Tomato Chutni - Bangalore Style

Tomato Chutni is a side dish eaten almost everywhere in the South India. Bangalore has its own variety and style of making the chutni. Bangalore style stands out as a little tangy and sweetish variety among all the varieties one can find in southern India. It is a perfect blend of mild spices with ripe tomatoes. I hope you all will like it.

Ingredients:

1.  Red Tomatoes : 3-4 medium size. cut into small pieces.
2.  Tamarind : 1-2 small pieces.
3.  Urad Dal : 2 tbsp
4.  Asafetida (Heeng) : 1 pinch
5.  Red Chilli powder : 1-2 Tbsp
6.  Oil : 3-4 tbsp  ( I use 'til ka tel' or gingelly oil)
7.  Jaggery : 1 tbsp
8.  Sambar Powder: 1/2 tbsp

Powder:

9.  Coriander seeds : 1 Tbsp
10. Fenugreek Seed / Methi seeds : 1/4 tbsp
11. Cumin seeds : 1 Tbsp
12. white pepper seeds: 2-3

13. Salt to taste.

Preparation:

Step 1. Tamarind pulp : Soak tamarind in warm water for 5 mins. Squeeze out all the pulp and keep aside.

Step 2. Powder:  Ingredients (9-12 )dry roast without any oil. Make fine powder. keep aside.

Step 3. Heat oil in a wide pan + Add  2 tbsp Oil + When the oil is hot, add chopped tomatoes. Cook tomatoes on medium heat for about 2 mins. Once they soften add tamrind pulp and shredded jaggery. Cook for 2 more mins until the raw smell of the tomatoes and tamarind goes away.

Step 4. Mash the tomatoes coarsely while it is cooking. Take out all the tomato mixture. Keep aside.

Step 5. Dry the pan and put it on flame again. Heat 2-3 Tbsp oil + add urad dal and fry till they turn reddish brown.

Step 6. Add heeng +  Red chilli powder + Powder made in Step 2. Fry for a min or two on medium heat.

Step 7. Add the tomato mixture prepared in step 4 and cook for 3-4 mins. + Add Sambaar powder + salt. Simmer for a minute.


Tomato chutni is traditionally eaten with steamed rice mixed with a tablespoon of ghee. One can also eat it with hot buttered Phulkas or Rotis.

DUM ALOO

Dum Aloo requires potatoes to be deep fried till cooked well.  To make this dish a little healthy and safe for all, I have skipped frying the potatoes. Instead, half boiled them. Tastes no different. Yummy !!

 Total preparation time  30 mins. Serves 4.

Ingredients: 
 

For Grinding:

1. Sesame seeds : 1 Tbsp
2. Coconut: Grated: 1/2 cup
3. Green chillies : 3
4. Water for consistency
5. Ginger: 1/2 inch
6. Cashew nuts: handful

Paste Mixture:

7. Curd : Half cup ( I used Amul Dahi)
8. Coriander Powder ( Dhaniya) : 1 tbsp
9. Fennel seeds ( Saunff) powder  : 1 tbsp
10. Red Chilli Powder: 1/2 - 1 Tbsp
11. Turmeric: 1/2 tbsp
 

Rest:

11. Potatoes 4-5 medium size : Half Boiled and peeled. Cut into large dices.
12. Oil for frying : 2-3 Tbsp
13. Asafetida (Heeng) : 1 pinch
14. Jeera : Cummin Seeds : 1 Tbsp
15. Red chillies : broken into half 2-3
16. Besan : 3 Tbsp
17. Garam Masala : 1/2 Tbsp
18. Salt to taste
19. Coriander leaves for garnish

Preparation:

