The Second One (originally meant to be the third one): Heck, I’ll go sweet today! SHONDESH

Buoyed by the phenomenal success of the first installment of my recipe blog (YEAH RIGHT!), here’s the next one. It was supposed to be chicken and rice, but let’s go with shondesh! It’s simple and can be made by a lazy graduate student or postdoc, or anyone else really! Best part about this dish is that it can be made using just a microwave oven and takes less than 2 hours to make from start to finish!

Ricotta Shondesh

Sweets are not really my strong point (coming to think of it, what IS my strong point?), but I learnt this from someone and put my own touches to it. As I mentioned before, it’s simple and tasty. Try this. I apologize for not having a photo of it, so please bear with me!

Ingredients:

· Ricotta cheese, 1 large container, or 2 small containers. You can use your tried and tested chhana (cottage cheese) as well.

· Sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk, 1 small can

· Nolen gur (liquid jaggery) this is completely optional, but if you can get some nolen gur, your shondesh will be out of this world!

· Ground green cardamom powder (chhoto elacher guro) – a pinch

· Slivered pistachios or almonds, for garnishing

· Ghee or melted butter, for greasing

Method:

1. Take the entire amount of ricotta cheese in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Take it out, mix it all up and then put back in the microwave and microwave again on high for 10 more minutes. Take it out again, mix it all up and then, yeah you guessed it, put it back in for 10 more minutes and mix it all up. So you need to microwave the ricotta for 30 minutes in all, at 10 minute intervals and don’t you dare forget to mix it all up when you take it out. If you have done exactly as I suggested, you should be left with something that has the texture of our familiar chhana or cottage cheese. This step basically is needed to get rid of the water present in the ricotta.

2. Cool the microwaved ricotta slightly and then add the ground green cardamom powder. Mix well. The green cardamom is pretty much a MUST in any dessert you make!

3. Slowly add the condensed milk to the ricotta stirring constantly making sure to break up any lumps. The amount of condensed milk to be added really depends on the texture of your ricotta; my suggestion is to add a little, mix, check he texture and add some more. It shouldn’t be watery as cake batter, nor should it be as tough as dough. In case you are fortunate enough to have some nolen gur in your kitchen, keep the mixture dry rather than wet. Taste the mixture to make sure it is sweet enough for you. If you have added the right amount of condensed milk (and nolen gur) you should not have to add any sugar.

4. Once you think you have the right texture, add the nolen gur to the mixture, mix well and then microwave on high for 5 minutes. Take it out and stir well.

5. Cool the mixture slightly. Grease a flat rectangular dish with some ghee or melted butter, just enough to make sure the shondesh does not stick to the dish. Spread the ricotta mixture on the dish, making sure you keep it as level as possible. Put it in the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour so that the shondesh sets. The best choice is to let it set overnight.

6. Cut the shondesh into shapes of your choice – rectangle, square, rhombus or anything more creative! Garnish with slivered almonds or pistachios and serve!

Remember:

Ø The kicker in this dish is how well you dry your ricotta. Also, be careful about how much condensed milk and/or nolen gur you put it; you don’t want your shondesh to be runny. This is shondesh after all, not chhanar payesh! So I’d have the mixture dry rather than wet. You can make it wet if it’s too try, the other way round is WAY tougher to get done.

Ø Don’t be scared if you see your ricotta turning all watery in the first microwave step or you hear it sizzle; it’s all part of the game.

Try it and let me know how you liked it. I am always available to answer your questions.

Cheers.

Salmon in Mustard Sauce

The First One: Salmon It Has To Be

Ok I really don’t know how this is going to pan out. I mean I am supposedly a good cook (okay, I am an AWESOME chef) but actually writing down my recipes? That’s scary, especially given that I don’t always follow the exact same recipe for a dish. But I’ll try to be as honest and consistent as possible. Oh by the way, I am not very good with exact measurements (which is kind of ironic given that I am a professional scientist ); but once again, I’ll try to be as good as possible. Anyway, enough preaching, let’s get cooking.

Salmon in Tomato Mustard Sauce

Every time I think of that one dish that I’ll send to a cooking competition (to WIN, of course) I get into a fix. I guess I don’t really have a signature dish, but if I had someone point a gun to my head, I guess this salmon dish would probably be the closest to it.

