Fujifilm FinePix Z3 – Food Blogger’s Tool
CNet Review:
The Fujifilm FinePix Z3 is a slim 5-megapixel point-and-shoot camera with some interesting features. The FinePix Z3 includes image stabilization, and its sensor can reach sensitivities of up to ISO 1,600, offering users more flexibility when shooting high-speed subjects or in low-light settings. Its 3X optical zoom lens stays entirely inside the camera body, keeping the Z3 slim and pocketable even when it’s turned on and fully zoomed in. Its built-in flash features Dual Shooting mode, where the camera shoots both a flash and nonflash image in quick succession, then lets the user decide which photo looks better. The Z3 has 14 scene presets, plus a 30fps VGA movie mode with sound.[Source]
Bombay Duck Sauteed with Onions
I didn’t know till recently that Bombay duck, isn’t actually a duck. I love duck meat, and if you haven’t tasted duck meat, do try it out. Some Chinese restaurant serve it and Mainland China also serve it, at least on occasions, if I remember. I forgot to ask if they serve it all year long. I love the gravy of duck curry, and you won’t get the duck curry in mainland china, only in Anthony’s kitchen. Duck cooked the same way we cook home-cooked chicken. I don’t where I will get duck meat to cook, if I wanted to, here in Mumbai. I’d be glad to know if it is available.
When I saw a packet of some meat like-pickle like thing at the local cold storage, with the name Bombay duck written on it, I asked the shop owner, If it was duck meat.
“He laughed.”
“So did the guy who had come to buy his stock of meat.’
“Bombay duck is a fish it seems, or so I learnt.”
And since it was the closest thing I had seen, to a duck, in years, I wanted to give it a try.
“It was already pickled in some masala, so I didn’t have to do much work to get a palatable dish.”
I used to prepare stirred fried or sautéed dried sea-fish with onions.
Which is what I did.
Two large onions sliced into thin slivers.
The Bombay duck, 250 grams.
Red chilli powder, and Jeera-dhania powder mixed.
No Salt, the fish was salted
Steps:
Heat 2 tbs peanut oil in a pan.
Add the onuions and sauté till limp.
Add ½ tsp each of Chilli powder, jeera powder and dhania powder.
Add the fish and sauté for 10 minutes in medium heat.
It’s done.
Yes, it is. Isn’t it simple.
Serve with roti or rice, hot.
The taste was as good it was smelly.
And the smell was strong, and those who don’t like fish, I advise not to try this.
Fish lovers, you don’t know what you are missing!!!!
Kheema Masala with Potato and Gravy
Something I have wanted to cook and devour for a long time.
I cooked it in pressure cooker so it was quite soft too.
Seemed like the meat was melting in my mouth.
The masala was just right, so was the chilli. The right tikha.
So to say, I am quite tired with a full stomach.
And to think about the workload I have..
And that paper for the fellowship aarrgh…
But I had a good meal.
Awesome meal.
Al kabeer Zindaabaad.
Oh the kheema was al kabeer.
I don’t buy kheema from butchers anymore.
I can’t wash the kheema, or minched meat, and I am too comfortable eating unwashed meat from local butchers. But, I prefer fresh butcher cut meat for meat chunks, ribs or normal pieces.
Gravied or curried Kheema or minch meat is rare.
People prefer it dry.
I discovered the beauty of gravied kheema recently.
Can I post the recipe tomorrow?
Got some work…
Lamb chops/Mutton Ribs Masala
Been cooking a lot of Mutton Dishes, Mutton Masala, Mutton Korma, MTM oops Mutton Tikka Masala, Mutton Biryani…. Well, the chicken has been down with the flu..
This is my second installment of my Mutton Bonanza, after the Mutton Vindaloo.
I am very fond of Ribs, and The next thing that I love after Pork Ribs is of course lamb chops, that I have cooked here and here.
As my regular visitors know, I have learnt cooking out of passion and mostly from hit and trials and experiments. But, it helps that I have a knack of feeling how a dish might turn out even if it were the first time I was cooking… And so, it was with this dish too. Self praise notwithstanding, it was an amazing treat.
