prawn curry - chingri machh er malaikari - bengali style .

recipe for prawn curry ....

ingredients:

1) prawns

2) potatoes medium sized (equal to the number of people)

3) onions 2-3 (finely chopped)

4) cinnamom (daar-Chini) 2-3

5) black pepper (whole)

6) coconut milk. (most important)

7) green chillies (couple of)

8) teaspoon of ginger paste

procedure:

1) take the prawn and wash them properly with water.

2) after washing in water , wash once again in some vinegar and a very small pinch of turmeric(haldi) nd drain the water+vinegar+turmeric liquid ... be careful bout the quantity of turmeric because it can spoil the taste nd flavour of the prawns. also more vinegar will make the prawns li'l hard. so both in very less quantities.

3) light fry the washed prawns in oil jus for some time ... if frying is in excess, the prawns will lose their softness.

4) peel the potatoes ... cut them in halves

5) fry the potato halves till they get the golden crust. after this , keep them seperately for adding to onions fried later.

6) fry the finely chopped onions(lengthwise) with salt(swad anusar) and half tea spoon of sugar and oil.

7) fry the onions till deep golden brown. Add 2-3 cinnamoms, 2 chillies sliced lengthwise and some whole blak pepper in the fried onion nd fry for another 1-2 min.

8) now , add the fried potatoes to the onions. keep stirring the mix of onions and potatoes till the time the potatoes get boiled and soft.

9) add a teaspoon of ginger paste and the prawns in the above mix and keep stirring for 4-5 min .

10) add the coconut milk (sufficient quantity) to make the gravy and simmer for 10-15 min till everythin gets mixed properly.

Where The Mind is Without Fear - by Rabindranath Tagore

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led by thee into ever widening thought and action-Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake"

One of my favorite poems... Takes me back to school times when thoughts and ideas were simpler, crisper, idealistic and unadultarated with confusion, fear or corruption... Maybe if India would have consisted of only school children and no adults, she would have definitely become the country idolized and worshipped by the Nobel Laureate in this poem... Or maybe there should have been a law against suffocating and murdering the child in everyone's heart in the process of materialistic aspirations (read: career,wealth, pleasures) which is so gloriously termed as "SUCCESS". But "maybe's" are part of wishful thinking. And wishful thinking does no good. That is what is taught to children over a period of 20 years of Formal Education. And that , according to me, is the precise period where the child dies, giving birth to the Man. The Man, who is devoid of dreams, innocence, courage to give shape to dreams and all things divine and beautiful. I pray to Thee to give that strength and courage to my fellow coutrymen to dream and to not let that poor child be forgotten. So that one day, some future generation can wake up in that in that free country where ,

"The mind is without fear and the head is held high" ............

Cafe Samovar @ Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai

Cafe Samovar is the tidily tucked in cafe of Jehangir Art Gallery. It is one of my favorite luncheon places in the colaba/fort/kala ghoda area. The main reason for that not being the great food nor the quick service either. This small 'sliver' of a cafe is a place where the moment u enter, you r far away from the maddenin crowd. Or for that matter the honking of cars, pollution or the hustle n bustle all around you. Nd all that in the heart of the financial centre 0f the city makes it so special. Of course, you can almost 'feel' the rich heritage of the place as soon as u enter. I fell in love with Samovar as soon as i entered the first time and have been going there repeatedly.

The die hard fans of Samovar-i'm sure there are many many of them-will tell you how this place has seen many a creative minds come in and spend hours over here pondering over creative issues. U'll get loads of interesting info if you google Samovar e.g. how amitabh bachchan took Jaya out on a first date rite here cos at that time tat was all he cud afford. :)

There's this unkempt piece of land on one side of Cafe Samovar which invariably draws my attention cos its so peaceful and quiet. And sometimes small, beautiful birds come and sit on the trees outside. I caught this li'l birdie on my cellfone cam.

Of course these are petty things wen u have to rush back to offc for work, but they have a soothing effect on otherwise over-stressed nerves.

Now , coming to the food (finally) , Samovar has lots on the menu. I particularly like the mutton biriyani. Also the Mutton chops in black pepper sauce is really good. In fact all the dishes i've had are authentic and good. You can chill on a pint of beer if u like, but if you r the non-alcoholic types, there's always iced tea and mint tea . I think i shud mention the Russian Chicken Salad as well. Well, the list goes on and on.

The damages are not much, considering the ambience and the quality of food. Biriyani will set you back by Rs.100 and best part is that there's nothing on the menu exceeding Rs.125. Pint of beer is Rs.76 ( 25% VAT extra). So according to me, its a great place to have a good lunch and unwind. Its also a very nice place for a lunch date, where although there'll be lotsa ppl around, you can have you conversations in your own world. :)





SO much from a new patron. I hope I could churn up some interest in whosoever is reading this and in that case do visit Cafe Samovar for sure. You'll love it :)

places to which i have been to recently, on google maps :)

1. Lachung, India
2. Gangtok, India
3. Calangute, India

• View my profile
• Create your own travel map or travel blog
• Flights comparison at TripAdvisor