Tomato – sweet corn soup

Ingredients:
4 ripe tomatoes
4 pods of sweet corn
Olive oil – 1 tspn
Milk – 1 cup
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Mint leaves to garnish

Serves:
4

Preparation time:
20 minutes

Method:

1) Wash, and steam the tomatoes so that they are well cooked and soft
2) Grate the sweet corn pods, or else grind the sweet corns if you already have them separated out
3) In a blender, put together the tomatoes with their skin, and the grated/ grinded corn
4) Once well blended, keep aside
5) In a pan, put olive oil and once it’s a little warm, pour in the blended mixture
6) Add salt and sugar and pepper as per your taste
7) Throw in some whole sweet corn kernels on top
8) Pour in a cup of milk once the mixture starts boiling, and bring to boil again
9) Serve hot with some mint garnishing

Another Marathi Poem - Can't remember the title though

Chala jau sarya jani, door pakharanchya raani
Aiku gauya manjul, raan pakharanchi gaani

Hasu khelu fula sange, gheu goad goad vaas
Todu naka matra koni, naka dukhavu jeevas

Ful pakharanshi khelu shiva shivi lapandav
Sapadata pusu tyanna kay apule ho naav

Man apule ramaya, maina daavil gauni
Tila sanguya aapan raja ranichi kahani

Hiravalivar padu tak launa aakashi
Ghalu ukhane majeche ivalyashya chimanyanshi

Hota sayankaal ghari yeu haluch parat
Theu dadavun sari goshta apuli jammat

Matra goshta aikayla aji bolavil jevha
Apanach ajila hi goshta navi sangu tevha

Aai

Marathi Poem - 7th Standard

Aai unhachi savali

aai sukhacha saagar

Neelya aakasha evadha

tichya mayecha padar

Aai kunachihi aso

ticha sanmaan karava

Tine taaklela shabda

fulasarkha zelava

Maulichya mayemule

hoto majha jeev tanha

Athavaninna futato

mag amrutacha panha

Rasgulla - recipe

Ingredients:

The Rasgullas:

• Cow's milk - 3 liters
• White Vinegar - about 3-4 tablespoons
• Edible coloring - if needed

The sugar syrup

• Water - depends on how much syrup you want to make
• Granulated sugar - about half or a little less per unit of water
• Rose essence - 1 - 1.5 tea spoons

Preparation time: 50-60 minutes

Serves: Depends on how much you eat

Method:

1. Start boiling the milk. Keep stirring seeing to it that it doesn't spill over.
2. You will see foam form over the milk. Keep blowing it to the sides to avoid spilling the milk over. Heat on a low flame lest you can't control the overflow.
3. Once the milk is totally boiling and you have blown the foam/ cream to the sides, take a table spoon of vinegar and pour it in the milk.
4. You will see that the milk starts to curdle immediately and starts to turn transparent. Keep stirring, however stir lightly lest you break apart the curdling process.
5. Continue adding tablespoon after tablespoon (shouldn't take more than 3 most likely) till you see that the milk has totally separated into cottage cheese on one side and transparent water on the other.
6. Take care that you don't add too much vinegar, else the cheese will become chewy and won't taste good.
7. Also take care while stirring not to break the cheese apart.
8. Take a sieve and pour off the water immediately. This will avoid the cheese from becoming sour.
9. A lump of cheese will have formed. Wash it with cold running water and this will ensure that the vinegar goes off. Don't keep the force of the water too high, just enough to cool the lump of cheese and not to break it apart.
10. Drain extra water off for like 10-15 mins.
11. Now take a blended and start putting small quantities of cheese into it. You will see that once it is blended, it turns into a nice smooth paste like mixture.
12. Do this for the whole quantity of the milk.
13. Now you will have a nice ball of cheese which can be rolled up into small balls of desired size and shape. Take care not to make them too big, since they grow upon placing in the sugar syrup. Optionally you may add coloring of your choice if you so prefer.
14. Boil the water, add sugar to it and add essence, and keep boiling till the sugar dissolves. Once it is boiling, start placing the balls of cheese thus created.
15. Let the solution continue to boil, and then cover the vessel up and let it boil on low heat for 3-4 minutes. This will ensure that the cheese is well cooked and well soaked with sugar syrup.
16. Serve hot or cold, but it tastes best cold.

Garama Garam Roshogulla are now ready to eat! :)

Take me to my garden, Mummy

It’s a rat race it is,
This life we live,
Trying our best to pay back the arrears,
Of things we don’t even know we borrowed.
Yet somehow we keep running,
In these confused labyrinths of sewers.

There are ladders all around,
All leading up somewhere, somewhere you can’t yet see.
As you start climbing up, you start wondering
When is it that you can see the top of the tree.
And when you think of taking a break
You see a billion others trying to outrun you, in your wake.

You were happy down there,
In that little garden you called your own
And you knew no one could hurt you there
That nothing wrong could happen while over there
But somehow no one let you live
In the only place your heart could a smile wear.

Is this the way you were meant to be?
You recall the days, when you could just flap your wings
And be anywhere you wanted to be.
Why then are we so stunted, so downtrodden?
I rue the innocence and the free spirit I lost
The manipulations, the mad run are certainly not worth the cost.

I want to break free again, to be that person I always wanted to be,
I want to come out without my mask,
To come out just as me.
And though I am just as crazy about everything that I am offered today,
I want to experience that feel again,
Even if it’s just for a day, just for a day.

The Mediterranean Veg. Cheese Grilled Sandwich (Spicy)

Ingredients:

The sauce ( for 4 slices) :

• Olive oil - 2 tblspoons
  
• Cumin powder - half tea spoon
  
• Red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon
  
• Salt - to taste
  
• Black pepper powder - half tea spoon
  
• Honey - 1 tea spoon
  
• Lemon Juice - 1 tea spoon
  
• Minced garlic - 1 clove
  

The toppings and the base:

• Bread slices (white or brown)
• Butter
• American cheese slices
• Sweet corn
• Onion
• Capsicum (green peppers)
• Tomato slices
  
• Black olives, mushrooms (optional)

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: Depends on how much you prepare and how much you eat

Method:

1. Chop the vegetables into slices or any shape you like. Don't chop them too fine, specially the onions and the tomatoes, since they discharge a lot of water on chopping fine.
2. Butter the bread slices on one side and lay the cheese slice over that.
3. Arrange the vegetables taking care you don't overload them.
4. Pour olive oil in a cup. Mix in the other ingredients, and whisk till a smooth paste is formed.
5. Apply this paste on the remaining slices. Then form pairs of one each and make a sandwich.
   
6. Pre-heat the grill/ oven to 350 F or likewise, and grill these till light brown.
7. Enjoy hot with ketchup.
   

Where Go the Boats?

Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along forever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating --
When will all come home?

On goes the river,
And out past the mill
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.


(Love the last thought put into the poem)