Should I be reading books? ..rarely does this thought come to me..Today I thought I may want to sit down and think about it.
Parents are generally worried about the extra-curricular activities of their child adversely affecting the academics. Mine worried about books overpowering books. For me, Nancy Drew came before Gulmohar English reader; Gone with the Wind challenged the basics of physics while Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy rivaled the bonding theories of Chemistry. History was understood with Freedom at Midnight and geography traversed with Jules Verne’s various adventures. The number of sleepless nights I have spent reading books legally beside a lamp and illegal under my blanket will far outstretch those spent on pretended studying. While the bulk of A Suitable Boy was unsuccessfully hidden between M.L.Khanna and ABC’s of Physics, the inevitable Mills&Boons were thin enough to be stowed away in notebooks and shared with classmates. I must thank J.K.Rowling for waiting till I was in engineering before she committed Harry Potter to print. Failing that I am not sure what vocation I might be pursuing now.
With a job came the liberty to buy books. Many afternoons were spent at the erstwhile second hand book market of Flora fountain in South Mumbai, gathering numerous treasures and layers of tan. The new life of was shared with the Agony and Ecstasy of Michelangelo’s creation long before I could admire the ceiling of Sistine Chapel with my own eyes. The days spent ‘on bench’ in an IT company were utilized wandering The Far Pavilions. Mumbai, my workplace became more than a city to me while reading Maximum City in the suburban train journeys. The city unfolded itself before me through the pages and enticed me to fall into an illicit affair with it.
Marriage was not untouched by books. Our relation was founded on an affinity for Satyajit Ray’s mysteries, nurtured on the opinions about the World Wars and blossomed with travel guides duly packed on vacations. Harry Potter and The Deadly Gallows almost cost me my marriage as it implored to be finished at one go, forsaking even my better half. Just a month back my teenage years were revived with the Twilight saga. I involuntarily kept smiling late into the night while sharing Bella and Edward’s challenges.
Changing times have changed my preferences of books. From exploring the secret passages with Enid Blyton to the tribulations of heart with Jane Austen to finally questioning the world through Non-fictions, reading may have come a full circle for me. To me books have been like a friend who when put on the shelf propelled my life even with its ‘back’ turned on me. But staring at each new foreword beckoning me to an imaginative world of letters versus the daily grind of living threatening me the question ‘Should I be Reading Books?’ becomes a redundant one.
Parents are generally worried about the extra-curricular activities of their child adversely affecting the academics. Mine worried about books overpowering books. For me, Nancy Drew came before Gulmohar English reader; Gone with the Wind challenged the basics of physics while Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy rivaled the bonding theories of Chemistry. History was understood with Freedom at Midnight and geography traversed with Jules Verne’s various adventures. The number of sleepless nights I have spent reading books legally beside a lamp and illegal under my blanket will far outstretch those spent on pretended studying. While the bulk of A Suitable Boy was unsuccessfully hidden between M.L.Khanna and ABC’s of Physics, the inevitable Mills&Boons were thin enough to be stowed away in notebooks and shared with classmates. I must thank J.K.Rowling for waiting till I was in engineering before she committed Harry Potter to print. Failing that I am not sure what vocation I might be pursuing now.
With a job came the liberty to buy books. Many afternoons were spent at the erstwhile second hand book market of Flora fountain in South Mumbai, gathering numerous treasures and layers of tan. The new life of was shared with the Agony and Ecstasy of Michelangelo’s creation long before I could admire the ceiling of Sistine Chapel with my own eyes. The days spent ‘on bench’ in an IT company were utilized wandering The Far Pavilions. Mumbai, my workplace became more than a city to me while reading Maximum City in the suburban train journeys. The city unfolded itself before me through the pages and enticed me to fall into an illicit affair with it.
Marriage was not untouched by books. Our relation was founded on an affinity for Satyajit Ray’s mysteries, nurtured on the opinions about the World Wars and blossomed with travel guides duly packed on vacations. Harry Potter and The Deadly Gallows almost cost me my marriage as it implored to be finished at one go, forsaking even my better half. Just a month back my teenage years were revived with the Twilight saga. I involuntarily kept smiling late into the night while sharing Bella and Edward’s challenges.
