Remove Plagiarism

Plagiarism -- much has been said about it and I am not going to reiterate.

But it hurts to see when the content and the pictures we so lovingly create and put up being stolen and used. Most of us bloggers, blog to vent their creativity, they find it as a channel to showcase their passion, to share what they love doing with million others.
We all know that Internet is open and we were always aware that our work could be used by others, after all we all use free icons, free javascrips, free information. But we do that only when it says that is for "FREE". We do not abuse the free availability of this information (though there are people who do so)

However when we bloggers want to protect our content and we state that explicitly in the copyright statements all we expect is the user to use that information but not to lift it straight off our web page. We want them to post a request in the numerous comments that we have, to ask our permission, to use the content if permission is given and in the manner the owner says and last but not the least to give due credits. This is not much to ask for, after all we are entitled to our creative copyrights.

If large organizations like Yahoo do not behave responsibly and lift contents as stated here, we can not expect much from small independent sites like AndhraMirchy.com etc. It would not do Yahoo much good if they rise up one morning to see an exact replica of their portal with their Logo, Design and Content stolen, right ? And that's why they have lawyers drawing up statements like
"Yahoo! respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Yahoo! may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, terminate the accounts of users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. "

So why don't they practice what they preach ? Boo to Yahoo and join us on March 5th

MySpice -- Mustard

Mustard as a spice is an important part of Indian cooking.The whole Mustard seeds are used for tempering, to add flavor to the oil. The Mustard paste is very popular in mostly Bengali or east Indian cooking. Mustard Oil is also an important part of Bengali Cooking and traditional Bengali Cooking mostly used Mustard Oil as the cooking medium. Even now when many households in Bengal have grown more accustomed to the other white oils, Mustard Oil is still the favored oil for frying and cooking fish. A recent study shows that Mustard Oil as a cooking medium reduces the chance of heart disease by 70% and it also an excellent source of anti-oxidants (source: Wiki)

There are three kinds of Mustard seeds -- Black, Brown and White/Yellow depending on the Mustard plant.

Mustard paste or oil adds a sharp, spicy taste to food. Both the Brown and Black Mustard seeds are used in Indian cooking, the brown one more popular for making the paste.

Brown Mustard seeds are considered good for digestion and for alleviating stomach discomfort as gas and cramps (source: Maharishi Ayurveda) Mustard Oil is also widely used for massage in Northern India. Even now when my daughter catches a cold, I heat a spoonful of mustard oil with garlic flakes and rub the warm oil on her chest and on the bottom of her feet. My dad says, his grandma used to tell them to rub mustard oil on their big toe before bath as that helps eyes to remain healthy, this piece of information is not proven though and might be a lore
Mustard seeds were used medicinally not only in India but also by the Greek and the Romans

Update: From the coments I gather that many of you are unaware of use of mustard paste in Bengali Cooking. We grind mustard to a paste with green chillis and salt and use that extensively in many of our cooking. This cannot be substituted with the Mustard Sauce we get in stores here as it lacks that sharpness. A particular mustard based sauce called "Kasundi" is very popular in Bengal. It is used as a dip and is best when eaten with rice and alu seddho (boiled potatoes) or any sauted greens.
Sorshe Bata or Mustard Paste is ubiquitous ingredient in Bengali cuisine. The best Bengali fish curries always have a mustard based sauce. Even vegetarian dishes like Shukto, Charchari (shall blog soon) etc. have mustard paste as the only spice.
The black mustard when ground to a paste may be slightly bitter so it is ground with a little poppy seeds (optional) and green chillis and salt. This somehow never happened at home when the Shil Nora was used for grinding.
Radhuni is not mustard, it looks more like Ajwain and maybe in the same family, but it is not Ajwain and has a stronger smell & flavor. Its hard to get Radhuni outside Bengal and I don't have any.

So add that little Mustard to your food in whatever form you like best and enjoy.

