FOR FOODIES AND THOSE WHO COOK....BE PATIENT IN THE KITCHEN

Be patient in the kitchen, don't come on too strong
TURN IT DOWN

Whether you're cooking an elaborate dessert or a simple fried egg, use the smallest flame for best results
Last week, just a few days before my 12th wedding anniversary, I made what I believe were almostperfect mushrooms -aromatperfect mushrooms -aromatic, fried slowly to golden crispness in small pools of butter.
We ate them with some wonderful rosemary bread baked by the husband, and a colourful confetti salad of sweet corn, finely diced peppers, cabbage, carrot, pomegranate and toasted sesame.
Everything turned out so well that we felt fine china and a bottle of wine were in order! As we put out the special plates and good cutlery and poured the wine, we couldn't stop `tasting' our creations and congratulating ourselves.
Through the meal and after, I couldn't help wondering what had made that food so perfect. Where do we go wrong at other times? What is it that our other meals are missing? And then it struck me... patience! Not only is patience a virtue, when it comes to the kitchen, it is an incredibly important ingredient.
I first began thinking about patience as an ingredient when I was conducting my beginners' cooking class for men last month. All the guys wanted everything done fast. They loved working with the chorizo, cheese and meat.Most of all, they loved the induction plate, because it sped things up.
Even here at home, when my husband first began to bake, he was always in a hurry, never looking at recipes, unwilling to take the time to beat sugar into cakes or wait for yeast to work.
And Billy Law, the so-called dessert expert recently eliminated from MasterChef Australia, always forgot to factor in patience and ended up ruining some of his creations as a result.
This impatience is not unique to men. Even in dishes made by my mother, one of the finest cooks I know, you could always sense impatience because it had caused her to forget something.And my cook Kavita is always getting into trouble with me because she never browns the onions properly for dals and curries.
Mushrooms, curries, meats, cakes, elaborate desserts, even instant noodles require ladlefuls of patience. Add noodles too quickly to water not boiling properly, for instance, and you'll be left with soggy, flavourless mush.
Whatever you cook, and whatever utensils you use, every dish and every ingredient needs time to do its job.Think about it, even something as simple as salted cucumber takes a few seconds. Sprinkle salt and eat immediately and you will taste grains of salt distinct from the cucumber.Wait a little, and the salt will draw out the juices and melt into them for a perfect marriage.
Some of the cooks I admire most share this quality of patience, and it makes them shine. Take my housekeeper Shobha. She is not terribly fond of cooking and, given a choice, I suspect she would not do it at all. But once she has taken it up, she always turns out impeccable dishes, beautifully presented and perfectly cooked.
It has taken my husband and me a while to learn to be patient in the kitchen, but everything we cook today is better for it. And we've discovered that, with a little patience, it's not that difficult to cook food that people will love, even if it's just a simple fried egg.
This week, for instance, I made a fried egg that the husband complimented me on because it was so smooth, sans bubbles and craters. Always use the lowest flame possible and you will always get a perfect fried egg, I explained to him. An omelette cooked on a low flame too will always come off the pan beautifully golden, rather than with that detestable brown underside.
A gentle flame always yields better results.
I guess, in that sense, you should treat every dish like a relationship.However short your tryst with it, you must give it time for best results.A flame higher than medium-low is the culinary equivalent of coming on too strong or overreacting to the little things.
Too much heat and you are in danger of ruining everything; the ingredients will shrivel, oil will splatter, stuff will burn.
Instead, just wait it out, and you will strike gold.
- Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal HT6N1111

