Jack fruit is one of the seasonal products in Kerala and it is available in different varieties. Jack fruit jam or Chakka varatti is one of the sweet delicacies of Kerala. Last week, i received a jack fruit from Kerala through courier. Since it is seasonal, it is always preserved in the form of jam called Chakka varatti to make it available through out the year. Usually, preparing this dish is time consuming as well as strenuous. Once it is ripen, it can be eaten as a fruit or preserved to prepare dishes like Chakka Pradhaman, Kumbilappam, Ela Adai, etc.. When it is tender, it can be used to prepare chips and variety of side dishes like chakka erissery, chakka aviyal, chakka thoran, chakka puzhukku, etc..

Usually Chakka varatti is prepared in bronze or copper vessel called Uruli. It should be cooked over simmer for long time, at least 4-5 hrs.

Ingredients:

• Chakka – 1/2 kg (chopped after removing seeds)
• Jaggery – 300 gm to 500 gms (according to the sweet requirement)
• Ghee – 200 gms
• Dried Ginger – 1” piece, powdered
• Cardamom – 10 no’s, powdered after removing the skin
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp (powdered, Optional)

Method of Preparation:

• Steam chopped jack fruit, grind to a paste once it is cooled to the room temperature
• Dissolve jaggery in a cup of water, strain to remove the dirt, if there is anything
• Boil jack fruit pulp along with jaggery and ghee over simmer, keep on stirring the paste until it form a ball
• Stir in powdered dried ginger, cardamom and cumin (optional) and remove from stove and let it cool to the room temperature
• Bottle it  and can be preserved for more than a year.

The most expensive political felicitation India ever witnessed in her political history. If any one is asked, Who can empty the public exchequer? The reply will be it is none other than Utter Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati. What are the other political gimmicks to be witnessed by the Indians  during her chief minister ship? Read more about her political extravaganza, click http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mayas-garland-worth-Rs-5-crore/articleshow/5688323.cms

You can now view all the IPL matches live on the move. This is good for people who need

Check out the IPL Channel on YouTube. The matches will be telecasted live on Set Max and this time its with some difference. You would be able to experience HD quality, Dolby audio and size of the screen with be 16:9 ratio.

Sun Direct has joined hands with Set Max, who will provide the HD feed of the DLF IPL matches from March 12, 2010 onwards. This telecast feed will not carry any advertisements giving viewers uninterrupted match experience. Combined with Dolby Digital for the audio and sound with 16:9 ratio this HD telecast will deliver in-stadia like experience to viewers.

Sun Direct is the only HD TV player in India and the second biggest DTH service provider in India.

One of my favourites and it is very easy to prepare if the squid (squid thoran)  is prepared before hand.

One day my daughter asked me to prepare chicken lollipop and it was the first time i was hearing about that dish. On the next day, i saw the preparation in one of the TV channels and i decided to prepare it for my kid. I went many supermarkets here in Bangalore  to get the chicken lollipop pieces and search ended up at More. Supermarket. It was packed in 200 gms and had 11 pieces. It is a very tasty item and can be used as a starter. Try this, you will enjoy it definitely.

Ingredients:

• Chicken lollipop – 200 gms, 10-11 no’s
• Garlic paste – 1 tbsp (made of 10-15 no’s
• Kashmiri chilly – 2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Lime juice – 2 tbsp
• Oil to fry

Ingredients for batter:

• Corn flour – 2 tbsp
• Egg – 1
• Salt to taste

Coating:

• White sesame seeds – 2 tbsp
• Black sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

• Marinate chicken pieces with garlic paste, kashmiri chilly, limejuice and salt to taste, keep aside for 1/2 hr
• Prepare the batter
• Heat oil in a pan
• Dip chicken pieces in the batter and roll out in the sesame seeds and fry in oil
• Serve it with tea or any soft drinks or with white rice.

It is an ideal snack for the kids. While serving, wrap the bone with aluminum foil. It looks great as well as neat and attractive.

The Women’s Reservation Bill is going to be law in India on March 8, on International Women’s Day after a historic fight for 13 years in Parliament, which reserves 33 percent seats for women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The UPA government will be introducing the bill to the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The biggest hurdle faced by the bill till date was the demand for quota within quota, which means within the 33% reservation, issue of sub-quota for OBC, SC and ST categories.

The empowerment of women has been one of the greatest social changes of our times and Indian women have proven themselves in every sphere of life and they are no longer a weaker sex and sometimes soon women won’t need a special day to be dedicated to them as women’s day and every day of the year will be a women’s day as much as it is a man’s day.

We are belonging to a country where the first person of the country is a lady (President Pratibha Patil) and we had a lady Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) who still remains the country’s toughest leader ever  in the history of Indian politics. The role of woman has been changed in every aspect of their life from bread bakers to bread earners, meal makers to deal makers, etc..  and they are proving  that the world is not enough for them. Women have won a number of big victories and if the Women’s Reservation Bill is passed, it could change the face of politics and gender discourse.

Even as the Indian women break new ground for success and moving ahead, the threat of violence remains a constant. By passing the Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha tomorrow, we women get a reservation but does it mean that we are free and move ahead without the shadow of fear.  Are we going to be treated equally in our male dominated society?

Lets wait and see!

Deccan 360 is a new logistic company in India founded by captain Gopinath (Air Deccan) with a vision to revalorize the logistic services in India.