The name, well! I just made up the name.
It is lamb prime ribs or mutton chops as is commonly known, cooked the way the usual Mutton masala or mutton curry is cooked.
Grilled Prime ribs is a favorite dish, be it pork or lamb. With steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes and gravy. Yummy. I have cooked lamb chops often, but when I was buying lamb chops at the butcher’s, it suddenly struck me to see how it cooked in a simple way, the home cooked style.
It was amazing. Simple yet succulent with a taste that lingers long after you have swallowed the meat.
And you could suck on the ribs or soft bones… This is heavenly, and the said exercise is only proper within the private walls of your house. Sucking the bones, that is.
Lamb Chops: Half a kilo
Tamato: Two
Onion: one large
Ginger and Garlic: 1 tbs each crushed or chopped. (not the paste with vinegar)
Methi: half tsp
Chilli powder, Dhania and Jeera: 1 tsp each
Meat masala: 1 tsp, everest or MDH etc
Bayleaves: 2 nos.
Salt to taste and Coriander to garnish
Steps:
Heat kadhai, and add two Tbs vegetable oil.
Add bayleaves.
Add the onions and fry till limp. Add methi and salt.
Add the meat, and sauté.
Keep stirring and sauté for 10 minutes.
Now add the ginger garlic, and all the masala.
Mix well, lower heat and cover it.
After a few minutes, open and mix well again and then cover it.
Repeat the exercise for 20 minutes.
Add tomatoes now.
Then, add two cups of hot water and let shimmer.
Cook till gravy thickens to your liking.
Garnish with coriander.
Yes yes, I didn’t marinate.
Cooking covered in low heat for a long time with the masala will make the meat absorb masala.
That is better than marinate, if it is not the yoghurt marinade.
Real Simple Bachelor’s Dum Aloo
This is a simple dum aloo, more like the masala inside masala dosa than dum aloo, but dum aloo nonetheless. This is one of my favorite dishes. It was one of the few dishes that my father could cook well, so whenever he cooked when we were kids, when my mom was unwell, he would prepare dum aloo. Or Aloo baingan. Lots of oil, and lots of love. I can still remember the taste.
Three large potatoes peeled and cut into half is added to the daal when I boiled daal for cooking it.
I could have boiled the potato separately, but if you are cookin daal, add it there. Tastes good too.
When boiled, remove and cut into cubes.
Heat a pan, and add 2 tbs oil.
Add a bayleaf, and two red kashmiri chillis.
Let sputter a tsp each of jeera and mustard.
Add roughly crushed garlic, 5-6 cloves.
Add one onion finely chopped.
Fry till limp, and add finely chopped tomatoes.
Add half a tsp of red chilli powder, and 1/4 tsp turmeric.
Add the potatoes and sauté.
Add salt, and stir slowly.
I like it this way only, but you may add a dash of jeera and dhania powder if you like masala strong…
You may also garnish with Dhania.
My campaign for Sensible Adsense continues.
Even if you don’t feel like contributing directly, do add this chicklet on your blog.
Mushrooms from the NorthEast
There are some mushrooms that are widely available, and quite popular in our cuisines too. I couldn’t get to photograph any fresh Mushrooms when I went to Manipur. These are some Dry Mushrooms which are available mostly throughout the year. I took the pictures from a Village market. The above Mushroom is locally known as Uyen, it is like the Shitake Mushrooms also available mostly everywhere, the taste however is a little different. This is had with mattar or peas. We also add this in Daal, makes good eating 
Below is called Uchina, well it looks the ear of mice, so the name. not the best name for something you eat, but it kinda stuck. This is had by boiling with Peas and Potatoes with chilli, and mash the whole thing and do a tadka, usually with the garlic Chives. Quite tasty, it is….
There are some other dried variety besides this. And more popular than button Mushrooms, are a longer stemmed variety, which is stir fried with small fresh water shrimps, Ah!! a delicacy I haven’t had in a long time. Mushrooms are called Chengum in Manipur…
Garlic Chives, Maroi Nakuppi Manipur,
Let’s blog herbs today!
Let’s blog about some herbs from Manipur.
