cut into pieces for serving
Salt to taste

Heat 100 grams butter in a saucepan, add cumin seeds, and fry diced onions.

Dice all the veggies (except peas of course) and boil potatoes, cauli, peas, eggplant, capsicum together. The veggies should be soft in 20 minutes. Potatoes and Caulis take the most time so try and crush them and see if they aer soft.

By the time the veggies are 5 mins into boiling, add the ginger garlic paste and continue cooking it. By the time the veggies are 10 mins into boiling, onions should be soft and you can add pav bhaji masala and tomatoes. This masala should be done by the time the veggies boil (20 minutes time period). Add the boiled veggies, salt and another 100 grams butter to the onion tomato mix and mash, mash, mash and then mash again. Dilute just a little bit if it's very thick. Bhaji should have the consistency so that it can be flipped with a turner. Garnish with chopped coriander, squeeze one lime and mix. Give each person a small piece of lime if they want to add it later. You can also serve pyaaz (onion) and tamatar (tomato) kachummar with it - recipe coming soon :)

For the hamburger rolls, you can baste them with butter and fry them in a pan. I like the rolls pan fried but still a bit soft.

Making your own Garam Masala

We can find dozens of varieties of "Garam masala" packets in Indian  Grocery Stores and Supermarkets, but making your own garam masala is both satisfying and better for your dishes. Another advantage of making your own garam masala is that different dishes need different ingredients in different proportions. Hence, one size fits all is not the best solution.

The following are the major components of a standard Garam Masala:

cardamom (50 grams)

clove (25 grams)

  

star aniseed (50 grams)

cinnamon (50 grams)

   

bay leaves (50 grams)

  

black pepper (25 grams)

 

black cardamom (50 grams)

 

mace (25 grams)

 

You should make sure that all the whole spices are dry. Roast them separately in a frying pan stirring frequently (since each has a different temperature at which they cook and release flavour). Generally, each spice would take about two minutes to roast. You can take it off the heat once they start browning (in case of black pepper and black cardamom, you will see them expanding, that's when you take them off).

Let the whole spices cool down for about 10 minutes and then grind them together in a grinder (easier), or using a mortar pestle (crazy). Store the garam masala in a dry glass bottle and use it within 3 months (it stays pretty much forever, but it loses the flavor eventually).

Pulao / Pulav / Pulaav

Pulaav (left) with kadi - yum!

Pulao is an Indian rice dish, a variation to the Persian Pilaf. It goes really well with marathi kadi. Pulao is a healthy and light dish that has many different versions. The one I am covering is an onion cauliflower pulao.

Ingredients:

• Onion - 1 large
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Cauliflower - 200 grams
• Potato - 1 medium (can do without as well)
• Peas - 100 grams (Can do without as well)
• Rice - 250 grams *basmati*
• cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon (important)
• Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon (1 if you like it spicy)
• Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 30 ml

Optional:

• Coriander leaves to garnish
• Pomegranate seeds to garnish

---------

slice garlic cloves nice and fine. chop onions. soak rice in room temperature water. heat oil and add the cumin seeds. once dark brown, add the garlic and onion. fry for 2-3 mins and add the cauliflower and potatoes diced into small pieces. fry for another 2 minutes. rice must have soaked for 5 minutes by now. wash the rice and drain the water out. add the rice to the pan and stir so that the rice gets covered in oil. all this happens on high heat so the rice might stick to the base. Add the spices (chilli, turmeric, coriander powder) and salt with 50 ml of water. After a minute, add 600 ml of water, let it cook on high for 2 minutes, then turn heat to 3 o'clock position or low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes (At the 10 minute mark, stir through once and add the peas).

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds if available.

Lamb shanks in pear, carrot, onion, garlic sauce

I know - pear and onions don't sound like they are the best buds but the sauce works pretty well with these two in it!

Ingredients:

Lamb shanks - 2
Olive oil - 20 ml
Vegetable Stock - 200 ml
Pear - 1 (crunchy, not ripe)
Onion - 1 large
Garlic - 3 cloves
Rosemary leaves - 1 tablespoon
Mint leaves - 1 tablespoon
Black pepper - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Lemon - 1

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Chop the pear, onion and garlic (separately) quite fine. Slice the carrot (rather thick).
Heat olive oil and add the garlic. Add the onion after half a minute and sauté for 2 minutes.
Put the lamb shanks and cook for a minute on each side to seal in the flavor. Add the pear, rosemary, mint, pepper, lemon, and salt. Add the stock and bring it to boil. Cover with an aluminium foil and bake for 1 hour. Take out, mix the sauce again, turn the shanks over and cook for another hour. Done!

