Karela Subzi / Bitter Gourd Stir Fry

Bitter gourd is among the few vegetables which are very healthy but are disliked by most of the people.It has numerous health benfits,it detoxes the blood,helps in diabetes as it controls the blood sugar level.
    But as Me and my family like karela,so I often use it during the season,personally I like bharwa karela the most but often try different versions like sweet and sour karela,or combine it with lentils and make daal karela. 
      But as bharwa karela takes little extra time to stuff and cook,so sometimes I make this karela subzi which taste almost the same but doesn't need that much time to cook.I prefer to use bitter gourd with out peeling the skin but you can peel or scrape karela if you wish.

Preparation time-10 minutes
cooking time-25 min
serve-6
INGREDIENTS-

• Bitter gourd,sliced-400 gms
• Raw mango,grated-1 *
• Turmeric powder-3/4 tsp
• Whole fennel seeds /Saunf-1 tbsp
• Fennel seeds powder,coarsely ground-1.5 tbsp
• Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
• Chili powder- 1 tbsp
• Mango powder- 1/2 tsp
• Sugar-1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Mustard oil-4.5 tbsp*

PROCEDURE-

1. Wash and slice bitter gourds in medium thick slices.(roundals or batons)
2. Add 2 tsp salt in the slices,mix and keep covered for 1/2 hour.
3. Wash them well with water and then squeeze well.
4. If the bitter gourd are very bitter then you can boil them for 5 minutes in water with little salt and sugar added.
5. Peel and grate raw mango.
6. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan ,then add whole fennel seeds.
7. When fennel seeds become golden then add turmeric powder and karela pieces.
8. Saute for a minute and then add salt and grated raw mango,mix well.
9. Cover and cook on low heat till done.
10. Keep stirring in between,so it will cook preperly and will not stick and burn at the bottom.
11. When done add all the spices and mix well.
12. Add 1 tbsp of oil if needed.
13. Cook for approx.2 minutes on low heat with out covering the pan,stir 2-3 times in between.
14. Serve hot or cold.

Serving suggestions-best served with dal and rice or any Indian bread.

*may substitute mustard oil with any cooking oil of your choice . 
*If raw mango is not available then use 2 tsp of dry mango powder.

How to deal with people stealing photos/content off your blog

Today I'm posting a guest post by my son. 

Desichef.com recently stole 141 recipes with photos off my blog, and shamelessly posted them on his website as well as Facebook page. It was very frustrating and disturbing that hundreds of hours of my work had been shamelessly stolen by someone without my permission, and that this person had a huge following on the internet. Fast forward two weeks, and today none of my recipes are on his website or Facebook page anymore. How I did it, is what I'm going to discuss in some detail today. 

To summarize, all it took were two emails. That's it. Two emails.

But before I talk about these emails, here are some things that you need to know. 

1. You cannot represent somebody else's work. So if the content stolen was not made by you, you cannot report it. Only the creator/owner can report violation of her Intellectual Property (IP) rights. 

2. Anything deleted off Facebook, is still there on the original website. Facebook just deletes things off a Facebook page, not on external websites.

3. A Web hosting provider is to a website, what a landlord is to a tenant. All websites (tenants) live on different servers (houses) across the world. Each of these servers are owned by web hosting providers (landlords). Each web hosting provider typically hosts thousands of websites, and is responsible to take action on websites that are hosted by them if an IP violation is reported.

4. The methods given below are only applicable if the thief runs his own website and facebook page. If the copied content is part of a blogger/blogspot/wordpress website, the method is slightly different. Refer to the last part of this post.

EMAIL ONE: TO FACEBOOK

All content hosted by a page on facebook, can be challenged for Intellectual Property violations. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/208282075858952?rdrhc

Once you select the relevant options, Facebook will ask you to "describe" the copied material. If these are images, you directly post the URL of the image (when you're viewing the image, this is what appears in your browser in the area where you usually type facebook.com). You can put in multiple links at the same time, just make sure they're separated by a space. It's highlighted with a red box red below:

However, this is not possible if you're reporting a "link". To describe a link, you have to note down the details of the post by taking the pointer to area highlighted with the green box in the screenshot below. This will show the Date and Time the link was shared (highlighted with the red box in the screenshot below).

So essentially, if someone has posted multiple links, your description will look like this:

"The following links were posted:

Friday, 17th May 2013 at 07:04

Xday, Y date at Z ....."

After this, you'll have to provide corresponding links to the original content i.e. YOUR content. This will just be a bunch of URLs from your blog/website/facebook page. 

That's it. Click on submit, and you'll get a confirmation email from Facebook saying they're reviewing your request. They usually delete the content within 2 days of you submitting a request. 

