Dish 3

Green bell Peppers and corn

Ingredients : - 1 cup corn kernels, 1 small green bell pepper, 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 1 tablespoon flour,1 pinch cumin seeds, 1 green chilly, 1 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 pinch white pepper powder, 2 tablespoons oil/ghee and salt to taste.

Preparation time : - 15 minutes Serves : - 2

HOW TO PREPARE : - Cook the corn kernels and keep it aside. Finely chop the green bell pepper and the chilly and keep them aside separately. Take a frying pan and pour the oil. Bring to heat and add the cumin seeds and sauté till they turn golden brown. Add the green chilly and ginger paste and sauté till the raw smell leaves. Add the plain flour and fry. Simmer and cook for a minute. Add the green bell pepper and corn, pour in the milk. While pouring the milk ensure that you do it slowly and keep stirring and make sure that no lumps are formed. Simmer and cook till the curry thickens. Add the white pepper, sugar and salt to taste and serve.

Dish 2.

Sambar rice

Ingredients : - 2 cups cooked rice, 1 handful toor dal(split gram),1 small tomato, 1 carrot, 2 beans, few cauliflower florets, 1 teaspoon butter beans,1 pinch Bengal gram, 1 pinch coriander seeds, 1 pinch methi seeds(fenugreek), 1 pinch asafoetida, 1 pinch mustard seeds, few curry leaves, 5 pearl onions, 1 centimeter tamarind, 1 pinch turmeric, 1 teaspoon red chilly powder, 1 teaspoon sambar powder, chopped coriander 3 tablespoon oil and salt to taste.

Preparation time : - 20 minutes Serves : - 2

HOW TO PREPARE : - Wash the split gram and soak it for 15 minutes. Peel the pearl onions and wash them. Now wash all the vegetables and cut it into 1 centimeter pieces and set it aside. Soak the tamarind in half cup water and set it aside. Take a pressure pan and put in the onions, drained split gram and 1 cup water. Add the asafoetida and pressure cook it. Simmer and cook till you get two whistles. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to be released and then open it up. Remove the ingredients and rinse the cooker with water and bring it back to heat. When all the water evaporates pour in the oil and heat it well. Then add the mustard seeds and let it crackle. Add the Bengal gram, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and curry leaves and sauté. After a few second add the chopped tomatoes. Put in the turmeric, red chilly powder and sambar powder and mix it well. Cook till the oil begins to leave the edges of the cooker. Next drain the tamarind pulp from the water. Pour the water in and cook for a minute. Put in all the vegetable including the butter beans and cook for a minute. Then add the boiled split gram and onions and stir well. Pour half cup water, if it’s too thick add one cup water and bring to boil. When the water is boiling add the salt and stir well. Just before closing the pressure cooker add the coriander leaves. Cook on a low flame for one whistle. Slowly open the cooker and empty the sambar into a big bowl. Now add the cooked rice and set it aside for minute. Mix it up well and serve. If the sambar rice is left outside for too long the rice will absorb all the sambar and it will become dry and so mix up the rice and sambar just before eating.

Food - Easy to make??? Dish 1.

My son and his classmates have now moved to Pittsburgh to do their MS (IT) program.
For the benefit of those who need to cook for themselves - here are some receipes which may be useful.

Vegetable biryani

Ingredients: - 2 cups cooked basmati rice(long grain), 100 grams, cauliflower, 100 grams potato, 100 grams carrot, 100 grams French beans, 100 grams peas, 1 big onion, 1 green chilly, ½ teaspoon red chilly powder, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ½ inch cinnamon, 2 cloves,1 pinch black pepper powder, 2 tomatoes, ¼ cup curd(yoghurt), 1 pinch mustard seeds, 2 tablespoons dry fruits, 2 tablespoons oil and salt to taste.

Preparation time : - 20 minutes Serves : - 2

HOW TO PREPARE: - Finely chop the onions, tomatoes and green chilly and set it aside. Wash the vegetables, drain them completely and then cut into thin long slices. Take a frying pan and keep pour some oil. Bring to heat and put in one vegetable at a time. Sauté each vegetable on full flame till it gets cooked. You can sprinkle a little water. Sauté continuously to avoid the vegetables from getting burned. Ensure that the vegetables retain their colour. If you pour too much water the colour will become lighter and so sauté and try to avoid water as much as you can. Then sauté the green peas. Now take another frying pan and pour 1 tablespoon oil. Now when the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, green chilly, cumin seeds and cinnamon. Let them all crackle first and then sauté briefly till they become golden brown in colour. Then add the cloves and black pepper powder and let it crackle too. Follow this by adding the onions and sauté them till they are soft and cooked. Add the red chilly powder, salt to taste and sauté well. Put the finely chopped tomatoes and cook it till the oil begins to leave the edges of the pan. Whip the curd in a blender just for 5 seconds so that is nice and fine. Pour this curd into the pan and stir well. Cook briefly and add all the sautéed vegetables. Put in the cooked rice and mix it very gently. Ensure you don’t break the grains or mash them up. Cook for five minutes on a low flame. Turn of the flame. Garnish the biryani with dry fruits and coriander leaves. Serve it hot with some onion and curd raita.

Protect your environment - fit 'Hydrodrive' in your 4 wheeler.

Today when matters of Environment are of prime importance, I think it is high time i shared something with my fellow bloggers. I would like to inform all that a 'Pollution Control Fuel Catalytic Converter' is available in India today.

More news on this 'Hydrodrive'.

An Indian, that too a resident of Chennai, one Mr.Gopalakrishnan has provided an unique product available to this whole world - a pollution control equipment for all four wheelers - called 'HYDRODRIVE'. I am told that this can be used by Industries whose machinery cause pollution and improve the environment.