Let’s blog for Kalyn’s Weekend Herb Blogging, as I promised her that I have many more Manipuri herbs.
We call it, or the Manipuris Call it Maroi Nakuppi, the Scientific name is Allium Adorosum. Few week back I blogged about maroi Napakpi or Allium Hookeri. This is a cousin of the same, and The English name of the same is garlic Chives, and you will find it in Chinese markets and Most super markets.
The flavor it adds to any Masala based dish is awesome, and It can’t be explained here. You have to taste it to know it. We use this in place of onions when cooking Fish and other Subzee, and the flavor is what makes my heart ache for home.
I once had pork, boiled with this chive, lots of chives, and ginger, and It was one of the best pork preparations I ever had.
Pulao can also be flavored with this, just fry the chives in Ghee and mix with the pulao. Daal tadka can be utterly different and delicious with the chives.
We also prepare the chives as a subjee, the way we prepare dry Palak preparations. I have a recipe, where I have used palak instead of the chives, here. Cook the same dish with chives and come back to tell me how it tasted. You will be surprised, that you have lived for so long without the pleasure of having tried that. In manipur, the dish is Maroi Thongba, and My mother cooks the best Maroi thongba .
Maroi Thongba, The recipe:
- One Kilo of chives, properly washed and chopped into 1 inch lengths.
- 1 inch finger if ginger.
- 3-4 Cloves of garlic.
- Cumin Seeds
- Coriander Powder.
- Green Chilli Sliced
- Peanuts..
Steps:
- Heat a Pan, and pour 2 TBS peanut oil or vegetable oil.
- Fry the peanuts lightly and remove.
- Add the Cumin seeds( 1 tsp) and let sputter.
- Add the ginger garlic, properly crushed, sliced green chilli(2-3)and add a small handful of the chives.
- Saute till garlic is golden brownish, add 1 tsp of the coriander powder
- Add half a tsp of turmeric and red chilli powder,
- Add the chives and mix well.
- Water will come out, saute till it is dry.
- When water have evaporated, add 1 and a half cup of Hot water.
- Add the peanuts, and let Shimmer till gravy is consistent.
Relish the Dish…….
We also add Kaali Daal ( Black Gram) Vadi, the kinds that you get in Kolkata, new market and Beck Bagan market in the same preparation. First fry the vadi lightly, when you are frying the Peanuts, keep aside. Add it when you add the peanuts.
Curry Mela is going on Below…
Capsicum Zhunka
This is specially for my Vegetarian readers and friends.
I dedicate this to you.
I cooked it the first time, after I tasted it today during lunch from the lunch box of a colleague. His mom cooked it, it was awesome and I asked the recipe to another colleague. I rushed home and tried it. I actually had a Mutton dish in drafy for today but what the heck…
It is not actually Zhunka, but it is prepared similar to the onion Zhunka, the Maharashtrian Delicacy, so I just named it capsicum Zhunka…
This is the first of a series of Besan (chick pea flour) based recipes, quite common in Maharashtra. After vada, zhunka is the most popular Besan based preparation in Maharashtra. What I am writing about today is a Zhunka Derivative. It also is a derivative of the stuffed capsicum that I posted recently, because this is similar to zhunka and stuffed capsicum because instead of stuffing the capsicum with the Besan masala, I just chop capsicum and stir fry it with the masala.
Now since it is besan based and besan absorbs a lot of oil, it takes a lot of oil to cook this dish, and so it must not be the healthiest food around, but what the heck. It tastes just too good. And maybe, it should be had once in a while.
Ingredients:
Three capsicums, chopped into half cm squares, like in the picture.
Two medium Onions, chopped fine.
1 tsp of mustard seeds.
Half tsp of red chilli powder, and dhania powder.
A pinch of turmeric and salt to taste.
1 cup of besan.
Peanut or vegetable oil.
Steps:
Heat 3 tbs oil in a thick bottom kadhai.
Add the mustard seeds and let sputter.
Add the onions, reduce heat and cover the kadhai.
After 2-3 minutes when the onions are limp, add the chopped capsicum.
Sauté for a few minutes.