Serve with roast potatoes - yumm :p

Favorite commercials

ENGLISH

HINDI (Indian)

Plain daal

Here's a version of daal that I made when Gunjan was recently under the weather. Among all the different varieties, I can safely say that this is my favorite.

Ingredients (for 2):

1. Daal - 150 grams
2. Whole chillies slit (fresh, or dried) - 2
3. Cumin seeds - 1 heaped teaspoon
4. Oil - 20 ml
5. Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (or, to your taste)
6. Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon (or even lesser)
7. Coriander - a decent bunch (chopped)

Wash the daal (to get all chemicals off it), and boil it in 1ltr water with slit chillies, turmeric, salt in a pressure cooker for 15 mins) or a saucepan for 25 mins on high.

Once boiled, heat the oil in a narrow saucepan or a tadka pan if you can get one. When oil is hot, add the cumin and when dark brown, add to the daal. Add 300 ml more water so that it becomes soupy, boil covering it on high for another 5 mins and add the chopped coriander.

Teen Patti Rules

Teen Patti is a card game of Indian origin and usually played at households on Diwali (which is the main Hindu festival). Of course, addicts play teen patti every day online and in clubs. The fact that I am posting about it's rules doesn't necessarily put me in that category .... right :s ?

The good things about teen patti when compared to poker is that it's simpler and faster. It has lesser probabilistic combinations and hence not too strenuous on the grey cells. So ... here are the rules of Teen Patti.

*Usually*, each person gets 3 cards. Player with highest combination wins.

HIERARCHY

1. Triple (3 aces then 3 kings and ….)

2. Colored sequence (Ace King Queen of same suit, then Ace, 2, 3 of same suit, then King Queen Jack of same suit and …)

3. Sequence (Ace King Queen of different suit, then Ace, 2, 3 of different suit, then King Queen Jack of different suit and …)

4. Color (all 3 cards of the same suit)

5. Pair (2 Aces and a card, then 2 Kings and a card and …)

6. Highest card

BLIND

A player can choose to play WITHOUT seeing his / her cards. This is called playing blind. This has effects on bidding. Explained below.

BETS

Players make their bets ANTI-CLOCKWISE and you need to bet at least the amount bet by the previous person till the winner is decided. DEALER has to put in the base bet first.

If a person is playing blind (without seeing his/her cards), all players who HAVE seen their cards, need to bet twice as much as the blind player.

If a player runs out of money during a game, the game DOESN'T FINISH (like sidepot in poker). Instead the player needs to borrow money from bank if (s)he wants to or fold.

SIDESHOW AND SHOW

When 3 or more players are in, you can ask a sideshow from the person on your LEFT. Whoever has the higher cards stays in the game and if you both have the same cards (for example 2 kings and a 7), the person who ASKS for the sideshow LOSES.

When only 2 players are in, you can ask for a show by putting in the bet that was put in last.


For both sideshow and show, the calling player needs to put in at least the last amount bet.

VARIATIONS

The dealer can make his/her own variation to the game. Some possibilities:

