Category: Welcome to my blog!

Hello, I decided to share my unimportant thoughts in social media and here I am :D

Posted in food as therapy..., Welcome to my blog!

Fresh Fruit Juice Kings

Posted on by veeskitchen

Nobody can make fresh fruit juice like us Indians. In Maharashtra, after Shirdi, on way to Shani Shingnapur, came across one whole village having sugarcane juice huts with the sugarcane being pulped by oxen, in one side of the highway, in mini grinding mills. Such a rustic setting it was as we relaxed in the hammock like cot (typical in Indian countryside) sipping the sugarcane juice filtered, with no additives added, and handed over to us. No ice cubes either. It was heaven really.

This week I was walking through a street near the famous Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore. Forgot my water bottle. Little apprehensive, dared to go for fruit juice in a shop to quench my thirst. I fear contamination in juice shops that’s why. The girl who was there said, they added no water or sugar. Instead with any fruit over there, they added freshly pulped sugarcane’s extract.

I chose orange juice from the menu. The girl did not pulp the entire sugarcane. The long cane was already in the mill. She ran it just for a minute and showed me the blender jar where she collected the necessary volume of sugarcane extract/juice. Probably the sugarcane is to serve a number of customers that day! To this sugarcane juice, she added two peeled whole oranges big size. Then she gave a pulse of 30 sec in the blender before filtering the juice concoction. What a taste that was! Imagine orange juice blended with natural sugarcane, sans water and sugar and no ice cubes. Never had anything like that in my life before this! It was served in a tall glass to the brim. Sugarcane normally gives me soar throat so I was a little worried. Also the place was only so-so. One whole night I waited for cough or cold to set in! Thank god, no infection I caught on. No wonder. The girl did not even use a glove. But she put the entire two oranges peeling them in front of me into the blender jar. The sugarcane extraction was also direct in front of my eyes. I needn’t have feared. This power packed and yummiest freshest juice cost me sixty rupees that’s all.

Then I wished I could have gone for pomegranate (90 rs)or apple or sweetlime or mosambi. All these I am reserving for future dates!

Mylapore with its congested streets is a heaven for vegetarian cuisine. If I have to have residence there in present times, I don’t have to cook at all! Cheap and best!

Posted in Political, Welcome to my blog!

Challenging Aamir Khan to make a film on Changur Baba now.

Posted on by veeskitchen

Coward and no.1 religious bigot Aamir Khan – will he now make a film on Changur Baba. Needs to be kicked out of India and stripped totally like Saif Ali Khan. The latter is paying for naming his son Timur. Not on Indian soil, you moron. Go and see the grave of Timur these days in Uzbek. Gone is the glory. Now India is having the upperhand and Uzbek is POOR. Its time to pack the ungrateful peacefuls back to where they belong. Let Saif retire to the land of Timur. Aamir Khan is no.1 coward and hypocrite. The other Khan Shah Rukh had to fall at the feet of a police inspector to save his son from dope case. Still the case is open only. With his stinking millions, he can get him out of the case no doubt. See how these people’s money is being spent. This is the sum total of the Khans. The fourth one Salman Khan in JUNK. No better word to describe this grotesque so-called hero, now overaged and looking ridiculous. Its time to cleanse Bollywood of the Khan mafia. These guys made it only because of their mafia, which is an open secret. Just like how A R Rahman was promoted by the same mafia.

If your son cannot fit the bill, you play the role of Jalaluddin, Aamir. Your son can play the role of Amit who is enticing unsuspecting Hindu girl disguising his religion and forcing her into marriage using blackmail.

Its not just Changur Baba, the hypocrite has endless topics to make films on including on grooming gangs of UK. Here the son can be the perfect cast.

Posted in Political, Welcome to my blog!

Russia Vs Ukraine.

Posted on by veeskitchen

Bhagavad Gita is misquoted in Oppenheimer. Well I haven’t yet watched the picture. But in an English fiction (by Ken Follet?) I recall reading about the developments leading to the atom bomb that stopped the World War II.Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were bombed and until this date, there has been no other parallel act of violence and bloody mass murder to this scale in written history. The award goes to America always and the Caucasians to be specific. No other race in the world is capable of this kind of mindless destruction. In fact this was the reason I stopped reading Ken Follet. He kind of justified whatever Americans did and never elaborated the Japanese point of view. The word ‘terrorism’ wasn’t yet invented, lucky for Americans. Lucky for the Germans too is it not? Lucky for South Africans. For neither the holocaust nor apartheid got labeled as terrorism! Lucky for colonists from Europe as well even if they wiped out to extinction numerous aboriginal races in Australia, Latin America, Northern American and Africa. Look who is preaching.