Step 1 :  Half boil potatoes. Peel off the skin and cut them into large dices. Keep aside.
Step 2 :  Grind Ingredients 1-6 and make fine paste.
Step 3 :  Make a paste from Ingredient 7-11. Mix well.
Step 4 :  Mix the ground paste made in step 2 with the curd mixture made in step 3.  Keep aside.
Step 5 :  Heat oil in a pan + Add Jeera + Wait until it crackles + Add Heeng + Red chillies. Dry roast it for a minute.
Step 6 :  Add  Besan and fry till the rawness of the besan disappears. Add a little water if needed.
Step 7 :  Add the final paste made in Step 4. Cook with a little water (if needed) till the raw smell of the ingredients disappears. If you see oil coming out from the side, that should  tell you that the paste is cooked evenly.
Step 8 : Add Garam Masala cook for a min + Salt to taste + Simmer for 2-3 mins.
Step 9 : Add chopped Handful of coriander leaves and well.

Serve hot with buttered phulkas or rotis.

Mushroom Masala Dry

Ingredients:

Cut mushrooms : 1 cup diced

Green Chillies: Cut lengthwise

Garlic Pods: 4 thinly sliced

Ginger : Half Inch : Grated

Bell Pepper:Medium Size: Cut lengthwise

White Onion: Cut thinly sliced lengthwise

Turmeric Powder: 1 Tbsp

Curry Masala Powder: 1 Tbsp

Curry Leaves: 5-6

Red chilli powder: 1 Tbsp

Tomato chilli sauce: 1 and 1/2 Tbsp.

White Pepper Powder: 2 pinch

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Coriander leaves for Garnish

1) Heat oil in a large pan. Oil once hot, add grated ginger + chilli powder + sliced garlic. Saute for a minute.

2) Add sliced onion. Fry till golden brown. Add salt.

3) Add curry powder + Mushrooms + cut bell pepper. Fry till they soften.

4) Add tomato sauce. Cover the pan with lid till the veggies' cook. (2 - 4 mins)

5) Add salt to taste (if needed) + Curry Leaves + pepper powder, mix well.

6) Garnish with Coriander Leaves.

Serve Hot with Roti or Steamed Rice. Enjoy !!

Larger issues, Do we care ??

Larger issues !!

A reaction from my female colleague sparked this article and write up. We were watching the news played in our canteen. A teen aged girl killed by policemen in the state of UP. This news is being shown for more than two days now and in the intention that UP state govt does not care for the murder. Ofcourse we all know what is the state of development in UP. I commented looking at the news " This cant be a National news there are even bigger issues in the country and this does not hold good enough to be shown 40 times in a day". My colleague's reaction " You dont find a teenage Girl's death a national news, then whatelse can be?" and she walked away.


Now You decide:

Ofcourse any death specially murder of a girl is condemnable and is shame for the society. Where are all our virtues and respect for the women that our society boasts of ? We see in her Saraswati, Durga, Laxmi, Kali and how do we allow our girls being raped and killed by rogue policemen and yet no action is taken? Valid, very valid !! This is indeed a National shame, for our sisters are under constant threat of abuse and we do nothing but wait for a justice system to help us. But is the only thing that is important in the society and specially today when we are on the verge a total collapse?


China is threatening our borders and abused our soverinity so many times in the recent past. How many times is this shown on the TV and people know about it? Chinese goods enter our market as of we dont produce anything in our country. How many self styled and tradtional toy making small scale industries have stopped after the Chinese goods entered? Are the families dependant on toy making not suffering? Are their girl children not suffering a slow death? There are 100s of suicide cases in India after the 'open market' system was passed. Is this suffering in any way smaller than a girl's death?

Pakistan, our friendly neighbour sends suicide bombers and kill our fellow brothers and sisters everyday. Is the death of a girl not seen there? Cant you open your eyes then? Our army men are killed day in and day out and for what? Because they are soldiers and are ready to die for us? How moral is this? They are the special children of our country, for they are the ones who take bullets in their chest and yet die for us with a smile on their face. Are we showing this on a TV making it a national issue? Does this ever gather social momentum in favour of our martyred soldiers? Where are the human rights when our soldier brothers are bombed and killed in the midnight sleep? Is this a smaller issue than a girl's death in a rogue killing?