FOOD SPECIAL..VISIT GOOD RESTAURANTS ..WITHOUT SPENDING MUCH

BUDGET BITES

Restaurants that fill you up without emptying your pockets

Mumbai
Guru da Dhaba
Chances are you will never spend more than a few seconds mulling over the menu at Guru da Dhaba in busy Lokhandwala market. That’s because you’ve probably been thinking about what you want to eat for hours, if not days.
On some days, you might be in the mood for their rajma-chaval and arbi masaledaar.
On other days, you might fancy a gobi paratha with gatta and mooli raita (like we had on our last visit).
Sometimes, you might wake up dreaming of Guru da Dhaba’s tomato rice and kadhi pakoda or the karele ki sabzi and maramari daal (a flavourful five-lentil daal).
It also serves a thali, allowing you to choose your favourite vegatables. But whatever your food fantasy, if it’s vegetarian, and if it’s Punjabi, it’s here.
All the recipes are from Ranjit Kaur, the wife of the proprietor Inderjit Singh Anand.
The eatery was born by happenstance. Around 20 years ago, Inderjit Singh was driving a rickshaw and doing various odd jobs to make ends meet, like cleaning telephones in offices and running a tea-stall. His wife suggested he take her home-cooked food and try selling it at the stall. He laughed it off. She urged him to try it, and he did. Armed with one container of rajma and another of kadhi, he set out that day. All of it was sold out. And Guru da Dhaba was born. Once the haven of Lokhandwala strugglers, today its regulars include Bollywood celebrities like Madhavan and Nagesh Kukunoor. “They come, they eat and go,” says the owner’s daughter, Mandeep Kaur Anand. “Once, Vivek Oberoi stopped by, but dad didn’t recognise him.” The ambience is simple and it uses no fancy ingredients. Guru da Dhaba is all about the food — wholesome, real, soulful.
“My father makes his own garam masala; even I don’t have the recipe,” says Mandeep Kaur. And the pricing is as inviting as the food. All parathas cost approximately Rs 25, all vegetable dishes, gravies and rice dishes are Rs 50, and Mumbai’s best chhaas is just Rs 15.
Guru da Dhaba, Shop1, Kamdhenu Shopping Centre, 1st Cross Road, Lokhandwala, Andheri (W) (022 2632-0440). Daily 11 am-3 pm & 7 pm-10.30 pm. Meal for two approx Rs 200.

Delhi
Hot Box
Italian cuisine has been hugely successful in Delhi. So it’s only natural for restaurateurs and patrons to explore the food of countries surrounding the land of fusilli and Ferraris.
It is unfortunate then that most of the budget restaurants serving Mediterranean fare cannot get spellings right, never mind the cuisine. So it gave us no small thrill to find, in the quiet lanes of Malviya Nagar, a tiny gem called Hot Box.
The restaurant is small and intimate, as all pleasures in life are rumoured to be. Located right opposite the Panchsheel Rendezvous, Hot Box serves an eclectic mix of Mediterranean and Levantine cuisine at a very reasonable price.
The walls are adorned with retro posters and graffiti, giving the eatery a bohemian ambience. As it was a humid night, we decided to start with some green apple soda to help us work through our food.
The paprika fries that came next were a revelation. The spice in the hot potatoes was perfectly complemented by the chilled jalapeno mayonnaise accompanying it.
After emptying our plates of the minutest crumb we waited all agog for our next course, which was hummus with pita bread. Hot Box serves up an admirable rendition in which chickpeas, tahini (roasted sesame seed paste), lime and garlic were perfectly balanced.
We have to admit we weren’t leaving much work for the dishwashers as we polished off one platter after the other.
Our mains were lamb Bolognese and the aptly named Hero Burger. The lamb Bolognese was excellent; the tomatoes were perfectly stewed and the lamb was of good quality (both rarities in Indian kitchens of the budget type). The Hero Burger lived up to its name — it consists of double chicken breast, cheddar cheese, jalapeno salsa, caramelised onions and bacon. Considering we had over-ordered (we were only two people), and Hot Box gives rather generous helpings, we may have been forgiven for skipping dessert. But two-thirds journalistic fervor and one-third sheer gluttony made us take the plunge and share a fudge brownie with ice cream. It’s a good thing we did, as the brownie turned out to be a big, warm, gooey slice of chocolate-y heaven. The last and most unexpected treat was the bill. A meal that would have satiated a couple of over-weight Roman senators cost us no more than a couple of PVR tickets on a weekend night.
Hot Box, 498/55/II, Malviya Nagar (088265-88949). Wed-Mon Noon to 11pm. Tue shut. Meal for two approx Rs 400.
(TOICREST 5NOV11)

YOUR HAND CAN MOVE THINGS..JUST.. GESTURE

They obey hand gestures
Ever thought you could flip channels on the TV with a hand clap or move documents on a computer monitor with hand gestures? All this is possible now.