If you read Arthashastra from 3rd century BCE penned by Chanakya which is a standard textbook across the globe and reference book until now on politics, administration, governance and diplomacy, you will learn that Hindus follow(ed) a four fold method when it came to waging war. First of all wars needed to be avoided at all costs. We followed the ‘Sama, Dhana, Bedha, Dhanda’ the four steps that helped in preventing wars between nations. First method was Sama which meant coming to truce with dialogues and understanding. Negotiations may be made to resolve issues. Trade pacts and treaties may be signed. Even marriage alliances may be forged to have peace at any cost, to bring hostilities between two warring nations to an end. This was a widely adopted practice throughout world history including in India. This was why the very religious and pious Hindu Rajput kings from Rajasthan entered into marriage alliances with the Mugals. Jodha Akbar precisely.

When the first method failed, we went to the next step. This was Dhana – and this meant gifting or giving up something to appease your adversary which meant a sacrifice on your part. You would have to sometimes cough up a big price. You do it anyway to maintain peace. It may mean among other things, giving up territory. The smaller princely states may agree to become vassals paying taxes and excise duties to a larger kingdom with dominant king or emperor. This may they do, unwilling to take on powerful adversaries. Indian princely states of Mysore, Trivandram etc., became vassals to the British raj paying a handsome sums to the British periodically. When first two ways failed, the third one came to rescue. Bedha means to differentiate or give differential or even preferential treatment to different parties and tactfully secure peace. Bedha is therefore NO level playing field. This is nothing but the knack of diplomacy. For instance, the ‘divide and rule’ method practised by the British during the British Raj days by having different sets of rules or laws for the Hindus and Muslims to maintain stability can be said to be the effective ‘Bedha’ diplomacy that helped them deal with two volatile and sensitive communities. In some cases, the Bedha can be stretched to playing up two parties against each other for the benefit and peace of the mediator. This is how traditionally hostile nations or arch rivals/adversaries are created in colonies: by pitting friendly communities living together in harmony for centuries, against each other. Erstwhile neighbours become deadly enemies overnight.

The fourth and the last resort would be Dhanda or the punishment of taking up the wand (or arms) to strike a blow: which meant waging war on your adversary. Only when all other channels of diplomacy failed and the demands of the adversaries were unjust, the fourth method was resorted to. So that is how ancient India treated adversaries and waged wars. Which was why Hindu kings lost to the Islamists and the British who were never bred on the kind of ethics or codes of conduct when it came to war, like our far advanced,literate, civilized and progressive societies of those times.

India never annexed foreign territory. Hindu kings were also pioneer ship builders and seafarers. The Hindu Chola Kings reached upto Indonesia (Bali is still Hindu) and even China, with the world’s largest Hindu temple being Angkorwat in Cambodia (which was later converted to Buddhist) but spread Hindu Dharam by peaceful means not by bribe (as Christians do) or by sword (as Islamists do). King Vikramaditya reached upto today’s Saudi. Merchants from south (Tamil Nadu) sailed upto Rome even before the birth of Christ trading goods and merchandise.

In Mahabharatha war that cannot be dated (anywhere from 6000 to 10000 years ago BCE), the Kauravs refuse to give Pandavs even five houses, leave alone five villages or provinces. When all means of negotiations fail, the Mahabharatha war, the greatest war of all times, ensues. Interestingly, an array of supersonic missiles find a mention in the Mahabharatha. Very casual reference to surface to surface, surface to air, air to air missiles with descriptions on speed and distance and accuracy! They are called Astras in Sanskrit. Astrology and Astronomy could have had sanskrit root words for names.

The Pandavs are unable to overcome hesitation because, who they are taking on war for territory, were their own blood, their first cousins. It is at that time Lord Krishna who is the charioteer for Arjuna explains that sometimes, ADHARMA HAS TO BE TAKEN DOWN WITH EQUAL ADHARMA. :Like how a thorn must be pulled out with a thorn. Dharma is the way forward but sometimes, Adharma also must be practised for the sake of establishing Dharma. It is in this context Krishna says that, He himself is death. After Krishna’s ‘upadesh’ Arjun is ready to fight the Mahabharat war and takes up arms to wage war against his cousins. The Pandavs go on to win the Mahabharat war killing all their cousins. But in the process none of the children of the Pandav survive either. So this is the bitter end of a war.

