George Carlin & Bangalore Traffic

One good way to beat the Bangalore traffic or at least forget it for a while - is to listen to standup. I have my car stereo  rigged up to my ipod and  my ipod rigged up with about 40 hours of the best ... Bill Cosby, Eddie Izzard and George Carlin.

George Carlin : May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008

Carlin was  diabolically funny and probably best heard when you are alone... because most of  his  jokes you wouldn't want to  be caught laughing in public. His delivery stye ... almost like a rap, meant you had to pay attention to keep up.  Not your canned half hour of laughs for sure. Here's to his immortal body of work. 

Rest In peace George 

Also check out Jerry Sienfeld's tribute to George Carlin on New York Times  -   Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder

Béla Fleck - Live at the Quick

I'm not a big fan of bluegrass, and while I think the Banjo is a great instrument I never did consider including it in my playlist. So when my buddy Eric told me to watch this video, I was curious, and by the end of the DVD, I was on musical high

Béla Fleck and his virtuoso friends from around the world make this a special treat.

To say that Victor Wooten can play the bass guitar is like saying the whale is a mammal.

Amazing "Amazing Grace"

Jeff Coffin is versatile and powerful. Roy Wilfred Wooten, Victor's brother who goes by the fancy name of Futureman is interesting in a geeky sort of way, but is inhibited by his Drumitar, The music could have reached another level with a real drummer.

The supporting cast make the experince wonderful. Sandip Burman does his little at cameo on the tabala, Andy Narell is heavenly on the steel drums, Paul McCandless & Paul Hanson add depth and variation to the wind section but for sheer charisma Kongar-ol Ondar the Tuvan throat singer is delightful.

Ondar

A must have in your collection !

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More Victor Wooten.
A master class in technique. Here playing Norwegian Wood with a good dollop of harmonics and double handed tapping.

Moroccan Spiced Grilled Chicken

Notice the plain style ? Thought i'd change the recipe format  so it can be viewed easily on the mobile phone.  Its convenient when you are out buying the ingredients and want a quick peek and also easier to manage in the kitchen than the bulky laptop.  

1

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Mix the marinade ingredients together in a medium sized bowl
yogurt - 1/2 cup
cilantro - 1/2 cup
olive oil - 1 Tbsp
garlic - 2 cloves minced
paprika - 1 1/2 teaspoons
cumin - 1 1/2 teaspoons
salt - 1/2 teaspoon
pepper - 1/2 teaspoon

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2

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Add 650 grams chicken pieces to the bowl and thoroughly coat with the marinade.

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3

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Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator from 6 to 10 hours.

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4

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Heat your grill on high heat if you are using a gas grill, or prepare coals for direct heat if you are using charcoal. If you do not have a grill you can use a cast-iron grill pan on your stove.

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5

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Grill the chicken breasts a few minutes on each side, until cooked through. Take care not to overcook, as chicken breasts can easily dry out.

Single Malt, Triple Berry & Pecan Tea Cake

It was a lazy Sunday morning and the faded baking mittens in the corner started twitching. My wife needed some more space in the refrigerator and ordered me to clear out the pecans and frozen berries that I had stored. The message was loud and clear. It was time for a bake.

I tried out a variation of this Pecan Fig Bourbon bundt cake recipe. I prefer scotch to bourbon anyway so some single malt added the twist and the result served as worthy accompaniment to the evening chai.

Quantity (Regular measure)	Quantity (Alternate measure)	Ingredients
1 Pound	450 grams	Blueberries, Cranberries & Blackberries
2 cups	32 Tbs	Water
½ cup	8 Tbs	Single Malt Whiskey
1tsp	16 Tbs	Pure Vanilla extract
3 cups	400 grams	Flour
2 tsp	2 tsp	Baking Powder
¾ tsp	.75 tsp	Baking Soda
¾ tsp	.75 tsp	Salt
½ tsp	0.5 tsp	Cinnamon
½ tsp	0.5 tsp	Grated Nutmeg
1¾ cups	200 grams	Pecans ( Substitute : Walnuts)
2 cups	440 grams	Brown Sugar
1 cup	220 grams	Vegetable oil
3 large	3 large	Eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
10 ounces	280 grams	Blueberry preserve

1 Berries & Scotch	Simmer berries in water in a heavy medium saucepan, covered, until berries are tender and most of liquid is absorbed, 35 to 40 minutes. Purée in a food processor with scotch and vanilla. Cool to warm.
2 Batter & Nuts	Preheat oven to 350°F / 175 °C with rack in middle. Butter and flour cake pan, knocking out excess flour. While oven preheats, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Lightly toast pecans ( or walnuts ) in a shallow baking pan in oven, 8 to 10 minutes, then cool and coarsely chop. Leave oven on. Beat together brown sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer until thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Stir in berry mixture. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just incorporated, then fold in pecans.
3 Bake & Filling	Pour batter into pan and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 - 35 Mins. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove cake from pan and let cool completely. use a piece of sewing thread to cut the cake. Just get enough thread to go around the cake, and long enough to grab at the ends, make sure it's in the middle of the cake then cross the end strings and pull, then you have an even cut. Using long metal spatulas, carefully lift off the top layer. Spread bottom layer with berry preserve. Replace top layer.

Caldine (Goan Fish Curry)

Ingredients

2 Coconut (regular sized)
5 Kashmiri Chilies
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tbsp Raw Rice
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 inch diameter ball of Tamarind ( 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste )
1/2 handful Cashews
2 regular sized Onion
2 regular sized Tomatoes diced
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
3 Long Green Chilies Split
1 tbsp Sugar

Preparations : As usual I break up the recipe into 3 jazzy stages

1. The Vein Pain

De-vein the prawns. !!!!

Why ??? ...you may ask, do I recommend such an arduous exercise. Well ...The answer is "fresh" or as Jaime Oliver calls it "naked". Fresh prawns or fresh fish taste best in such a lovely dish. If you are lucky enough and live by the sea this should not be a problem but if not frozen prawns though less succulent works as an alternate.

Add a bit of salt to the de-veined prawns and set aside for 30 mins

2. The CJ (Coconut Juice)

Grate Coconut , Using a food processor grind the coconut along with the Kashmiri Chilies, Cumin Seeds, Coriander Powder, Raw Rice, Turmeric Powder, Tamarind juice and cashews

Once you have a decent paste strain the juice into a bowl using a cheese cloth or muslin cloth or any fine


Try and get 1 run only . that is grind the coconut with al the sauces with just a little bit of water and try and extract all the juice you can. You should have a bout 2 cup full. You can add some more water to the residue in the cheese sloth and do a second run but that will not be as good as the first run. My mother in law does not use the second run. though in her hey day her mother , my wife's grandmother used to use the 2 run method of extracting coconut Juice ( she had to feed her six children and I don't blame her. )


3. The Easy Flourish at the end.

Chop the onions finely and dice the tomatoes . In a Large sauce pan ideally (wide but not too high ) sauté them. Once onions are lightly browned add ginger garlic paste and mix thoroughly
Add prawns and cook until the translucent prawns become opaque ( don't’overcook them, they become hard )
Add the strained coconut juice with all the lovely spices into the sauce pan

Bring the mixture to a boil
Add the sugar , lower the flame and let it simmer for 7 minutes

Serving :

Garnish with a dash of cream and green chilies
Serve with steamed rice.

I have also tried them as an accompaniment to Appams as part of a brunch menu and not surprisingly it went down very well. The coconut milk ties these two into a perfect combo.