Monday, December 24, 2007

Movies I saw on Xmas

Yesterday night i saw 'Taare Zameen Par' directed by Aamir Khan. The movie was phenomenal and very realistic with respect to the Indian society. The child who acted was very natural and a perfect fit for the role. Aamir Khan's debut as a director is an amazing attempt. The movie portrays the emotions of a 9 year old child very effectively and a typical day to day life of the kid as well as his parents. An awesome movie with nice inspirational numbers.
Today evening was for another movie- 'I am Legend'. Well i didn't like the movie at all. the fiction plot was good but the movie lacked content and detail according to me...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Punjab De "Amritsari Chole"


I tried this recipe for the first time. Pure Punjabi delight- Amritsari Chole. Here I am sharing my recipe:

1. Soak Chole (Chick Peas) overnight. Next day morning put them in a pressure cooker with water, add half of white salt and half of black salt needed. Amritsari Chole are black in color after cooking. To give this black color, add a tea bag in the pressure cooker. Close the pressure cooker and boil for 15 minutes.

2. After opening the pressure cooker discard the tea bag. It would have left the chole black in color.

3. Now cut an onion in small slices and fry in oil in a pan. Also add a few bay leaves while frying the onions. The bay leaves will give a very distinctive smell to the masala. Now chop 2-3 tomatoes and add to the onions once they are golden brown. Add ginger to this masala and heat till a smooth paste of masala is formed.

4. On a separate tava roast the dry spices- black pepper, red chilli powder, jeera powder, mango powder( amchur powder) and coriander powder. Once the dry masala is roasted, add it to the paste of onions, tomatoes and ginger in the other pan. Right now the paste will be smelling very nice with the smell of the bay leaves.

5. Mix the Chole with this paste now. Boil 2 potatoes wrapped in plastic foil ( microwaveable) in a microwave. Cut them into small pieces and add to the chole. Garnish with coriander leaves.

6. Delicious Amritsari chole is ready to eat with bathure/ kulcha. Unfortunately in USA you dont get these things in grocery stores so I had it with garam chapatis.

Enjoy!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Seeing Rain

Unlike in Delhi where I have spent 22 years of my life and where it rains during Monsoon season every year, it rains in winters in Northern California. This area is surrounded by hills and I am seeing it rain for the first time here. The hills are typically taller than the elevation of the clouds.

Today morning while going to work, I saw the top portions of the hills immersed in the gray clouds. The sun was smearing the clouds to find its way out. The greens around were giving a different freshness to the air. I could admire the sun, clouds as well as the greens around me. It was a beautiful day.