By deliberate misinterpretation of our sacred texts and by out of context quoting, some forces and especially world media want to create a wrong impression on Bhagavad Gita, which is much older than the Bible or Koran. Its exact date of writing is unknown. We believe it to be over 6000 years old – as ancient HINDU DHARMA THAT HAS NO FOUNDER, NO VATICAN OR MECCA, NO BIBLE OR KORAN AND NO FOUNDING DATE but that which continues to be the one and only continuous and unbroken civilization on planet Earth until now.

Are we staring at a third world war? Irresponsible on part of any nation that abets wars. The costs are too high and the collateral damage will have to be borne by the rest of the whole world. Russia has a moral highground in the matter no doubt. Its none of the business either for America or Europe. War mongering is no more small mischief. It can be a big, big irreversible mistake.

Swastika is Hindu symbol. The set of inverted triangles too is a Hindu symbol. All that is now associated with wrong parties.

Posted in food as therapy..., Welcome to my blog!

what do we eat in India.

Posted on by veeskitchen

Before going to whole grains, I am making a list of veggies we consume around the year. Our Hindu meals include atleast three to four veggies or more every single day. Everything fresh from market or grocery stores.

Onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, green chili. Shallots or the baby onions are southern special

Carrots, beetroots

Cabbage, cauliflower and now even broccoli (for soups)

Okra (ladies finger), Brinjal all colours, drumsticks (not the chicken drumstick; this one grows on trees) (the poorman’s viagra)

Cucumber, radish, turnip

Capsicum or bell pepper all colours especially green

Potato, yam, sweet potato, colacasia

Broad beans, cluster beans

Fresh green peas, double beans, butter beans, soya beans – no need for soaking if you live in India. They come fresh round the year

Raw banana, banana flower, banana stems,

Rajma (red kidney bean), Channa (chick pea both brown and white)(these have to be soaked) though Rajma also comes fresh with no need to soak overnight

Corn, babycorn, mushrooms, soya chunks, lemons, gooseberries

Panneer the cottage cheese and tofu

Coconut, raw mango, jack fruit seed

Black gram, bengal gram etc.

Bitter gourd, snake guard, ash gourd, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, yellow pumpkins, chayote. Bitter gourd is good for diabetes control. Must in our food.

Greens: methi (fenugreek) leaves, mustard leaves, amaranth both red and green, drumstick leaves, spinach, mint, coriander, curry leaves, etc., just to sample. Keezhaanelli leaves are natural cure for jaundice but America patented it as we never claimed it as ours.

I shall add more as and when I recall. All these we eat atleast once in 20 days. That is how rich and sumptuous a Hindu meal/food can be.

Seasoning used in every day cooking : mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, black peppercorn, fennel seeds, dried fenugreek leaves, dry red chili, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, asafoetida, etc.

Other natural seasonings/taste enhancers: tamarind, turmeric powder (for colouring and for its antiseptic qualities) (there is NO Indian cuisine without the turmeric)

For protein for vegetarians: all kinds of lentils and pulses.

Whole grains and others: broken wheat, wheat, brown rice, white rice, original Basmati rice, red rice, broken rice, atta 0r the whole wheat flour, rice flour

Millets: this is the native food of India. Finger millets, pearl millet, jowar, bajra etc., are making a come back in Indian cuisine.

Oils of India: groundnut oil, coconut oil, mustard oil, sesame oil . Sunflower oil is very much affordable. Palm oil is for the nation’s poorest being our bulk import from Malaysia.

Coffee and tea are alien to us but they have such a profound presence in India.

So this is how we raise our children in India.

Fruits native to India are mangoes, jack fruit, banana among others. Seetha pazham, vilaam pazham – I don’t know the English names. Have to google. These are found to have cancer fighting properties. Elantham pazham. Apple and oranges are believed to be imported but they might also have been growing in the higher altitudes of India like in the Himalayas and the Nilgiris that the plains people remained unaware of for centuries.

The stunning variety of the veggies we Hindus could be a reason for our global success in most of our opinion. Our breakfast Idlis which are pancakes from urad dal and rice get made from fermented batter that are natural probiotics. No Indian meal is complete without the intake of curd (Indian yoghurt). Similarly we use ghee or the clarified butter in daily food.