When Babas and Swami are on fast, ready to die for a cause which can give us a bright future, govt abuses them and calls them anti-National. Did this ever become a National Shame? Did you all speak up at the loudest of your voice and say 'they are fighting for us and we will not tolerate any insult to our Sadhus' ? Where were all your morals when Saints were swooped in the midnight raid and beaten black and blue? Where were all the sentiments when a women was beaten on her spine and parallized for life? Is this not a shame on our society that we keep quiet when our saints are attacked and the corrupt rule us? Is this bigger than a girl's death in a rogue killing?

Fanatic muslims train their 'good' looking boys to hook up with non-muslim girls in our country. Win their trust, impress them with expensive gifts, promise them of a life time commitment, and later throw them like waste dumps once they have their satisfied hunger for lust! Make them pregnant , take videos of their private life and threat them to convert to Islam. There are 1000s of cases pending in Kerala alone where muslims boys have promised the girls to marry, force them to convert to islam, ask them stop talking to their family as they are non-muslims, take the girls to Arab countries and sell them to wealthy sheiks or use them as prostitutes. Our blood boils to see our sisters tortured by muslims goons. This is happening in all parts of the world, specially Bharat as it is good place to brain wash our innocent sisters and as we are non-Muslims. Does our heart say a atleast a ufff for your sisters? or is this a smaller issue than a girl's rogue murder?


Have a heart, a open heart for all that is happening in the country. Ofcourse death is a death. But death of the special 'brothers' called soldiers is far more important than a just everyday murder. If we are not in position to give a decent life for our solider, we hold no esteem to ask "oh! A girl's death is not a National news for you" ?


In the 'larger' interest of the society and our country.

--- Vishwanath Gaitonde

Not so friendly Colas

Coke and Pepsi:
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With so much hype around these aerated drinks, i was curious to know what goes into making of these so called soft drinks. Are they really soft on us? I was stunned to know from my study in the last few months of what goes into making of these world cola drinks. With this article I would like to touch few areas of our life which affect us so very much but we are made unaware ( Yes, we are MADE unaware on purpose). I have gone through quite a few articles, facts, statistics by major agencies etc and thought of summarzing all of them into my blog here.

First, are these drinks good for us? Do they bring any benefit? Can these drinks be subsituted for water (almost as they do in US)? The contents are shocking and so are the results.

Contents:
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Apart from water and loads of Sugar syrup whatelse do these drinks contain? Answer is "POISON". These contents below are found in the lab tests done by various agencies in India and abroad including FDA USA and FDA India. There are about 14 - 15 posionous contents that make our colas. I have mentioned the prominent and most destructive contents.

Mono sodium glutamate (Cancerous) : Banned in many countries including India for its cancerous properties. Coke and Pepsi like companies never mention about these contents.

Pottasium sorbate (Cancerous): Regular colas consumers have been reported to have Migrane attacks and lack of Hunger. Regular consumption leads to cancer in the stomach. Potassium Sorbate is acceptable food preservative found in many of the ready food around the world. But the permisiable limit is 12.5 mg/kg for a adult human. Colas contain 2 times more than this limit. Report from WHO and FDA America.

Brominated Vegetabe Oil(Cancerous): Now I've come across information of this dangerous additive that is found in the citrus flavored type sodas or drinks, such as Mountain Dew, Fanta, and is even found in the power drinks, such as the familiar Gatorade, and that is the additive of Brominated Vegetable Oil or BVO. The real kicker in all this is that BVO has actually been banned in over 100 countries, and even the FDA considers this additive as unsafe, yet, so far, no measures have been taken to ban it's usage here in India. Ref:www.associatedcontent.com/article/823337/the_dangers_of_the_additive_brominated_pg2.html?cat=51

Methyl Benzene (affects the Kidneys): Lab results around the world have shown regular consumption of Coke and Pepsi lead to Kidney disfunction.

Methyl Benzoate
(Liver and urinal cancerous) : Like Methyl Benzene tests have shown how this lethal content called Methyl Benzoate affects our Liver and Urinal system.