1. Joker: (for example if 7 is a joker, 7 can be used as ANY card. so if i have 2 kings and a 7, it becomes 3 kings)
2. Total Joker: everyone gets 5 cards and a particular number, say 8 is a Joker, then the card 8, or multiple cards that total to 8, are Jokers (8, 5+3, 6+2, 1+7, 4+4 are some of the Joker combos for 8)
3. Highest card joker: everyone gets 4 cards and their highest card is their individual joker (similarly lowest card joker)
4. Jokers Galore: all Reds (hearts and diamonds) or Blacks (spades or clubs) are jokers (LOTSA JOKERS!)
5. Best of 4: you get 4 cards. just make the best 3 card hand you can
6. Imagine one: you get 2 cards, you can imagine a 3rd card for yourself :)
7. Pair joker: each pair you have in your hand can be used as a joker
8. Muflis: person with LOWEST hand wins
9. Blackjack: aim is to make total 21 (ace can be used as 1/11, pictures and 10, others as usual). Any set with total more than 21 will result in automatic loss (BUST). player can ask for more and more cards till (s)he is happy. For example, if I have an 8 and 3, I ask for a card, if I get 2, total becomes 13, I ask for a card, I get Ace, I use it as 1 of course because using it as 11 would make total 24 and I will go bust. So I ask for one more card, I get 7. Total becomes 20. Now I am happy because the next card would most probably make me go bust.
10. Twist: Each player is dealt a single card which they put on their forehead without seeing it. Thus everyone knows everyone ELSE'S card but their own. TWIST!
11. Full twist: Just like twist, but with all three cards.
12. Semi-twist: Each player is dealt 3 cards, they can see one card and put the other two on their forehead.
13. Passing cards: give 3 cards to everyone, then 3 extra cards to the first player. Each player passes 3 cards to the next till we reach the dealer who puts three back into the pack. 
14. Blind Swap: Each person can choose to exchange one of their card with a card of left side player. Each player picks a card from the other blindly.
15. Semi-Blind Swap: Each person (A) can choose to exchange one of their card of their choice with a card of left side player. 'A' chooses the card from the other player blindly.
16. Seen Swap: Each person (A) can choose to exchange one of their card with a card of left side player. Each player chooses their own card they want to discard.
17. Pack jack: 3 cards to everyone, 3 cards are open as jokers, whenever anyone packs their cards become the new 3 jokers (Interesting!)
18. Powers of 2: 1,2,4,8 are jokers (Geek!)
19. What's mine is yours: Each person chooses 1 card and that is the joker for the player on their left.
20. Folders rule: Initially a joker is decided by the dealer. Each person who folds has the power of changing the joker - BWAHAHAH!

twitter

hey all,

i have finally decided to get on the twitter-wagon. it would be really nice so that i can:

. put mini recipes/ cooking suggestions online
. make restaurant recommendations
. crack pathetic jokes before i forget them
. and more...

my twitter id is bluephonebox . Right now i am relatively inactive but will pick up the pace soon!

take care,
gaurav

Tiramisu

Source: http://www.faqs.com/

Another of Alka aunty's recipe - DELICIOUS, and not as heavy as the Tiramisus you get outside :-p

Ingredients:

Sponge fingers
Fresh cream 250 gms
Mascorpone cheese 500 gms
2 cups of strong black coffee (Illy/ Vittori are pretty good!)
Rum - 50 ml (other liquors also work)
Chocolate powder - to sprinkle
Sugar - 2 tablespoons
Castor sugar - 4 tablespoons

Source: http://www.ideli.com.au/

Blend cream, cheese and castor sugar together.
Add sugar to freshly brewed coffee and let it cool. Then add rum to it.
Then dip the sponge fingers in coffee and lay them out on tray(serving dish). This forms base layer.
Put half of cheese mix on top (layer 2)
Put another layer of coffee soaked biscuits. (Either soak biscuits or lay it out or lay biscuits and pour coffee on top) (layer 3).
Put rest of the cheese mix (layer 4).

Sprinkle chocolate powder on top.
Put it in the fridge for a few hours at least before serving. overnight recommended.

Rabdi

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We are in Melbourne right now and the best thing about the city is Alka Aunty's Rabdi - kicks any desserts ass by a long stretch. It's a very heavy Indian dessert usually served as a sauce for jalebi or rasmalaai.

Ingredients:

Milk (1.5 ltrs)
Pistachos - 25gms(= crushed)
Saffron - a pinch
Sugar - 100 to 200 gram (really depends on how sweet you like it)

Put milk in a 2.5ltr+ microwavable bowl (should leave some room for milk to rise). Boil in a 1000W to 1200W for 10 mins, take it out, stir it, and put it back. Repeat this process till the milk reduces to 600 ml. Add sugar and again, repeat the process of boiling for 10 mins two more times. Blend the milk using a stick blender (or whatever! - can't believe I just used that word). Add saffron, pistachos and leave to cool. Once it reaches room temperature, put it in the fridge.

You can add readymade rasmalaai (alka aunty swears by Bikano rasmalaai) and have excellent dessert :-)

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NO, Lindsay Lohan does not count as Top News, she doesn't count as ANY News

Best Indian restaurants in Sydney ... and worst

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Hi all,

There are SO many Indian restaurants in Sydney, but many of them are quite ordinary with a few exceptions, fortunately!