Changing times have changed my preferences of books. From exploring the secret passages with Enid Blyton to the tribulations of heart with Jane Austen to finally questioning the world through Non-fictions, reading may have come a full circle for me. To me books have been like a friend who when put on the shelf propelled my life even with its ‘back’ turned on me. But staring at each new foreword beckoning me to an imaginative world of letters versus the daily grind of living threatening me the question ‘Should I be Reading Books?’ becomes a redundant one.
Chicken Kebab
Ingredients
For Boiling
300 gms boneless chicken ( sliced into 2-3 inch slices)
2-3 cloves of garlic
½ inch ginger
3 big black cardamom
3-4 cloves
2-3 1 inch sticks of cinnamon
1-2 Bay leaves
1-2 leaves of javentri/mace
A few shavings of nutmeg
Green Chutney
2 cups coriander leaves
½ cup mint leaves
1-2 green chillis
Masala
2 medium sized onions sliced lengthwise
2tbsp - Garam Masala (any would do , but if you want a distinctive flavour you can dry grind the ingredients mentioned in the boiling part and use that)
½ cup chopped coriander
1 tbsp Amchur or Anardana powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ground cumin powder
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Bind all the item except the chicken given in the boiling section into a small piece of cloth. In a pressure cooked put this along with the chicken pieces and fill it with water.
Cook it for 2-3 whistles. I generally list the chicken rest in this mixture while i get all other items ready.
Grind the coriander, mint and chilli and keep aside.
In 2tbsp of oil fry the onions till they are dark pink in colour.
Ingredients
For Boiling
300 gms boneless chicken ( sliced into 2-3 inch slices)
2-3 cloves of garlic
½ inch ginger
3 big black cardamom
3-4 cloves
2-3 1 inch sticks of cinnamon
1-2 Bay leaves
1-2 leaves of javentri/mace
A few shavings of nutmeg
Green Chutney
2 cups coriander leaves
½ cup mint leaves
1-2 green chillis
Masala
2 medium sized onions sliced lengthwise
2tbsp - Garam Masala (any would do , but if you want a distinctive flavour you can dry grind the ingredients mentioned in the boiling part and use that)
½ cup chopped coriander
1 tbsp Amchur or Anardana powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ground cumin powder
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Bind all the item except the chicken given in the boiling section into a small piece of cloth. In a pressure cooked put this along with the chicken pieces and fill it with water.
Cook it for 2-3 whistles. I generally list the chicken rest in this mixture while i get all other items ready.
Grind the coriander, mint and chilli and keep aside.
In 2tbsp of oil fry the onions till they are dark pink in colour.
Take the chicken pieces out of the cooker and let then cool enough to allow you to add it to food processor. I know that actual chefs might balk at the thought of kebab out of boiled instead of minced meat. But this is the best way for me to make it at home. I do not much care for the kebabs available in UK. They are nowhere near to what I am used to. There are two kebab that I still dream about. One was Kakori Kebab I had in Sahib-Sind-Sultan in Hyderabad. It just melted in my mouth. Awesome. The second was a greenish type of kebab I had at Kareem’s in Bombay. Can’t remember its name. Anyways this will have to do for the time being :-).
Ok so process the chicken at very low speed in the food processor. If it becomes too flakes, add a little bit of stock (the boiled water we had left in the cooker) or the green chutney prepared earlier. It should be such after processing that it can bind together. I have seen my mom using channel daal (yellow split lentil) while boiling chicken to get this binding. Some also use cornflour. I have however not had any problem in getting the mixture to hold so I do not use any of this.
Now mix this processes chicken with all the items listed under masala and the fried onions. Adjust the salt. Make equal sized balls and then flatten them into tikkis .
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a skillet/ tawa or frying pan. Add the flattened balls and cook them on medium heat for 5-7 minutes on each side.
If needed garnish with onion rings and chat masala.
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