HAVE you ever imagined how life would be without your good ol’ keyboard? Well, the familiar keyboard and mouse method of interacting with your PC could soon be a thing of the past.

Researchers have now developed a novel way of using a computer that uses hand gestures. In gesture recognition technology, a camera reads the movements of the human body and communicates the data to a PC that uses the gestures as input to control devices or applications.

Jaspreet Bindra of Microsoft India says, “It is but natural that our interaction with computers will move more and more towards voice recognition and gestures, they will be able to read facial expressions and become more intuitive. Essentially, the way we interact with computers stands to change dramatically, and the day we communicate with them just as we do with other human beings is no longer the substance of science fiction.”

Prashanth Adiraju of Intel concurs. “Over the next few years, tremendous changes will be unleashed and this will drive a whole new way in which we interact with computers. Physical keyboards could disappear, as gesture recognition technology allows messages to be typed in thin air — virtual keys get projected in front of you.” No remote control TV viewers would no longer need a remote control to flick through the channels.

A TV system from JVC can change channels or turn off and on by listening for particular sounds, such as a handclap.

Hitachi TVs in Japan let people turn on their screens, scan through channels and change the volume on their sets with hand motions.

Gesture technology could also be used as a next generation control system for video gaming. Nintendo’s Wii console’s motion-sensitive controller allows players to act on the screen by waving the pad around.

Kinect has brought a magic to gaming as it is the incarnation of a new generation of natural user interfaces. T

he Razer Hydra lets you extend your natural body motion directly into the game. Taiwanese researchers have come up with a lock that can be opened with gestures.

After hour sales Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute has developed a large monitor wired to motion-tracking technology. When window shoppers point to the item of their interest, accompanying information will be displayed on the monitor.

Gesture technology could also help the physically disabled, enabling them to interact with a computer without a mouse and keyboard. It could also help people suffering from repetitive strain injury. Drive safely Using this technology, drivers could operate their car radios and navigators easily. It can also offer safety benefits, since commands can be made without taking the driver’s eyes off the road.

Researchers are investigating multimodal interfaces for scenarios involving multiple co-present users interacting with large vertical 2D or 3D displays from a distance.

Sriganesh Madhvanath of HP Labs India says, “A simple example of this in the home environment is photo sharing on a TV, where one or more users may walk through a collection of their vacation pictures with friends or family members. ”
(Norbert Rego TL30OCT11)

FOOD SPECIAL..DESI SUPERFOODS

DESI SUPERFOODS

Goji berries, Californian grapes, Norwegian salmon, American blueberries, South American quinoa seeds. Shelves in supermarkets and even the neighbourhood kirana store are stocked with these and many other exotic foreign foods with glossy labels advertising their health benefits. Walk into any restaurant and you’ll find imported John Dory instead of bhetki and salads topped with pine nuts when roasted melon seeds would serve as well. While the growing tribe of locavores in the West rediscovers food grown locally, Indians are increasingly eating global. So the guava loses out to the Granny Smith, mackerel to Chilean sea bass and fresh coconut water to bottled cranberry juice. New-age nutritionists are now trying to turn the tide. Instead of obscure, expensive imported products, they recommend a trip to the subziwallah for cheap and healthy local produce. The coriander that your vendor throws in for free can boost immunity and a tablespoon of steamed spinach (or better still, bathua) contains more vitamin C and folic acid than a shot of wheatgrass, the fabled (and disgustingly bitter) health-food juice. TOI-Crest spoke to nutritionists and doctors to draw up a list of local superfoods that won’t break the bank while giving you a headstart on health.