The following are my favorites, along with what I like there -

1. Raavi's Cumin, Crows Nest (Kashmiri Naan - Yummmm, Saagwala Lamb, Paneer Makhani, Malai Kofta)
2. Nilgiris, St. Leonards (Very dynamic menu, but Dosas are the best!). Raavi's and Nilgiris are in a league of their own, btw!
3. Kammadhenu, Newtown and Neutral Bay (Huge selection of Dosas - not as good as Nilgiris but worth a shot if in that area). I'd stay stick to the Dosas, Roti Chinai, and Kotthu Paratha if you go there.
4. Faheem's, Newtown. For the BEST tandoori chicken (and unfortunately the not-so-good curries) go to Faheem's. Just stick to the tandoori stuff including meat and naans and you'll be all right. If you come back without trying the Tandoori Fish (quite hard to make because fish is very delicate as opposed to chicken so Tandoor-cooking it takes *some* skill)
5. Maya's Dhaaba, Surry Hills.

BTW, the worst restaurants that I have been to, in Sydney, are:

• All India Restaurant, Balmain - The manager is this rude rude woman and the mains are horrible :(
• Mantra, Top ryde - Another example of how bad service ruins the mood - food's average, but the waiters are probably movie actors researching their roles, or at least they have the egos to show that.

P.S. Please feel free to leave YOUR favorite (or the ones you really dislike and would like people to stay away from) restaurant(s) as a comment!

Great, now I am hungry!
G

curry cooking tip

if you are making curry using onion ginger garlic, add the paste one serving spoon at a time to the oil to avoid splattering - true story!

Reflective journal

This is a post to keep a track of what went right and what did not, in terms of the units I am teaching.

The three units I have this semester are: COMP115 (undergrad), ITEC802 (Postgrad), PICTFDN (Postgrad - external?)

My first observation this semester in COMP115 is how wonderfully chocolates work irrespective of what demographic is your class coming from! They participate very actively given this reward system! I don't like to call it a bribe because "bribe" is something you provide in return for an "unjust" favor. while a reward is something provided for someone who does their job beyond expectation. A general student is not "obliged" to participate. But the participation, if there, should be appreciated and chocolates are a good way. Of course, there are other gestures that show that their class involvement is appreciated like a pat on the back and applause. Generally, students derive self-confidence from the confidence their lecturers have in them. And if they are confident (of their capability to learn new things) coming into the university, they are more likely to perform better during the entire degree.

My second observation is in the external postgrad unit and how difficult it is to teach a programming component without any visual aids whatsoever! I have been given a sound recorder to record my lectures that external students can listen to, but without any visual tools, the lecture notes really need to be more graphical to help students understand the point. this generalizes to the problem of verbose lecture notes. Lecture notes should sparsely and miserly use text and should contain graphs and figures and other media if possible. this might be hard for areas like literature, I understand, but for fields like computer science, history, politics, I am sure lecturers can find relevant images and include them in lecture notes or slideshows. As I understand (intuitively), images help students correlate the text with the topic thereby acting as learning catalyst.

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(15/04) The workshop yesterday emphasized upon the importance of structured classes as compared to on-the-go design (even if that of a workshop). Now here, I am only talking about workshops. An "agenda" should always be prepared in advance. Maybe the students will have enough questions to keep you busy but just in case they want you to explain things one more time, it always helps to prepare some simple examples. I made the mistake of discussing a complex example and that only discouraged the students from getting involved - there's one mistake i won't repeat. NO COMPLEX QUESTIONS FOR GENERAL CLASS! (For those interested, I gave them the question of solving quadratic roots through pass by reference)

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(21/04) Wrote eleven practice questions on http://comp115.createforum.com/ for students to help them with pass by reference. Feels nice :)

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(22/04) This is a long one so you might wanna get some coffee. Mr. Fox (English name) is a Chinese student in my class and for the first 2 or 3 weeks he was completely and utterly unresponsive. I presumed that he is an uninterested student like a few others and tried to pester him into participating but to no avail. Then in week 4 or 5 I think I called him after the class and asked him why is his performance not satisfactory and he told me about his inability in understanding me ... now I remember, it was actually week 4. We only have one lecture of this subject and no recordings unfortunately. So, I started taking a camcorder to classes and also recording screencast videos using Camtasia Studio. The other measure was the forum I talked about in the previous entry. The results are fantastic. Many students improved performance, and Fox in specific has not become an excellent student, and when I say that, I don't just mean that he answers my questions and gets decent scores but also that he has become "critical" of what I do - he questions... HE QUESTIONS!!! and that, my friends, is a good student, one who questions. Inquisitiveness is the basis of all knowledge. I awarded Fox with a PI mug in the class (I picked up about 30 mugs from a geek shop in crows nest) to appreciate his improvement. It is one of the most rewarding things in my academic career in a while. Before this, I think it was the success of a Masters student Amireh who initially struggled but picked up Java quite well later in the semester. Anyways, moral of the Fox story for me is "show a little concern for students individually and you wil help them tremendously"