Deccan 360 has three types of services which is known as Priority, Premium and Economy. You can find more information on the services provided here.

Having good logistic services are very important for business, so this service should be helpful to connect the cities in India.

The Union Budget for the fiscal year 2010-2011 is announced today by the finance minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. As an income tax payer, I am benefitted by this  budget because there is change in the income tax slab and no need to get my business accounts audited since the total revenue normally never crosses Rs. 60 lakh but this budget will definitely burn a hole in the pocket of the commoner.

There is no measures taken for controlling the prices of goods and more over the excise duty has been increased. When the excise duty increases, the duty amount will be added along with manufacturing cost and then decide the price. It will definitely increase the prices (inflation) of those goods on which it is charged.

When the price of “Black gold” – petroleum products increase, it will affect the prices of each and every goods and services which is offered to the public. It will lead to the increase in transportation charges  like bus, auto rickshaw, taxi fares and finally leads to increase in prices of everything to the commoner without any increment in their income.

Many people are welcoming this Budget 2010 and ignoring the future plights of the commoner. To me, Commoner is a person who is depending only on his one source of income without any alternative sources. Here, he will definitely find it difficult to meet both the ends of life with the available income. Few says they should find ways to increase the income rather than complaining about price rise.

Another sector which is going to be affected is the construction field. Since the prices of the cement and other construction materials increases, the companies will not go ahead with their new projects since they won’t be able to meet their agreement with their customers and the workers will be left with no job. The workers engaged in this sector is going to be affected directly.

A small example is due to the increase in petroleum products, gold price will be increased. Don’t laugh. Some have a feeling that we are not buying gold daily or yearly but there is a section of the society where gold is inevitable for their daughters’ wedding. Can they bear this price increase?

The price increase of Single utility vehicles, cars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, ACs, TV are acceptable and it doesn’t affect on the life of the people at the large. Can we consider TV as a luxury item?

If the food industry and public delivery system is not strengthened enough, the expected growth rate  of the economy will never be attained in the near future by the UPA government.

I have been staying in Bangalore for last two years and never faced the problem of shortage of water and in fact the major highlighted attraction was availability of water. But now, it is just the end February and summer set in Bangalore and so is the drained bore wells. Today morning we, the inhabitants of our building, ran out of water and couldn’t do anything. My kid was telling me take her to one of the two wheeler service station to get her serviced. About 11 am tanker carrying water arrived and somehow managed to do the basics.

water tanker in front of our building

The water available in the building is not so clear and it has a hard texture (i am not sure whether i can use texture for describing the water quality and more over non-availability. Here in Bangalore, people are engaged in the business of water sales. They have their own bore wells and sell it for Rs. 250/tanker (the size is shown in the picture).

If the situation continues, it will definitely affect the bubbling IT industry in Bangalore. What can they do without sufficient water to do the basics? I was thinking about quitting Bangalore and settle in Kerala, where the shortage of water is out of question.

Very recently few personnel from some water purifier companies arrived and tested something called TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and said it is about 398mg/Liter and it is hazardous to health and leads to the kidney stone formation due to the presence of excess calcium in the water. But the research shows that it could be up to 500mg/Liter. That means, the water purifier companies are simply cheating the public by exploiting their health concern.  

I don’t know how far it is true but the problems what i have been facing for last two years are:

• hair losing
• dry and hard skin
• dandruff

These problems can be fixed by an expert beautician but my major concern is that  my monthly maintenance charges will be increased by another Rs. 1200/- due to the shortage of water.

Don’t you think it is the responsibility of the ruling government to make arrangements to provide the basic infrastructure to the inhabitants of that state? In Bangalore, the life is becoming horrible since there is no uninterrupted electricity, internet, or water. Moreover the prices of all the consumables are going soaring. When will there be an end to all the worries?

Egg and Potato, both are very good friends and when it is served with roti, its really rocking. My daughter doesn’t like hard boiled egg but when it is cooked with her favorite potato, she just enjoy her meal without any complaint. This curry can be made either in coconut milk or normal slim milk. Choose slim milk if you are conscious about your health and doesn’t make any difference in taste. I made this with slim milk.

Ingredients:

• Potato cubed – 1 medium sized
• Egg – 2 no’s, hard boiled
• Onion – 1 big, cubed
• Green chilly – 2 no’s, broken
• Ginger-garlic paste – 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
• Kashmiri chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
• Milk – 120ml, either cow milk or coconut milk
• Salt to taste

Seasoning:

• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/8 tsp
• Dried red chilly – 2 no’s, broken
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Whole spices:

• Cinnamon – 1” piece
• Cloves – 4-5 no’s

Method of Preparation:

• Heat oil in a wok and season mustard seeds, dried red chilly and curry leaves
• Fry whole spices, add ginger-garlic paste, saute until the raw smell disappears
• Add broken green chilly and cubed onion and potato, stir fry with  a pinch of salt and turmeric powder
• Stir in coriander and chilly powder, saute for 1 min, cover and cook with 1/2 cup water, until the potato is done
• Add shelled egg and  cover and cook  for 1 min
• when it start bubbling well, reduce the heat and add milk of your choice, let the bubbles to come
• Remove from stove and let it cool to the room temperature
• Serve it with anything of choice, roti, dosa, appam, idiyappam, etc.