Ingredients:

• Salmon, cut into steaks (with or without bones or skin, whichever way you like your fish); let’s say you have 16 pieces of fish
• Tomatoes, freshly chopped and pureed (it’s okay to use canned tomato PASTE but for whoever’s sake, DON’T use tomato PUREE) – 4 medium tomatoes, scale up or down based on the size of the tomatoes you are using.
• Mustard paste (this is where it kind of gets hairy: if you are Bengali and want to use your traditional shorshe bata, you are welcome to use it. If you don’t have easy access to shorshe bata, you can use kashundi like I do . You can also use Creole or Dijon or English mustard, just remember those have quite a lot of vinegar in them, so be mindful of the extra acidity.
• Plain yogurt – 2 teaspoons
• Mustard Oil (white oil is also more than okay)
• Green chilies or Jalapenos – 4, slit
• Sugar – a pinch
• Salt – to taste
• Turmeric Powder
• Onion seeds – the friendly Bengali KALOJIRE
• Red chili powder – a pinch
• Warm water

Method:

1. Rub the fish pieces with salt and turmeric powder and fry them till light brown in mustard oil. Retain the oil after frying the fish. (Remember that salmon cooks quite fast, in fact it should be cooked only till medium rare, so don’t over-fry it, especially given than the fish will also be simmered in the gravy.

2. In the same oil in which you fried the fish pieces, put the onion seeds and fry till they crackle and then put the slit green chilies in.

3. Once you smell the chilies frying add the tomatoes and cook on high heat (this will take a while) till the fat leaves the sides. While it cooks, add a pinch of salt, turmeric, a pinch of sugar and the red chili powder. Depending on how red your tomatoes were to start with, you should see a beautiful rich red colored mass in the pan.

4. In a small bowl or cup mix together the mustard paste (whatever form you are using it in), the yogurt and half a cup of water. Add the mixture to the tomatoes in the pan and stir well to mix. Cook till you can’t smell the raw yogurt anymore.

5. Add the warm water and bring to a boil. How much water you add should depend on how much sauce/gravy you want. Add the fish pieces GENTLY (salmon is soft and might break, depending on quality) and let the fish pieces simmer in the gravy for about 8-10 minutes. The dish tastes best if you actually go for a sauce (less liquid) as opposed to a gravy (yeah you guessed it right, more liquid), but I will let you be the judge.

6. Check the seasoning and serve hot with white rice. You can do things like drizzling some raw mustard oil over the fish or adding a couple of more slit green chilies – your choice really.

This dish can easily be made with other varieties of fish as well. You can use rui, katla, tilapia, cod or any other type of white fish, depending on your palate, your geographical location and the availability of raw materials. Try it and let me know how you liked it. I am always available to answer your questions.

Cheers.

Mota tries his political hat

India held its 15th general elections recently.This was a historic election,which saw the end of a lot of things and the birth of some others.Here's my take on the elections.

In many ways, these elections were about the letter M: issues or persons with names starting with the letter M were either affected or affecting these elections,with varying consequences.Some people or issues captured the imagination of the public,while some failed.Here's how they line up.
1.Mandir or Masjid: This was the first election in decades where people rejected divisive religious fanaticism of the BJP,Shiv Sena and their cronies and counterparts in the Islamic fundamentalist organizations and and voted for better governance instead of fighting over whether a mandir or a masjid should be built over a disputed spot.(why not make a hospital there?nobody talks about that!)It is a clear sign that the people of India are ready to move on;they seem much more concerned about making ends meet rather than a mandir or a masjid.India has spoken:no mandir,no masjid.Let us talk about Man (another M!)

2.Mandal,Mulayam and Maya: The resounding defeat of the parties led by Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati comes as a clear sign that people are trying to look beyond identity politics and wanting good governance,which after all should be the point of a government.They showed once and for all, that when poverty and suffering have no bias.A poor brahmin suffers as much as a poor Dalit,a hungry muslim suffers no less than a hungry kshatriya.Indian voters have rejected caste-based identity politics and gone for governance.Go, India,go!