I have been using this product in all my vehicles - Maruti Esteem, Tata Indica DLE ( four gear model introduced by Tata Motors when it first launched its Indica car), Hyundai Santro, Tata Indica (Petrol) and now in my Tata Indigo Marina etc. I am an environmentalist and firmly believe in reducing vehicle pollution. I have fitted this product called ‘HYDRODRIVE’ in all the vehicles owned by me. This product is a pre ignition fuel catalytic converter and it brought down the emission of CO to 0.05 and HC 120 in all my vehicles. My cousin has fitted this ‘Hydrodrive’ in his Tata Estate and the vehicle’s emission levels have dropped dramatically.

This product is available in Chennai and just log on to www.hydrodrive.8k and you will be happy once you fit the same in your four wheeler.

My experiences before and after fitting Hydrodrive. First I fitted this Hydrodrive in my Maruti Esteem car. I could only drive in the 2nd and 3rd gears in the city and if I tried to change to the 4th gear my car would stall. Once I fitted Hydrodrive, I could drive in 4th gear and 30 kms speed and 'Wah' driving became pleasurable.

The first Indica DLE manufactured by TATA Motors had only 4 gears and reverse gear, unlike the ones manufactured today, where you have 5 gears and reverse gear. When we drove the new Indica (4 gear model) we could only use the 1st and 2nd gear. The Diesel consumption would be more as we had no opportunity to drive in the top gear, thanks to the city traffic. If at any stage we tried using the third gear, our Indica would jolt like a 'Jhutka' (a bull drawn carriage). Then we fitted the 'Hydrodrive' and we found not only the vehicle ran smoothly, it also reduced pollution and improved the mileage too.

A BOON TO VEHICLE OWNERS. DO NOT HESITATE TO FIT 'HYDRODRIVE'. IT WILL HELP THE ENVIRONMENT AND YOU IN PARTICULAR. YOU WILL GAIN IN THREE ASPECTS - ONE BY WAY OF SMOOTH DRIVING, TWO BY WAY OF EMANATING 'ZERO' POLLUTION AND THIRDLY YOUR VEHICLE WILL BECOME 'FUEL EFFICIENT'.

As I was browsing the net, something caught my attention. A blogger whose id is http://dansdata.blogsome.com has been writing nonsense about Indians and after reading his blog, I note that he must have been paid to do this. I am positive he has neither seen or used 'Hydrodrive' and to name a genuine Indian manufacturer a 'psychopath' is sheer cheap publicity done through the auto lobby. If at all I get the address of this dansdata blogger, I shall file a defamation suit and he has no business to call any one a psychopath. I think he belongs to the 'Apartheid' gang, that is why he is degrading Indians.


I shall write more on this - a visit by a representative from a Petroleum Manufacturer and the bungling by the members of the 'Mashelkar Committee'.

Corporation of Chennai - Beautification plans

A number of groups have been fighting against construction of concrete structures on the Besant Nagar Beach, though the Chennai Corporation is planning this beautification on the Marina Beach. Why no soul has voiced their opinion on the beautification of Marina is a Million Dollar question? The Commisioner of the Corporation of Chennai states that this beautification programme is to attract tourists.

Have the Corporation ever thought of improving the roads in the city? This improvement will attract tourists as they look forward to better motorable conditions and the traffic snarls drive them crazy and they do not wish to return to Chennai. The autowallahs also make lives miserable for the tourists. I think improving the infrastructure will be a better bet that spending money to spoil the natural surroundings of the beach.

Why have we not filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the Chennai Corporation - asking them why should new car buyers pay road tax for life - the roads have not been improved for years. Why should we not stop Registration of new cars after March 31st, 2007, until the roads are repaired and made motorable in all areas of Chennai? All the money collected by way of Road Tax is now available to the Corporation of Chennai and the Authorities feel it is important to beautify the beaches and not repair the roads and give room for free flow of traffic.

Can a Lawyer help me file this PIL please?

Incidentally, I wish to share some information with you all. My visit to some shops on Lattice Bridge Road (now Muthulakshmi Salai) gave an insight to some things which the Chennai Corporation is grossly overlooking. Each and every shop owner tells me that they have been given 'Eviction' orders long long ago but the Government has not put any pressure in evicting them to increase the Road width of LB Road.

All the traders on LB Road, are ready to leave if such an eviction is to take place, without any protest, as they are all aware they are encroaching the space meant for the expansion of LB Road. If LB Road is widened by about 50 feet then there will be free flow of traffic on this road as it is an arterial road.

Those who read this, please join the Civil Society Group and extend your support to improve existing roads and stop concreting the Beaches in the name of 'Beautification'. You can email to civilsocietygroup@googlegroups.com and support this cause.

Do we need to spoil the looks of Elliots Beach??

Hi Everybody,

As many of you are aware, there is a proposed plan to beautify Elliots Beach by the Chennai Corporation. Their plans seem more to put an end to the natural and beautiful look of the Elliots Beach.

It was decided by a group of like minded people to meet the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation and the same has been organised by Mr.Bharath of CAG. (Consumer Action Group).

This meeting is scheduled for this Saturday (3rd March 2007) evening at 5.30pm venue is at Elliots Beach between the Police Booth and the Gym.

Can we talk things over with the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation? Can you please make it to the venue with all your friends and relatives and give a solid support for a genuine cause?

Some of the things that can be found out from this meeting from the commissioner are:

A. Seeking a copy of plans, drawings and other documents for the proposed beautification plans.

B. Ask him to put up the proposed plans and drawings at prominent places on the Beach for interested and concerned citizens to study

C. We could also demand certain transparency from the govt officials in issues involving the citizens and the common property.

If you could tell your friends and neighbours, it will be of great help to the Society as a whole.

Shanthi Krishnan,
Vice President,
Kalakshetra Colony Welfare Assn.