Endo Sulpane: This ingredient probably is most dangerous and fast affecting agents in the colas drinks. Endo Suplhane is used as pesticides in farming. Very popular among farmers worldwide. In the name of Green Revolution in India, chemical fertilizer were introduced in our farming techniquies. Since then Endo Sulphane is the highest selling pesticide in the country. We dont need any lab tests to make us understand what pesticide do to our Intestine.

Carbon Di-Oxide : Our human body is designed to leave CO2 out and consume more oxygen. With Colas as our daily suppliment we have been playing 'cat and mouse' with death everyday. How far do we think we can cheat nature and win over it.


Phosphoric Acid : Acidic nature of any given liquid is measured in terms os PH level of that liquid. Clean potable water is considered to have a ph level of 7. Anything below ph level 7 becomes more acidic. Smaller the value of the ph, more acidic the liquid is. Highly concentrated acid are supposed to have a ph level of 1. The ph contents of coke and pepsi are found to be 2.5 which is higher than that of found in the toilet cleaners used domestically. No doubt why Coke and Pepsi should not be called as 'Toilet cleaners' and not soft drinks. This is on record and aired many times on TV channels that road Accident spots in US are cleaned by pouring Coke and washing the blood stains. A lab test by FDA India has shown that coke produced in India is 40 times more acidic and posionous than its American produce.
Ref: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/phosphoric-acid-in-soda.html

Whatelse is the loss to our nation apart from health concerns?

Economic loss:
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A bottle of cola is produced at a cost less than 1 Indian rupee. Sold at 12-14 rupees for a regular size bottle. Statistics of number of bottles of colas produced in a year by Coke and Pepsi alone in India is 800 Crores. If you multiple 800 crores by 14 rs this comes close to rs.11200 crores. Just these two Anti National and Anti human companies stash away 11200 crores of rupees every year from our country to US.



Ill effects on Nature and our farmer brothers:
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Each factory of Coke and Pepsi pumps out 1 million litre of fresh ground water from our land every day. And it does not even pay water bills for it. But pays only taxes for its sales. What is the result of such high water pumping? These factories are normally situated outside the city limits on our farming lands. The farm lands have dried up and the agricultural yield around these factories has gone down 50 times. Why so? Thats because of reseding ground water level and infertile land. I will bring to your notice what happened in Kerala's Coke factory case. More than 7000 farmer brothers were jobless and yieldless after the COke factory came up. The farm lands were sold to Coca cola at nominal prices and the farmers' suffered to even get two meals a day. The reseding water levels dried up all nearby borewells and wells. After 5 years of struggle and judicial fight the coca cola factory was asked to stop functioning in that area. It was too late by then. More than 50 farmers had committed suicides and 400 farmers were landless.

What it brings to us is the 'High' probabilty of these following things ..

Cancer,
Diabeties,
Calcium defecincy in Bones and teeth.
Oxiophorousys
Obesity
Arthritis and 38 more Diseases or disorders.


Other than gifting us the more than 40 kinds of deadly dieases it leaks out money to pharmaceutical companies like Pfiser etc. A recent survey done in the entire country tell us that we spend around 2 Lakh crores of rupees annually alone on diseases that are directly caused by junk foods like Coke. Wondering what a bottle of coke can do to a country on a larger perspective. On a whole Cola bottle is costing us 2 lakh 15 thousand crores annually.


Choose your drink properly, switch to Fresh juices !!

The Five Principles of Islam

The Five Principles



Islam’s Trilogy of three sacred texts is the Koran and two books about the life of Mohammed. When the Trilogy is sorted, categorized, arranged, rewritten and analyzed, it becomes apparent that five principles are the foundation of Islam.

All of Islam is based upon the Trilogy—Koran, Sira (Mohammed’s biography) and Hadith (his Traditions).Most of the Islamic doctrine is political, not religious. Islam is a political ideology.

