Fried Chicken

Who doesn't like fried chicken ? KFC has carved out a market of fried chicken and they have invaded India too ! I was curious and hence i ate there once. Well, It was very very costly considering Chicken here is 100-120 Rs per kilo.Anyways, it was ok nothing exceptional. A blood hound that i am , i couldn't rest in peace till i had found a recipe and then tried it at home.

I am one of those people who cannot follow the recipe to the T, ...usually i improvise on spices and mostly on quantity.  I use maths and quick calculation because i hate wastage in kitchen.
So here is my tried and tested recipe for fried chicken all of my own.You can play with the spices and make it to suit your tastebuds!

Ingredients:
Chicken[either drumsticks or large chunks]

For marination:[ all quantity is andaza and as per taste and amount of chicken]
Ginger garlic paste
Red chilli powder [ i use kashmirilal]
Green chilli paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp garam masala
 salt

To coat and then fry
Cornflour
approx 2 eggs [depends on amount of chicken]
breadcrumbs
oil

Procedure:

1. Wash clean and pat dry the chicken 
2. Marinate them with the above mentioned ingredients depending on the time you have. I usually do it half a day.
3. Take a sauce pan , add the chicken pieces and then add about 1 cup of water and boil . Gently stir the pieces. Most recipes skip this step but i find sometimes chicken remains uncooked and dry. I add just enough water so that it'll evaporate and half cook the chicken . Keep checking and don't overcook it.
4. Now in two separate plates ,place cornflour and breadcrumbs and beat the eggs with salt and pepper in another bowl. Mix salt and pepper in cornflour too.
5. Remove the chicken pieces let them return to room temperature.Then roll them first in cornflour then eggs and then breadcrumbs . Finish doing this to all the pieces and let them rest.
6. While they rest , heat up oil in thick bottom kadhai . Once it becomes hot on medium high, start frying the chicken.
7. Serve with mint and coriander chutney and/or mashed potatoes.

Learning

You know,everyday lessons keep coming at us. If we are lucky we could avoid them,deny or even ridicule them and get away with it.Most of the time we cannot.The wise ones learn the lesson. And yes, no lesson is free in this universe. Sometimes you are forced by Life to learn a lesson and pay the price ! There are some lessons Life keeps throwing at you until you learn them.Usually the lessons are hidden in failures, loss and incredible sadness.

Learning something is a forgotten value. Nowadays, we don't really teach children to learn or derive lessons from hard, gritty or even an easy going life. Protecting children from harm and protecting them otherwise are two different things. I was once a child and i am incredibly lucky to have hard working ,stable parents who slogged for everything who rarely gave 'things' and everything we asked for !
I learnt early on not to take anything for granted.Yet, during teens, i wanted to be rich,liked by all boys and hated everything about my middle class lifestyle.Fortunately that phase lasted only 2-3 years.
Since my Mom stitched beautiful clothes for me and my sis- skirts, frocks,punjabi,tops: we never lacked in clothes department.As kids we never understood how magically we had clothes for every occasion because my mom stitched in the afternoons after all the house work and chores were done and we were in school.
I learnt to appreciate my Mom and her superb skills which she never boasted.Thus i learnt to appreciate where appreciation is due.And to not boast.
We learnt to study on our own. My father and mom had taken care of our studies and it was very very important to them.i therefore learnt importance of education.Yep, for girls ! I can never ever unlearn that !
We are 3 sis and no brothers however each of our births were celebrated and though everyone around my mom and dad talked how she had only girls and no sons.Even if this bothered my parents they have never shown it !I learnt NOT to discriminate against girls.I learnt NOT to abort if its a girl. I learnt girls and boys can be brought up in an egalitarian environment.I sincerely hate all those people who want sons and are disappointed or feel less by because of a daughter.And i doubt the sincerity of people who in this day and age, keep getting 3-4 children till they have a son !

Since both my parents have only slogged and have had hard-pressed lives, I learnt hard work will not kill you though it might make you sick sometimes. I learnt to be hands on- repair the dress, polish your shoes,cycle to school, travel by public transport, cook ,clean and be frugal and use common sense all the time.I learnt not to wait for help ! I also learnt reality of life that people don't really care and gossiping is a vicious cycle.As i grow older in a city,I see callousness,carelessness and sweet-talk use and throw policy. My folks were simple people who didn't know these clever cunning ways so we didn't learn that !
However, from bad experiences, i learnt to discern and be assertive and not take nonsense from anyone.Yet, sometimes i am taken in by sob stories and clever talks.So,i have lots to learn there ! i learnt money doesn't bring happiness after a certain point.I learnt just because you are nice and fair , people are not going to be nice and fair to you ! I learnt sadness and pain is real and can't do anything to avoid it.And yeah, all that glitters and sparkles is not gold and diamonds !:-)
And poverty is a possibility for EVERYONE !
I learnt not to sleep in afternoons until and unless you are sick.I learnt to have lots of hobbies.And since my mom passed away, i have learnt more social games and conventions. I learnt to mind my own business.I have learnt to speak up for the right thing even if alone.My mom taught basics of sewing to me only 4 years ago however learning to sew and become good at it was only my initiative .I read books, kept asking questions to my aunt and mom and made lots of mistakes in cutting the cloth,measuring however i kept at it. Learning sewing at 30 was tougher than finishing post graduation at 23. Infact, i really don't remember anything i learnt in classrooms even the studies we have done on our own because 90% profs were mediocre ,boring and unaccessible after classes.