Trivia: Aristocrat Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf founded the Order of the Mustard Seed in Germany in 1715 inspired by the Parable of Mustard Seed told by Jesus

Sailaja's Chicken Masala Balls

I do not get the opportunity to leaf through many cookbooks to decide "What’s for dinner" or "lunch" or "snack". Not that I don't want to but simply because I don't get time. While coming to US I had packed two Bengali Recipe Books written in Bengali with me. One of them doesn't have great collection of food but I loved the author, Leela Majumdar, and her all other Literary works, so had to buy it. The other is a very ordinary looking book, no glossy pages, nor any nice pictures, no glam-sham that is, but has a very good collection of Bengali Recipes. Albeit this book is like me & Ma, it doesn't give any measurements, just the ingredient list and a general way to prepare, it has most of the Bangla Recipes I have ever heard of. Bengali Cook Books written in Bangla were not much in vogue in those days .Recently some very good cook books for Bengali recipes have been published but most of them are in English.

My Ma would mostly cook recipes she had gathered from her mother, from relatives, friends and from magazines which were a veritable source of good recipes
Me on the other rely a lot on the internet (other than Ma, friends & THE magazines) for recipes. It's easy, fast and convenient. So no wonder when I chanced upon food blogs I was delighted. What with their glossy design, beautiful pictures and all the traditions and tips thrown in they are better than any cook book for me.

At this point I need to narrate a funny incident. My daughter, who is in the "pretend play" stage, is extremely imaginative and goes on "Imagine, Imagine" all day. So a couple of nights back she was sitting on my parent's bed and planning a B'day party for her two dollies.

So my Dad said "What are you going to cook"

She says "Chole & Chicken and Bhatu (Rice)"

My Dad says "Ok, so ask your Mommy for the recipes"

She very confidently "Nah Ami nijei commen e dekhe nebo (No, I will look it up in the computer myself)" and with that she opened her "imagine" laptop with a real flick of the wrist

This shows how much I scour the net for recipes, even if I don't cook them I love reading them

Sailaja's food blog -- SailusFood is a wonderful place to be, her neat layout, the succinct steps and the crisp pictures give an idea as to what to expect of the dish. The moment I saw the "Chicken Masala Balls" in her recipe I knew all of my family and friends would love it and boy did they. Now it has become a kind of regular at my home. But since I make it so often I try not to fry it every time, though the fried ones taste the best. Thanks Sailaja for this wonderful recipe and many more that I am going to blog soon. So here’s my entry for this months MBP February-- Chicken masala balls from SailusFood. Thanks again to both Sailaja for this recipe and Coffee for hosting this wonderful event.

For the fear that soon Sailaja will get famous and her agent might restrict access to her blog I am jotting down the ingredients and the steps I follow here.
You don’t need go any further but check out her Original Recipe here. Her steps and picture are way better


Read more...

Sailaja's Chicken Masala Balls

What You Need

Ground Chicken ~ 1lb

Make a wet masala paste with the following

Onion ~ 1 medium
Green chillis ~ 8-10
Corriander leaves ~ small bunch chopped

Garlic ~ 15-20 cloves
Ginger ~ 3" piece chopped

Dry roast and grind the following to make a dry masala powder

5-6 dry red chillis (adjust according to your choice)
Corriander seeds ~ 4 tbsps
Cumin Seeds ~ 1 1/2 tbsps
Cinnamon ~ 2″ stick
Cardamom ~ 3
Cloves ~ 5-6
Cashewnuts ~ 10-20

Salt
Oil for deep frying


How I Do It

Though Sailaja asked to roast the dry spices in oil and then blend, I dry roast them and grind them in my dry grinder. The dry powder I store for future purposes too.
I use minced chicken and so I mix the dry powder, the wet masala and a little yogurt with the minced chicken and keep it for sometime, say a couple of hours and sometimes overnight
Then I make balls exactly as she does.
Deep Fry them and serve them as starters when we have friends over and they cannot stop eating
I also bake these balls for weeknight dinners. Spray the baking pan with Oil and bake them at 350F till they are lightly browned and done. Tastes yummy with Rotis and by themselves.

Note: Following is the baked version. I had less corriander leaves so the balls look a little less green

Trivia: Masalas are spices and other seasoning ground together to form the basis for Indian sauces