Add the red chilli, dhania, turmeric and salt to taste.
Add the besan and mix very well.
In low heat, keep stirring the mixture. It takes a lot of stirring to cook the besan uniformly.
Cover it, keep for 1 minute, open it, stir it, cover it again.
Repeat for 4-5 times till done.
Note:
The Stock market had the largest ever fall today. Sensex crashed by more than 820 points and Nifty by more than 240 points. I had been anticipating the fall for a long time, and luckily I had bought some nifty Put options yesterday. Yes, yesterday… and I made a 700% profit, by selling the options. I bougth nifty put 3400 yesterday because the market went up suddenly and I had made a very good gain the day before as well, and I thought what the heck and parlayed some of the profits. Today’s fall was most unexpected, and the gain was a windfall. I am off the market for now. I won’t be a second time lucky…. Actually, since I made a so much profit, I also bought two lots of nifty call today when I sold off the put options. lol. Let’s see if the market rebounds tomorrow.
I had bought the Put options to hedge my holdings, but since I made profits, I felt like, why not play with the profits…… Well, it was Luck… maybe I will buy myself something…
I won’t have time to square off my positions tomorrow though. Got a meeting from 9:30 to 3:30…….. owwwww….with a VP….. But I will have lunch break….
Secrets of Google Adsense
I had inserted google adsense into my template, to see if it really works..
The results have been very very funny….
600 page views a day and one click… lol that’s about 10 cents because the ad was a cheap one perhaps. The only people who are making money from google adsense seem to be google and the host of con artists with websites selling tips and tricks to earn money from google adsense by writing about high paying keywords and adword tips.
I made 10 cents from 300 hits, so I need 3000 hits to earn a dollar… hahaha so even if I had 3000 a day, which is near impossible, it will take me hundred days to accumulate 100 dollars for google to send the first cheque. lol.
But at 300 hits, it will take me a thousand days to make 100 dollars… lol.
But since there are millions of blogs and many uses adsense, and google only pays a fraction, google still make good money eh! And I laugh!!!
And then, I realised, when did I last clicked on a sponsored link when I visited a blog?
I mean we don’t click ads. Somehow, even if some ads seem quite relevant.
Anyway the layout is looking good even with the adsense ads.
I never started the blog with the intention of making money from it.
It was my passion for cooking, and the fun when I see people actually come to read my Blog.
Maybe I will buy a good dinner at the end of thousand days.
How have your experience with adsense, if you do use it, been?
Do leave a comment.
Pork Vindaloo
I cooked Mutton Vindaloo last week. But if one were to cook vindaloo, One shoud also try Pork Vindaloo, which by default is the Vindaloo. Pork vindaloo is one of the Yummiest dish that (wo)men ever cooked, lemme assure you. And its doesn’t take as long as we cooked Mutton vindaloo which was also quite fast, and quick by vindaloo standards since we cooked it the bachelor cooking way. Ingredients basically are the same as mutton Vindaloo except that I didn’t use potato. I don’t like Potato in Pork Curry, as much as I do with Mutton. Also I didn’t use coconuts.
Ingredients:
1 kg pork, with fat.
2 Tbs cider vinegar
3 tbs tamarind pulp
2 large onions
15-20 garlic cloves
1 inch finger of ginger
1 tsp each of jeera, Dhania, red Chilli powder, and black pepper.
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 paprika cut into 4s
Grind the onions with the garlic and ginger, with a little water.
Add the vinegar, tamarind pulp, Jeera, Dhania, Red Chilli, Black Powder and make a fine paste.
Mix the paste with the Pork and marinate for 2-3 hours. Also add salt to taste in the marinade.
Add the whole mix in a cooker and without mixing any water, cover the Pressure cooker and cook till 3 whistles, in low heat and let cool.
Open the cooker, and start cooking again.
Keep stirring, till liquid dries, and oil and meat will start to separate.
You didn’t add any oil, but oil will come out..
You may stir fry for 5 minutes in 5 minutes and add two cups of hot water.
Shimmer till gravy is thickened.
Can’t get easier??
I can eat a whole Kilo of pork alone, believe me…