Islam divides the world into Muslims and unbelievers, kafirs.

Political Islam always has two different ways to treat kafirs—dualistic ethics. Kafirs can be abused in the worst ways or they can be treated like a good neighbor.

Kafirs must submit to Islam in all politics and public life. Every aspect of kafir civilization must submit to political Islam.

These Five Principles can be put in five words—Trilogy, politics, kafirs, dualism and submission. These five words bring clarity and ease of learning about political Islam.

Up until now Islam has been hard to understand because it seemed complex and contradictory and did not make sense. But, once you see how the Five Principles work, everything falls into place. Complexity becomes simplicity. Chaos becomes order.

All CSPI books are based on these Five Principles.

1. trilogy

The Trilogy contains three books—

The Koran is what Mohammed said that the angel Gabriel said that Allah said. But the Koran does not contain enough guidance for one to be a Muslim. The Koran repeatedly says that all of the world should imitate Mohammed in every way. Mohammed’s words and deeds are called the Sunna. The Sunna is found in two different texts—the Sira and Hadith.

The first source of the Sunna is the Sira which is Mohammed’s biography. The most authoritative version is by Ibn Ishaq.

The other source of the Sunna is the Hadith, the Traditions of Mohammed. There are several versions of Hadith, but the most commonly used is by Bukhari.So the Trilogy is the Koran, Sira and Hadith.

2. political islam

Political Islam is the doctrine that relates to the unbeliever, the kafir. Islam’s relationship to the kafir cannot be religious since a Muslim is strictly forbidden to have any religious interaction with them The religion of Islam is what is required for a Muslim to avoid Hell and enter Paradise.

The Trilogy not only advocates a religious superiority over the kafir—the kafirs go to Hell whereas Muslims go to Paradise—but also its doctrine demands that Muslims dominate the kafir in all politics and culture. This domination is political, not religious.

As mentioned earlier, the Koran has 61% of its text devoted to the kafir. The Sira (Mohammed’s biography) has about 75% of its text devoted to the kafir and jihad.

Islam’s success comes primarily from its politics. In thirteen years as a spiritual leader, Mohammed converted 150 people to his religion. When he became a political leader and warrior, Islam exploded in growth, and Mohammed became king of Arabia in ten years.

Islam has a complete doctrine of how to treat the kafir that is found in the Trilogy.

3. kafirs

Non-believers are so important that they have several names. Christians and Jews are called People of the Book or infidels. Other religious names for non-Muslims are atheist, polytheist, and pagan. But the Koran uses one word that includes all of the religious names. That name is kafir, an Arabic word.

Kafir is usually translated as unbeliever, but that translation is wrong. Unbeliever is a neutral word. The Koran is very clear about the kafir. Indeed, the Koran defines the kafir by how it speaks of them. Kafirs are the lowest and worst form of life. Kafirs can be robbed, murdered, tortured, enslaved, crucified and more. Later in this chapter, more of the Koran’s doctrine of the kafir is given in some detail. But the key point is that a kafir is not only a non-Muslim, but also a person who falls under a different moral code from the Muslim.

The Koran is devoted to the division between those who believe Mohammed, Muslims, and those who do not, kafirs. This grand division of the Koran means that there are two points of view of the Koran—the view of the Muslim and the view of the kafir.

4. dualism

The third principle is duality, and is unique to Islam. As an example, here is a verse from the Koran:

109:2 I do not worship what you worship, and you do not worship what I worship. I will never worship what you worship, and you will never worship what I worship. You to your religion, me to my religion.

This sounds very tolerant, but this verse was written later:

9:5 When the sacred months are passed, kill the kafirs wherever you find them. Take them as captives, besiege them, and lie in wait for them with every kind of ambush. If they submit to Islam, observe prayer, and pay the poor tax, then let them go their way. Allah is gracious and merciful.

Now we have absolute intolerance. This contradiction is normal for the Koran and is even addressed in the Koran. The solution to contradiction is called abrogation where the later verse is better than the earlier verse.