3.Mamata:The story of these elections in many ways was the story of Mamata and the next M on my list..The volatile leader from Bengal whose primary aim in life is to drive the Commies out of Bengal made good use of the people's anger against the ruling CPI(M)'s arrogance, to further her own political fortunes.Her Ma-Mati-Manush slogan (didn't I warn you that this election was really about the letter M?) proved a much better vote catcher than the CPI(M)'s old secular rhetoric,or the proposal of forming a "non-BJP, non-Congress alternative government" or the even more ancient "threats of imperialist take over by the United States" (FYI Mr Karat: The United States of America has its own fair share of problems with its meagre 300 million people than to worry about taking over a nation of over 1 billion.The Congress' masterstroke in these elections was to admit that they have not been able to fulfull all their promises,but given a second chance they would try to do better.While the Congress focused on whatever "successes" they have had in the last 5 years,the CPI(M) national agenda was focusing more on "providing an alternative Non-Congress secular government",which to many Indians made us look no better than mamata, who's only agenda is to capture power in Bengal by driving the Left out of Bengal.if we criticize Mamata for being power hungry, we should have taken care to project ourselves as a performing credible party and government which puts people first,rather than talk about the Indo-US nuclear deal which most people in India could not care less about.Somewhere in the "secular" and "imperialist" rhetoric,the real message of the CPI(M) got lost.

4.Manmohan: At the end of these elections,if there is somebody who is having the last laugh,it has to be Manmohan Singh.The US Presidential style personal attacks against the incorruptible,erudite Prime Minister backfired on the BJP as the soft,gentle sardar with dual degrees from Oxford and Cambridge towered over the so-called Iron Man.The Gujarat Chief Minister's (incidentally, yet another M)diatribe against the Muslims or the country's first family did not reap rewards as the electorate,tired of politicians, prefered a non-political technocrat over a Swayamsevak,a CEO over a self-styled Iron Man.Way to go,India.

In the final analysis, this was a watershed election in India's history.The world's largest democracy showed yet again,why it is still the best hope for democracies all round the world.In the ten seconds this country's poorest man gets to press the button on the electronic voting machine,he has the last laugh.For ten seconds,he becomes the most powerful man in the world.He chooses his country's destiny.He chooses performance over rhetoric,governance over hatred.He knows very well what he is doing.He has grown up.He has matured.That is why my story about the letter M ends with a tribute to the real M of this exercise.The common MAN.

Just a trial

শুধু দেখার জন্যে লিখে দেখছি যে বাংলায় ব্লগ লেখা যায় কিনা।এটা সফল হলে ভাল করে বাংলায় ব্লগ লিখব।

Has anybody watched Slumdog?

Hey guys.Bolstered by a few positive comments I am tempted to write something more.Still don't know exactly where I want this blog to go,but we'll see.How about a movie review?

So I watched this much talked-about film "Slumdog Millionaire" online a couple of days back.Since I do not know how many of you have watched the film (the film I believe is releasing in India later this week), I would not give out the story.I will try to be a secretive as possible.The brief outline of the story is that a slumdog from Mumbai goes into Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,wins a crore (10 million in the film which is mostly addressed to the American audience) and is on the verge of the winning 2 crores.The fact that a slumdog knows the answer to such questions which have fooled people more knowledgible than him,cannot be digested by the show's host, Anil Kapoor who manages to give a convincing performance and makes no bones about mimmicking Amitabh Bachchan.During his interrogation by the police (Irrfan Khan as the Inspector I felt was underutilized and Saurabh Shukla as the constable was as good as ever),the protagonist, Jamal (Dev Patel) tells them how he knew the answers to every question:each question has a story to tell - the story of his life.What the police make of his story and whether he indeed wins the game ultimately shall remain secrets here.You should watch the film for the answers.

I gather there have been a few controversies about this film:whether this is a truly Indian film,whether the west still loves to feed on a diet of Indian poverty and so on.I would steer clear of any controversy and just say irrespective of regional and ethical concerns,it is a good film - well made and enjoyable- which you should watch with a free mind.The direction is good.The acting is excellent.Madhur Mittal in the role of Jamal's elder brother Salim gives a powerful performance and should be somebody to watch out for in the future.Freida Pinto in my opinion did not have a role where her true potential could be tested.Dev Patel on the other hand gave a nice,measured performance.His usually impassive face (whether a birth defect or an inability to act) complimented his role which focusses on the protagonist's lack of attachment with most things.The child artistes deserve a mention too.