I was bad at making rotis..i could cook anything and everything but couldn't make a decent roti. I am happy to say after one and half years of practice and trial and error,i can make soft rotis. i learnt MS office on my own.Taught myself how to use Kubuntu..if i can learn technology,believe me, anyone can- i am so dunce in all practical things like accounting and technology.

From experiences , i am learning not to give advice until asked for.I am still learning to not argue at ALL. I am still learning how to live in the Present and not mope about the Past and worry about the future. I am still learning to take care of myself well.I have learnt that unfortunately, women are many a times not supportive of women.

Life is certainly a classroom for the eager and no class is better than Life and actually doing stuff for yourself.When you do anything, you get to know how tough something really is !Then maybe you wouldn't have black and white opinions and be more grey and open and thankful !

So,what have you learnt or are struggling to learn? Are you open to learning and doing the chores of lIfe ?

Myths

I am a big fan of Paula Begoun who runs Cosmeticscop on Web. I think she is a lone crusader against the myths propagated by the owners and marketing departments of cosmetic industries which have entrenched in people's psyche as 'ultimate researched truth'.
What people forget is that Real Science which leads to drugs, molecules and techniques which can improve life is very much there and its slow.There are studies published - 90% of them are not tainted in spite of corruption in annals of science.

For people who are interested, read this article- 20 beauty myths .
If you want to really critically analyse , just type 'Pubmed' in google and when you enter Pubmed ,enter the studies she has cited under each myth. Read those research articles. or abstracts. And then decide for yourself....Do you want to blindly believe in sales girls and advertising and pay hundreds of rupees for useless products or do you want to make informed choices every single time and force the cosmetic industries to actually give a good product at a very good price...and then they may not have to spend lacs on advertising !

Cosmetic industries make huge profits on medioacre products and products where the raw material costs are paltry eg  lip balms [ they give just 4 gm of product  !] shampoos,conditioners and body lotions and inspite of that they mis-sell  and spread lies which get ingrained in the minds of misinformed !

I would love to know what you think about this .

Shopping

X called me up the other day and said she had a shopping voucher from her measly company  which required her to go shopping.
I asked her what did her shopping voucher amount to . She hatefully blurted "thousand bucks".
Me : Your company pulled out all the stops this year ,huh ! How thoughtful....now you'll spend another 2-3k to spend that voucher?

X : HR in my company is Ivy league that's why they come up with these measly feel-good gestures......they are real talent.[she added sarcastically] Anyway, i wanted to buy some clothes  and probably some make up. Coming?

"When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking." - Elayne Boosler.

 Yeah, but that doesn't mean Men are less of shoppers than women.They just pretend to be not interested in shopping and then go out and buy a bombastic gadget which will make them feel and behave like a 5 year old.

Now, Pune is covered with malls these days.Infact, if i stand on X's terrace and throw a stone ..it'll land up in a mall. So we go to the latest malls- Phoenix and Inorbit which are neighbors.
My shopping experience in malls is limited to make up ,leggings and well a skirt. Most of the kurtas don't fit me and the one's that do fit are horridly expensive. For those people who know my sewing prowess, i calculate why these brands are ripping me off for a simple cotton kurta which will not last a single home laundry. X knows this and she still takes me along !

Phoenix and Inorbit have these stand alone brand shops..so while i window shop and swallow looking at the prices , X impatiently rummages the racks.We enter a shop where ambience is cold and floor empty. She picks up one kurta and shows it to me.

"Omg...its 1299 ! But you can wear it... see if you like",I giggle uncontrollably. The sales girl hovering around us glares at me.

Sales people have found new way of selling stuff at these hi-fi places: Look over the customer, make her uncomfortable if she hands over the garment wordlessly after trying it, glare at her if she checks prices before checking out the garment and lastly snobbishly answer her queries with every bit of lies they can come up with .

X looks at me and says : "its very similar to the kurta you are wearing. How much did you get it for ?

Me: Let me see,...2.25 mtr cloth at 80 rs per metre and i cut and sewed it in 2 days -with all the embellishment it cost me 200 bucks. 5 washes - as good as new"

X put the kurta down angrily and then went over to the western clothing racks.

X : Gosh.......how did the prices get so high ! Last time i went shopping and actually bought something ....remember that blue top ..it cost me 450 of this very brand. Now look at this simple top - starting upwards of 699 !