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(19/05) It was terrible :( I struggled to give a demo in the class today because of unforeseeable problem in technology :( I had an example in mind that I wanted to create in front of the students but as I proceeded, it just wouldn't work. We all pondered over it for a good 20 mins but it didn't work. It was a waste of time for me and more importantly, for the students. Lesson learnt - keep a backup working demo!

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(07/06) Today was a good day for a few reasons. I got my "learners evaluation of teaching" from SIBT. and I did not have a single "strongly disagree" against my name :). The average scores were all around 4.7 to 4.8 out of 5. But it were the comments that were really satisfying. My favorites were "Best lecturer ever" and in response to "areas of improvement" someone wrote "NO, he is a great lecturer " (blushing). There was just one student whose feedback I am a bit worried about. (S)he wrote - "he verbally encourages participation but when students give incorrect/ tentative answers/ guesses, they are chided ..." It is in fact the exact opposite what i *try* to do but maybe i DO act a bit harshly sometimes. This is something I would definitely try to work on next semester.

The other reason for me being happy is the unofficial feedback i received from my masters students - my masters students!!! (they are always VERY demanding and unforgiving, having experienced the corporate life and everything). Shirren, who is by far one of the best S/W professionals I have come across, commended my teaching which is a big honor for me (in an email he said "...you were easily my best lecturer all semester...". I had two students this semester for whom I hold special respect, Shirren and Thierry. There are other students who didn't have the same level of experience as these two but I am sure they'll be equally good in 3-5 years (Kok-yan, Alan, Jimmy to name a few). Alan, in his final 20% assignment wrote "I think I am in love" while describing one of the topics implemented. This simple statement shows that your students have actually gotten into what you taught and they are taking it as a fun-thing rather than a sob-this-stupid-assignment attitude they might have if they don't understand it/ like it. That one sentence for me is actually more important than any other LET/ LEU outcome.

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(18/01/2011) I just finished marking the exams and preparing results for COMP115 and it's not good :(
Looking back, the main reasons for this might be

1. Change of programming language to Processing which needs a higher amount of time to setup programs and more complicated execution process (console output is TINNNNY so that cannot be used). This results in students not getting a chance to write programs in the lecture room.
2. Video lectures - something that started as a goodwill gesture has gone wrong I think :( Because lecture videos are available, some students do not come to the class and obviously recordings are not the same as in-class participation.
3. Quality of students in general - I feel that the cohort quality isn't the same as it used to be.
4. Possibility of improvement from teaching staff - We need to be more clear, consistent and proactive

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poha or pohe (flattened rice)

i was talking to 2 of my students last weekend, charanya and sanjay, when the topic of food came up (are you really surprised!?!?) and there was some mention of poha (flattened rice) which is a staple breakfast dish in many parts of India. Indorians are quite the sucker for this magnifico dish

ingredients to serve 2:

200 grams medium / thick poha (NOT thin)
3 green chillis (optional, can reduce or skip if you want mild)
1/6 teaspoon (also known as a pinch :D) turmeric
salt to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar (yes)
1/3 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 tablespoons oil
garnish (optional) coriander leaves and pomegranate.

rinse the poha in a saucepan for about 30 seconds and drain the water. you don't have to drain every single drop because the remnant will fluff-up the poha. just drain it until you start getting drops coming out.

throw the salt, sugar and turmeric on this and leave for 10 mins (you can sprinkle water on it twice or thrice during these 10 mins if you think it's not moist enough). 8 mins into the waiting process you can heat the oil in a saucepan on high and when hot add the chopped chilli and mustard seeds (some people like onions and curry leaves too). turn heat on low, then throw the poha in (you can add diced boiled potatoes and peas at this point if you want but i prefer it simple), stir frequently, cook for about 2 minutes sprinkling water twice or thrice.

sprinkle lemon juice before you have it! optionally, also garnish with chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds and you got yourself a winner :) i find coriander gives an amazing flavor but the world won't end if you don't have it at hand ;)