Recipes: Veg Jaipuri

I have been wanting to make this recipe for a while now and was searching for a good recipe to play with when I came across this recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor’s website. I mostly adhered to his recipe, but to make it healthier, omited khoya or dried evaporated milk solids and fresh cream, but instead used a low fat home made yoghurt to replace the cream.

Veg Jaipuri

Ingredients:

  • 2 cup chopped mixed vegetables (I used cauliflowers, potatoes, frozen peas, french beans and green bell peppers, but you can use others also to give it more colour)
  • 1 cup frozen paneer
  • 3 tbsp ghee
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 6-8 cashew nuts
  • 4 green chillies
  • a few strands saffron
  • 3 medium sized onions, chopped finely
  • 5-6 pods garlic
  • 1 inch piece of ginger
  • 2-3 large tomatoes, chopped finely
  • 1/2 cup beaten plain yoghurt
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
  • 1 tbsp raisins
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

Method:

  • Chop the vegetables into bit sized pieces. Soak the paneer in hot water for 20-30 minutes, then chop them into bit sized pieces and keep aside.
  • Heat a pan and when warm, add one tbsp ghee and sauté the coriander seeds, cashewnuts and green chilliesfor two minutes. Grind all of this with saffron into a smooth paste.
  • In another smaller blender, blend together the ginger and garlic into a smooth paste and keep aside.
  • Heat the remaining ghee in a pan. Sauté the onions till they turn translucent. Add the the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a few minutes till they turn light golden in colour. Add tomatoes and garam masala powder and cook till the tomatoes are pulpy.
  • Add the chopped vegetables, salt, the ground paste, raisins and one cup of water and simmer for five to seven minutes.
  • When almost done, add the beaten yoghurt and the paneer and let it come to a slow simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes and switch off the gas.
  • Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any Indian bread or rice.

In My Hands Today…

Your Republic Is Calling You – Young-Ha Kim, translated by Chi-Young Kim

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A foreign film importer, Gi-yeong is a family man with a wife and daughter. An aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi, he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Suddenly he receives a mysterious email, a directive seemingly from the home office. He has one day to return to headquarters. He hasn’t heard from anyone in over ten years. Why is he being called back now? Is this message really from Pyongyang? Is he returning to receive new orders or to be executed for a lack of diligence? Has someone in the South discovered his secret identity? Is this a trap?

Poem: My Cup of Coffee

Most of us start the day with a cup of coffee in various forms. I started drinking coffee fairly early, perhaps around the age of six or seven. I hated drinking milk and it used to be a huge production when I was young to make me drink my milk. I think my mum and grandma gave in around age six or seven and I started drinking coffee. The love affair with the drink started then and has not waned over the years. I’ve tried different variations and have now decided black coffee is my favourite, followed closely by the filter coffee made by my mum!

My Cup of Joy – Coffee

I wake up when the alarm rings
And make my way to my kitchen
Where my cup of steaming coffee awaits me

I sit and contemplate the dark drink
Think about my day and how it will wing
A cup of coffee is the perfect aid
To contemplate my views about my world

To sort out how my day will fare
To clear any kinks in the air
A cup of coffee in the afternoon
Is the best solution to the dreaded 3 pm slump

And then there’s the time
A cup of coffee in your hand
A friend by your side
And the hours just slide away

As you can see, I love my coffee
It can be any blend, but has to be black
A cup of coffee makes my day and world
Just seem a tad better, as we all know

In My Hands Today…

Last Kiss In Tiananmen Square – Lisa Zhang Wharton

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The novel follows a young woman, Baiyun, a junior in college, trying to reconcile her upbringing while in the midst of the rising political movement in Beijing, China.

Baiyun grew up in a strange and cold household. In order to cope with her dysfunctional family, Baiyun worked as hard as she could, eventually getting herself into the prestigious Beijing University.

Baiyun joined the Pro-democracy movement to vent her frustrations. While protesting, she met the man of her dreams, Dagong, a handsome and charismatic factory technician who was orphaned at birth and lost his only relative during the Cultural Revolution. But even Dagong couldn’t fully take Baiyun away: his face reminded her of one of her mother’s lovers, both attracting her and drawing her back.

2019 Week 18 Update

As t his year progresses, I really don’t feel like I have anything new to add in this space.

This week was like the previous week, which in turn, was like its predecessor.

I did come out of the funk I was in last week and the mid-week holiday was a good break for all of us.

Life is going on as usual with me doing a bit of freelance work which brings in some pocket money for me. I have also succumbed to the allure of online shopping after resisting for so long. I have shopped online before, but not like what I have been doing the past few months. I need to stop this and only buy things that are essential and that spark joy to me.

That’s pretty much this week! See you next week.