Me: [ i knew the prices had increased almost insensibly since i had been making more mall visits than her since last 8 months ] yep, i know...now just a branded jeans and top combo will set you back by 2-3k. Start taking care of your clothes, X .Soon, they'll become investments like gold !

X: [nodded ruefully] Yeah ,i already kicked out that maid .She managed to ruin our clothes while washing them in a  washing machine ! I wash stuff myself now....handwashing the ones which leach colours like crazy.

Me: You know what a price of the garments of these so called brands goes like : Rs 699 + 100 -for first time dry cleaning which  practically all the brands exhort you to do]. The price is exclusive of shrinkage, loss of color and durability of the cloth in first wash itself. If you do the math ,all that these brands are doing is recovering real estate and staff prices and their huge profit margins for very poor quality.

X: Oh yeah....i remember when we were kids ..my mom used to get our frocks stitched and they used to last forever. There were no washing machines....the maids used to wash and i remember my mom not letting them use brush except on collars and painchas ! And now within a year these ready-mades look old.

X pulled me out of the store and said ..."We'll go to the cloth market in camp and city ..i 'll pick up some material ..babban chacha still stitches . i'll ask him to make  kurtas and then mix and match with leggings i already have.You'll embellish them ,will you ?..please ...

Me : yeah ok . Maybe i'll stitch a kurta too for you . However, what will happen to the voucher ?

X: I will give it to my arch enemy !

Destiny

Sometimes X and me sit on the steps leading to Big Bazaar - the one near my house.In the background there is huge cacophony of traffic which irritates me while exhilarating X. I used to sit many times with my mom there.She used to get tired standing because after her chemotherapy  her knees and legs gave her pain .The pill Altraz she was on had among other side effects - leaching bones of calcium. So , invariably when i used to coax her during the 10 months after chemo and radiation but before the cancer came back in her brain, mom sat outside at those steps  while I finished buying groceries at the store.

So, now I coax X to sit with me - i still don't like the noise and all that vigorous honking but she seems to enjoy it while i reminisce about Mom. I miss her terribly and after her i don't think i'll miss anyone else so much. X and me are both losers however in different ways [she is going to kill me , I know, for saying this] . I believe however there are more losers walking around than truly content and happy people with everything going for them .. ..infact there are few people who have probably been just tapped lightly on the head by Life and not smacked or tossed around like a football ! X and me both have had hard lives from last 10 years.And both of us blame it on Fate or destiny !

X : Gosh ! whatever did we do to end up alone like this i mean we are 33 and not getting anywhere.I feel so lonely at times i wish my 6 year relationship had never ended !
Me: May be we should start new habits ! How about social drinking?
X: Social drinking ? Where ? We have no social life to speak of? Its difficult to even make new friends at this age ? Where have all the people gone ?

Me: I wish your relationship had ended earlier ...less pain ! 6 years and it went nowhere ! And about people ,...they are all married ! Married people have to compulsorily socialize with each other especially married indian girls. Most husbands don't like their wives spending time with their friends ...or so the women think ! Married people hang out with married people usually!

X : Why ?
Me: Its maths , i think.Things are easier to add up when couples hang out together.
X:[ sits thinking while  i wonder why do we end up talking all this crap]  There are only so many mall visits one can make. It stinks to be single middle class Indian girl ![she concluded... and sighed]

Me: Yes..i have been saying this all this time...and thats the only reason i want to get married !I mean if i find some one to just hang out or go on vacations with i'll think i have hit jackpot !
X: That's all ! That low your expectations are ? you want a touring companion ? What about love ? [she looked at me...wide eyed aghast!]

Me: Oh ...lot of my expectations have been silted and washed away by incoming tides through all these years ...is that so bad ? What's wrong with a touring companion ? I want to go and see the world and India which i can't do now alone. Its no fun alone for me .I guess i am not built that way. And love? Maybe its not for me...i have come to accept it.Anyway, if it had to happen it would have happened a long time ago.

X : [rolled her eyes at me and sighed ] yeah maybe...we don't even have ways to meet anyone anymore ..most of the guys on the market are either divorced or with kids.
Me: Oh..we might not even have kids to baulk at ..you know...its a possibility the biological clock ...
X: [she sighed even louder] yep...gosh its scary....are we destined to die unloved, alone and without progeny ?

Me: I hope not...i i desperately hope we don't die alone ..unloved because we are quite loving people ![ i tried to cheer her up]

X : Do you believe we are at fault? Do we make our own destiny ?

Me : [ i thought hard and put my arm around her to console and pacify her while i fought back my tears] If you had asked me 10 years ago...i 'd have said ..yes -we make our own destiny ! Not anymore !  I think...we can just clear the path ...you know..pick the weeds out,plant some seeds ..hoping they survive and grow into strong plants and trees and fill the path with beauty and fragrance. But the path ...where it leads and goes is beyond us.Where the path is destined to end and branch out is in some Superpower's hands',.....there is Someone out there who is pulling the strings and spoiling all our plans, X !