What I liked about this film was its simplicity in the midst of apparent complexities.It is after all a love story in my book,shrouded in clouds of crime,mistrust and money,with a dose of the so called middle/upper class elite's refusal to accept somebody with an unimpressive background to be good enough to answer 15 questions on a quiz show.Is it a true story?Who knows:it might be.Is the story plausible - why not?And the best part for me was not the guy knowing the answers or being on the verge of becoming a millionaire - it was the reason why he chose to come to the show which made the film special for me.The only thing which kept me wondering was whether the music by A.R.Rahman was good enough for a Golden Globe victory.

But the lasting image from the film for me would be the encounter between a young Jamal and a childhood acquaintance - a delibertely blinded beggar who can identify a $100 bill just by touching and smelling it- appreciating Jamal's luck for having been able to get away from the same fate as himself :"You are a rich man now....you saved yourself - I could not."That- for me-told a chilling story.

It is a good film readers - go watch it.

It's really tough to write something meaningful!

I felt really great when I signed up for this..WOW - I have a blog.Now I am a proper Internet socialite!The euphoria lasted precisely 29 seconds (yes I know that's a rough estimate) when I realized that I actually had to write something.I realized it is cool to have a blog of your own;cooler if you can actually write something meaningful!So, here goes....my effort at becoming "kewl"!

The date January 20th became significant in my life since 2002-2003 when I enrolled at Presidency College, Kolkata.January 20th is the Founders' Day of our hallowed college - a day when old meets new,the past encounters the present and moves into the future.It used to be a day which reminded me for at least one day in the year that I am a part of a special group....I daresay an elite group.It was the coming together of various generations of Presidencians which appealed to me the most,much more than the supposed elitism.The last occasion I was physically present at that gathering was in 2007, seven months before I came to the United States.I had spent January 20th, 2008 calling friends who were there and making them hold out their cell phones so that I could catch a bit of the sounds of merrymaking I was missing out on.

I came to the United States to find it in a rather politically charged atmosphere.Elections were just a year away,people were getting restless after eight years of rule by a person most people in the world love to hate and the American economy was failing.Throughout 2008 America saw political drama played out to such perfection which might put the usual Indian saas-bahu crop to shame.The climax was provided by the nation overwhelmingly electing an inexperienced yet charismatic 47 year old Harvard Law School graduate who was born in Honolulu of a white mother and a black Kenyan father and raised by his white grandparents in Indonesia.An inspirational speaker with very little political experience excited a nation which was steadily losing hope in its political establishment,made young Americans turn out in record numbers at polling booths to vote for him.A country where the color of the skin still matters made an attempt to come together to elect a half-black man to the highest office in the land. Many African-Americans never thought they would live to see this day.They are descendants of slaves who were once treated like animals.There were tears of joy and remembrance all over this vast country.

When I got amazed or excited by the things happening around me,I thought "how does it matter to me - a foreigner with an undefined color of skin?"It does not.Or may be it does.It gave me the opportunity to analyze the events from the unbiased perspective of a foreigner (well not exactly unbiased-I was an Obama supporter).What amazed me the most was the excitement in the general population.Rarely in recent memory has an election meant so much to a country.It seemed more of a rock concert than a Presidential election.It came as an even starker contrast to me because as Indians we hardly get excited at the prospect of an election (I daresay we have had too many in too little time),let alone celebrate somebody's victory.

The inauguration of Barack Obama was scheduled for January 20th,2009.The date was familiar.I have rather fond memories of that date.I always associated it with the reunion of various generations of Presidencians.As I watched the Presidential inauguration this morning,I somewhat found a few parallels.This also was in a way,a unifying event.Americans of all colors,religions,gender,sexual orientations and beliefs came together to write a new chapter in the history of the country.It is questionable whether they could afford an inaugural function costing a mere $170 million when the country is officially in recession;but guess what?Nobody did ask that question.They were too busy celebrating what they believe would be a new era,a unifying era.

And at their expense,I also celebrated.As the saying goes:when in Rome, do as the Romans do.I did not go out and party like most Americans did.My celebration was more solitary,more personal.But it felt nice to feel that on a day I usually associate with coming together of various groups of people,the people of a divided country also celebrated a union of sorts - of ideas,of colors,of genders,of choices.It really felt good.I could neither be in Kolkata nor Washington D.C. to celebrate in person,but still it felt good being a part of everything while I sat facing the balcony of my small apartment....because,after all, everything that makes you smile or cry happens inside you,not outside.