Hindu vegetarians lose no nutrition because of their picky food habits. My greatest regret is my son losing on the kind of vegetables and greens I used to cook for him after migrating from India.

I may be vegetarian from birth, but I learnt to cook meat for my family. WE always got fresh chicken and fish, never the frozen ones. My family loved king fish and hover’s carp. Staples for my son every week. Indian mutton too is rated highly over Australian mutton. Twice a week minced meat or mutton or chicken with a fish was in my son’s menu. On rare occasions father and son cooked for themselves sea crab. Fresh sea prawns also featured in the monthly diet list. I always rotated the menu and saw to that nothing was left out from our table. Eggs of course was like a pickle. Constant presence. Even so I would try to order country eggs. Instead of broiler chicken, I went for country chicken. We attached great importance to organic nature of food and nutritional quality. Frozen food except for panneer or the cottage cheese, was 100% ruled out. NO AERATED DRINKS AT HOME. If Indian cuisine is No.1 success story around the world, the reason could be the infusion of so many vegetables and greens in our food.

Sadly sometimes, our superduper food gets branded as curry by those who prefer the KFC nonsense and bland and stale and unimaginative food. This is the fate of anything too good to believe in this world. The kind of food we serve everyday in our family can be billed easily at 500$ in the US for instance. I know what I am eating.

After a gap I returned to Doha to join my husband. Our lunch yesterday was cabbage koottu – a stew made with cooked lentils 2 types. I added coconut milk to it ground with green chili and soaked jeera or coriander seeds along with a slice of ginger. I garnished the stew with madras sambar powder made of red chili-coriander seed-black peppercorn powder. I sauteed some mustard seeds, cumin seeds with split red chili, added asafoetida a bit freshly ground, curry leaves in a tablespoon of heated coconut oil. I added this to the stew bringing to a boil. Seasoned with freshly cut coriander leaves. For curry I made a roast of double beans shelled fresh, roasted with tomato, garlic, onion. Sauteed with mustard seeds with cumin seeds in heated groundnut oil. Seasoning was with curry leaves, coriander leaves. The beans got the spice from madras curry powder – a mix of dry red chili, coriander seeds and black peppercorn roasted and ground. For crispies I deepfried some dried tapioca pearl chips that are sold by homemakers. I got some packets from India. A simple rasam, a juice of tamarind and tomato with black peppercorn powder and curd completed our homemeal. This is normal Indian cooking. I did nothing special. In fact, my cooking yesterday was minimal and very simple. I cooked brown rice to go with it. Breakfast was millet stringhoppers sold by some Indian shops. Its best for sugar control. We watch very much what we eat. If you don’t want gluten, then you may as well go to sleep on empty stomach.

Hindu food is rich in content. EXcepting for meat, Hindu food is mostly SATWIK. Satwik food is the reason for the Hindu temperament.

I am blessed to be born a Hindu, blessed to be a vegetarian from birth and blessed to live in the great ancient nation Bharat/India. Hindu culture is the one and only unbroken and continuous civilization in the world for over 10,000 years now.

I see so many addicts to Indian range of cuisine around the world. If Indian food is priced exorbitant in foreign countries, it is for this reason: its exotic and the ingredients have medicinal values. ‘Food as therapy’ as we Hindus call it. Chewing betel leaves with areca nuts was custom to enable our ancestors get their continuous supply of calcium when they were vegetarians.

Years of living in foreign countries got my eyes opened to what really is quality of life: whether it is something to do with highways and malls and casinos and brands. Or something holistic , no way materialistic but that which leaves you with profound contentment. Where others see heat and dust, I see what really matters in life.

Posted in Welcome to my blog!

Human Poop trucked out of Burj Khalifa?!

Posted on by veeskitchen
Trucks carry human poop out of Burj Khalifa every morning. So next time you poop in the world’s tallest tower, remember someone has to carry it out for you!

Wow! This is something I was never aware of! What a shame! So Burj Khalifa the tallest tower in Dubai has no sewer system? Reportedly the human poop generated everyday in the world’s tallest tower is ferried out in rows of trucks! The greed of the Arabs! They aspire for space technology without the knowhow. And even succeeded in putting a man in the space that it makes the world scientists raise the ethical questions. So long as the petrodollars keep jingling, the world is in their pocket. No qualms about aspiring for something that they haven’t earned with ‘qualifications.’ But isn’t oil and gas all about it. However, even the black gold has seemed to fail the Burj Khalifa when it comes to the drainage and sewer system.