COCONUT

Coconut was long vilified for its high saturated fat content, but experts say it has many benefits. Every part and product of the coconut, be it the water, the white flesh or oil, is loaded with nutrients. The same obviously can’t be said about toddy, the very potent drink made from the coconut palm’s sac. Coconut oil, in particular, is considered heart-healthy and good for weight loss because it speeds up metabolism. It was included in the diet of the England rugby squad in 2007. A year later, Jennifer Aniston was spotted with a shopping trolley full of coconut oil bottles and the fruit soon became the darling of the superfood set. “Coconut has a thermogenic effect. It increases body temperature and therefore increases metabolism. It actually aids in weight loss rather than impedes it as is popularly believed,” explains macrobiotic counsellor Shonali Sabharwal. Coconut water, unlike the oil, is low in carbohydrates and sugars and high in electrolyte potassium. This makes it a great substitute for sugary ‘sports’ drinks. The sweet drink also has anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-macrobial properties. It, therefore, keeps urinary tract infection, kidney stones and various other recurring health problems at bay.

GUAVA

The guava has emerged as the king of fruits, elbowing apples and grapes off the ideal diet chart. A recent study reported in TOI found that guavas have the highest concentration of anti-oxidants among Indian fruits. A 100-gram portion of guava contained around 500 milligrams of anti-oxidants. Juicy red plums were the next best fruit to eat with 330 mg. And, apples, which are generally prescribed as the best tool to keep the doctor away, were found to have only a quarter of the anti-oxidants that guavas have.

AMLA

If you need a booster dose of Vitamin C, look no further than this green berry-like fruit. Amla contains 445 mg/100 g vitamin C, 20 times more than in orange. Its free radical absorbing capacity is believed to be higher than that of the reigning superfruits — blueberries and strawberries. Tannins — chemical compounds that exhibit anti-viral, anti-bacterial and antiparasitic properties — are present in amla in significant amounts. Ayurveda recommends it for its rejuvenation powers and says it inhibits the ageing process. It’s excellent for hair health and good eyesight. It is said to reduce LDL or bad cholesterol and improve digestion of food.

PUMPKIN

Kaddu ki sabji, just like lauki, usually makes people cringe and reach for the dependable aloo gobhi dish. In the West, too, it is used more to carve jacko-lanterns every Thanksgiving rather than in the kitchen. But had there been a test for superfoods, the plump pumpkin would surely emerge tops. Pumpkin’s bland-with-a-hintof-sweet flesh contains one of the richest supplies of carotenoids (anticancer agents) known to man. It has beta carotene which reduces one’s risk for cancers of the colon, bladder and oesophagus as well as betacryptoxanthin which decreased the risk of lung cancer in smokers. In the landmark Nurses’ Health Study conducted in the US, it was found that women with the highest concentrations of carotenes in their diets had the lowest risk of breast cancer. Pumpkins are also the only vegetarian source of vitamin B12. That’s why Mumbai-resident Kiran Jalan drinks a glass of pumpkin juice every morning. “I know a lot of people who have been diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency recently. It leads to memory loss, depression and dementia. I don’t want to become forgetful,” says the 48-year-old homemaker.

CUSTARD APPLE

There is another kind of apple that can keep the doctor away. The custard apple has anti-oxidant levels of 202 mg, almost twice the amount that apple (123 mg) has, according to a NIN study. It also has vitamins B and C, potassium, iron, calcium and manganese. Vitamin C is a powerful anti-oxidant that mops up free radicals. The tropical fruit also contains vitamin A, which is good for the health of hair, eyes and skin. It serves as an expectorant, amps up immunity, acts as a coolant and boosts haemoglobin.