The logic here is very important. Since Allah is perfect and the Koran is the exact words of Allah, then both contradictory verses are true, but the later verse is better or stronger. This leads to dualistic logic where two contradictory facts can both be true.

5. submission

Islam means submission and Muslim means one who has submitted. It is clearly stated in the Trilogy that all kafirs and their civilizations must be annihilated. Mohammed’s success depended on violence to persuade kafirs that he was the prophet of Allah.

Submission is political, as well as religious. Islam demands that kafirs submit in every aspect of public life. Every part of kafir culture is an offense to Allah.

One Wrong Move

I have few concerns genuinely with the whole campaign of Bharat Swabhimaan even though I am a fond follower of Swami RamDevji Maharaj, whom we fondly call Babaji. The intention with which Babaji has started this revolution is undoubted. But entering politics by floating a new party against two major national parties is foolishness. I may be wrong, but I dont want to be proved right. As this would only bring the downfall of our beloved Babaji and waste of lots of donated money (forget about geting back the money from Swiss bank).


Bharat Swabhimaan talks the same language, same intentions, same goals as VHP, RSS and their sister organizations do. But to be politically right, Babaji never utters the word HINDU. I am a proud Hindu and say it everywhere, anywhere, anytime. What Babaji talks and intends to make will ultimately be called a "Hindu Rashtra". Why cant Babaji and Bharat Swabhimaan Andolan act as catalyst to promote BJP openly? We have enough parties in our country. Corrupt people are everywhere, even in BJP. We can take them off through a good Swabhiman Andolan. If Babaji floats a new party say XYZ, it is only going to divide the most precious Hindu votes. Take the example of MNS, Shiva Sena and BJP in MH during the lok sabha election. MNS got maximum votes which used to be Shivsena's votes, BJP faced bad vote percentage. Who won ? Congress!! Actually in the context of this, if only BJP were to be contesting elections without MNS and Shivsena, BJP would have got atleast 25 seats more alone in MH. Which means forming a Govt at the centre. Which inturn means development!! Learning from this lesson which has burnt fingers badly, do u think another party is needed which will split Hindu votes again? Anyway Muslims and Christians are never going to vote for either Babaji, BJP, MNS etc. Small neglible number of such good ppl who do vote, will never be significant. Babaji's party will only mean another term for Anti- National, Dynasty ruled Congress. !!



Coming to the people who will be representing Babaji's party in elections will have to be carefully chosen. History speaks for itself of how people change and become corrupt when they enter politics. More and more power to those people who were never known to be in the public domain or social work will become corrupt easily. Politics of today demands everyone to be a crook, even if you dont wish to be. Look at Yedyurappa's son's landscams!! Whether the CM is involved or not, his close associates and relatives will be. For no mistake of his, the Karnataka CM is given enough nightmares. Do you think the rest of political arena will leave any chances of maligning our beloved Babaji? He may not escape even if there is single but a big scandal from his own associates! Remember, he himself is amongst last big fishes who are still clean. If the Italian born can malign the Kanchi Shankaracharyaji falsely and get him arrested on the day of Deepawali , it can happen to our Babaji too. Babaji is playing his future in the hands of Congress. If the Bharat Swabhimaan Andolan fails to get enough support, it means it looses elections. It also means people who have hugely donated their hard earned and black money will only question the intention on Babaji. Protests, disappointments, anger, agony, pain will all burst like a angry volcano and burn the big dream into ashes. Babaji who is known as the yogic Hero of our times will be reduced to a political Zero. Such a failure can never bring back the fan following in future. Babaji has to recall what He has promised himself and the country, a country free of diseases, starvation, agony, pain and self pity.

One wrong move can potentially lock all doors of the Patanajali Yog Peeth! One wrong move can convert Babaji's followers into his enemies. One wrong move could never get back Babaji's image world over. One wrong move can shatter Babaji's empire and also a country future. A dream of confident, patriotic, scientific, highly educated country will be shattered once again.