SEEDS

It is the era of seedless fruits — vendors sell seedless black grapes at double the price of regular grapes and scientists in Bangalore have produced seedless watermelons so that people don’t have to bother spitting the seeds out. But the crunchy seeds immersed in the luscious red flesh of watermelons can be dried, roasted and used as a crunchy topping for desserts and salads. “Many women suffer from water retention for which doctors prescribe them diuretics like diatide or lasitactone. Watermelon seeds have the same effect,” says Dr Pradeep Mathur, chief medical officer of Sanjeevani, a naturopathy institute in Haryana. Watermelon seeds are not the only seeds that are a key to good health.
The tear-drop shaped grey sunflower seeds are a good source of selenium, a trace mineral that prevents cancer. Flax seed, or alsi as it is called locally, is considered a wonder food because it is rich in omega 3 fatty acids. Pumpkin seeds are a rich source of zinc and magnesium and can prevent various conditions, be it depression or kidney stones.
Black sesame seeds, on the other hand, contain saponin enzyme which offers protection against cervical and breast cancer. Mathur suggests roasting 100 gm of each of the five types of seeds and eating a spoonful with breakfast each morning. “A mix of these five seeds is as good as having chia seeds, which are imported,” he says.

Neha Bhayana and Shobita Dhar TOI CREST October 29, 2011

ON AN ENTREPRENEURIAL ROUTE

It's a known fact that the entrepreneurship culture in India is gaining momentum at a rapid pace. In the light of the same, is the Indian market is conducive for budding entrepreneurs ?

Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. - Peter Drucker

A Mckinsey & Company-Nasscom report estimated that India needed at least 8,000 new businesses to achieve its target of building a USD 87 billion IT sector by 2008. Similarly, in the next 10 years, 110-130 million Indian citizens will be searching for jobs, including 80-100 million looking for their first jobs. This does not include disguised unemployment of over 50 per cent among the 230 million employed in rural India.

Since traditional large employers including the government and old economy players may find it difficult to sustain this level of employment in the future, it is entrepreneurship that will create these new jobs and opportunities.

INSEAD's 'Building Businesses in India' course is designed for those who want to understand the kind of companies that will come out of India's entrepreneurial explosion and how the Indian context will shape the enterprises founded in India over the next 10 to 20 years. Says Patrick Turner, affiliate professor of entrepreneurship at INSEAD, "This course is primarily designed to help acclimatise a diverse group of participants to the realities of doing business in India. The key message is that India is an important global business destination and that an MBA student today must learn about the opportunities here and understand the ground realities. There are essentially two kinds of individuals who take this course - the first are Indian expats who have earned a significant part of their educational or professional experience outside India and the second are individuals from varied nationalities who recognise that learning about India and what it really takes to do business here will be critical for their careers."

Speaking of whether the Indian market is conducive for budding entrepreneurs, K Vaitheeswaran, founder and chief operating officer, India Plaza, an online shopping site says, "The Indian economy is one amongst the very few in the world, which is still quite optimistic. With the pessimism globally, investors are willing to invest money in entrepreneurs who have ideas and passion to build new businesses. But the best thing that has happened in India in the past few years is that the stigma associated with the word 'failure' has lessened considerably. Freed from this stigma, entrepreneurs are now willing to start on their own."

According to Rajagopalan Babu, founder and CEO of Enteg, a SAP services company, "In developed countries, entrepreneurs find it difficult to attract manpower to join them to actualise an innovative idea. Indian customers are always looking for new ways to reduce costs and are willing to try new ideas proposed by young companies. The western way of structured business seems to be not working. India has its own way of running the business and creating value. Our conservative policies provide a relatively stable economic environment for budding entrepreneurs." So how does the future landscape of entrepreneurship in India look like? "Several young professionals are venturing into businesses now. Thanks to the stable job market, if something goes wrong, they can go back to their jobs again. As the developed world is becoming cost-conscious, it is a great opportunity to start a new business in India," adds Babu. "I expect more business to get started in India in the next five years. Passionate people armed with capital and ideas will surely create many new business models. I also expect some of them to become globally successful brands. In my opinion, the best way to create more jobs and reduce unemployment would be to encourage entrepreneurship," notes Vaitheeswaran. The entrepreneurship culture in India - from family owned businesses to modernday ventures - has evolved and how! An increasingly large number of young people today are willing to abstain from the "safe" path in favour of the road less travelled, but one that provides greater learning.
(Sheetal Srivastava ET1NOV11)

REVERSE MIGRATION OF INDIANS

Reverse migration of 3 LAKH Indians on cards?
Mumbai:

India’s rapidly growing economy is expected to start a reverse migration of its working diaspora currently settled abroad.

About three lakh Indian professionals employed overseas may return to the country by 2015, said a recent report by USbased Kelly Services, a global major in providing workforce solutions.

However, practicing HR professionals back home, argue the three lakh number is too high even as there is a growing possibility of reverse migration.

The top three reasons for reverse migration between 2008 and 2011—in the aftermath of the global economic crisis—were job insecurity, personal growth opportunities in India and the call of the native land, said the Kelly survey. India’s strong showing in IT and robust domestic economy has allowed the country to provide better opportunities. A highly evolved higher education system and a huge pool of qualified scientist and engineers are some of the other positives highlighted in the survey findings. “Talent migration has ceased to be just a phenomenon relevant to movement from emerging to developed economies. The sustained growth of India and the resilience it showed during the slowdown also has added dynamic transition and movement back to India,” said Kamal Karanth, MD, Kelly Services India.

Accord India CEO Sonal Agrawal agreed there was increasing trend of overseas Indian professionals wanting to come back. “People are looking for opportunities in a fast-growing economy like India, especially since other developed markets have slowed down,” Agrawal said. “Further, with compensation levels going up over the last few years, the wage differential between India and other developed nations is no longer glaring,” she said.

ICICI Bank’s K Ramkumar, an executive director who heads the HR in the country’s largest private sector bank, would not agree with the three lakh figure. “I don’t believe these numbers. Yes, there are Indians who want to come back to India, but it is difficult for them to adjust,” Ramkumar said.

It was easier for a person who has been out of India for 2-3 years to come back, but not for someone who left the country 10 years ago, Ramkumar added. “What is more believable is 50,000-70,000 or even a lakh who could be interested in coming back. Of these, at best, 10,000-15,000 could probably take that call and come back to India,” he said.

Ramkumar opined that most Indians settled abroad look for the same kind of quality of life in India, which they will not get.

“Some even eye sweet deals which expats get at some companies. Again, a company will not offer sweet deals to select few,'' he said.
(Partha Sinha & Namrata Singh TOI2NOV11)

MARRIAGE..VOWS OWN AND DIFFERENT

SAYING `I DO ON THEIR OWN TERMS
Young couples are writing their own wedding vows as they seek to personalise weddings, lay down some ground rules
For some, it's the dream of recreating that perfect, tearjerker Hollywood wedding. For others, it's an attempt to bring ancient ceremonies into the 21st century. Still others just want to ensure everyone's on the same page right from the start.
For various reasons, Indian couples are increasingly writing their own vows reciting them during the wedding pooja mouthing them to each other silently during their pheras, or calling them out amid giggles at the reception.
“The trend has been brought here by NRIs,“ says wedding planner Candice Pereira, co-founder of Marry Me Weddings. “Personalised wedding vows are, of course, a phenomenon in the West.“
Ironically, the practice is catching on not among Christians but mainly within the Hindu community, since the Church in India is fairly strict about retaining the official vows.
In the Hindu ceremonies too, the original vows remain, the priest chanting them in Sanskrit as is the norm and couples adding their own promises later.
“Most couples don't understand the Arabic and Sanskrit vows, so it's about time people began exchanging their own promises,“ says sociologist Kamala Ganesh. “Some of the vows also date back to a more patriarchal time, and are therefore more one-sided. With changing times, there is a need to include new vows for the new Indian woman.“
Marriage counsellor Deepti Makhija says the personalised vows also help young couples, especially those in arranged marriages, verbalise exa ly what they expect from their new arrangement -such as personal space or mutual respect for each other's families. “When you create your own vows, you also tend to take more responsibility for fulfilling them,“ says Makhija.
(Riddhi Doshi HT 30O1011)