EMAIL TWO: TO THE WEB HOSTING PROVIDER

I'd like to thank two people for this. Niv Mani, a Facebook friend, who pulled up the details of the web host for me, and Wordpresshacks, from where I got hold of the DMCA complaint template. So here goes.

This is a three step process. You'll first have to find who the web host is for the website that's stealing your stuff. And then you have to find the contact id for the host. And then you have to fill out a form.

Step 1: Finding out the web host 

1a. Go to www.whoishostingthis.com

1b. Key in the address of the website in the address field in the center of the page (highlighted with the green box in the screenshot below), and click on submit.

1c. This will give you the name of the company hosting the website.

1d. Click on link which says "WHOIS: Click here" (highlighted by green box in the screenshot below).

1e. This will give you names and addresses of the people who're running the site which is stealing your content. 

Step 2: Getting the contact id

2a. Go to the website that you got in step 1c.

2b. It should have a section which would say "Contact Us" or something similar. Find the email ID for the abuse/IPR/IP violations/DMCA group. If such groups are not listed, just email whatever email ID is provided and ask them for the email id for the group which handles abuse.

Step 3: Filling out the form

3a. Copyright infringement requests (Called DMCA complaints) need to be submitted in a specific format. I got the template from wordpresshacks (Thank you!). Here's the link to the template: http://wordpresshacks.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dmca-complaint-template1.docx

3b. Fill it up, its pretty self explanatory. You have to give the website links for each instance of copying. So if the person has stolen 5 posts from you, and posted it on five different pages on his website, you have to give all five links in the form. I gave 282 links. :)

3c. Save the file and email it to the ID that you got in 3b.

That's it. The abuse team of the web hosting provider handles the rest. Best of luck!

Exception: If the site is hosted on a Blogger or Wordpress platform

If the site is hosted on a blogger/blogspot platform, you can skip Email two given above. Instead, you'll have to click on this link and fill up the form:

http://support.google.com/bin/request.py?contact_type=lr_dmca&product=blogger

If this site is hosted on a wordpress platform, you can skip Email Two given above. Instead you'll have to click on this link and fill up the form:

http://automattic.com/dmca/

Corn Capsicum Masala

Corn not only taste great but is also very good for health. It is a very good source of thiamine,vitamin c and fibre and is high in carbohydrates.Yellow and white both corns has same nutritional values.Corn has many health benfits, it control diabeties,lower hyper tension,prevention of heart ailments and many more..
I often use corn in my cooking .I mainly use it in salads and chats.I have already posted a curry of corn-chili corn masala ,now I made this semi dry curry with capsicum and tomatoes ,which is simple to make and taste great.

Preparation time-10 minutes
cooking time-15 minutes
serve-4
INGREDIENTS-

• Bell peppers,chopped-3 cup
• Corn kernals,boiled-1 cup
• Tomato,chopped-3
• Tomato puree- 2 tbsp
• Ginger ,grated-3/4 tsp
• Pav bhaji masala-1/2 tsp
• Chili powder-1 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1tsp
• Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
• Salt -to taste
• Lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Fresh cream- 1.5 tbsp(optional)
• Chopped coriander-1 tbsp
• Cooking oil-2 .5 tbsp
• Cumin seeds- 1tsp
• Asafoetida-1/4 tsp

PROCEDURE-

1. Pressure cook corn kernals with a cup of water and a pinch of salt for 2 whistles,strain and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds,when seeds start crackling add asafoetida,ginger and chopped tomatoes.
3. Add salt mix and then cover and cook till tomatoes become soft.
4. Now add tomato puree ,chili powder,turmeric,pav bhaji masala,coriander powder and saute for a minute.
5. Add chopped capsicum and corn and mix well.
6. Cover and cook till capsicum become slightly cooked and gravy thickens.
7. Add fresh cream(I have not used cream) lemon juice and fresh coriander and mix.
8. Serve with rice,paratha or roti

NOTE-
1-You may substitute tomato puree with 1.5 tbsp of tomato ketchup
2- Addition of fresh cream is optional,I have not used it.

Green Chili Pickle-Maharashtrian style

Green chilies cooked with indian spices and lemon juice to make a delicious and tangy pickle

Since childhood I love pickles more then vegetables and always have some pickle with all my meals.But I avoid store brought pickles as they have a high sodium content,so I prefers to make my own pickles and stock different varieties of seasonal and yearly pickles and chutneys .My favourite among all  pickles is green chili pickle, so makes many varieties of chili pickles. I learned this chili choori pickle from a Maharashtrian friend of mine,so today sharing her version of making Maharashtian green chili pickle.
The  lemon and chili pickle and this maharshtrian chili pickle is my favourite ,and they are made in small quantity and used fresh,and the  stuffed green chili pickle is made for the yearly stock.

INGREDIENTS-

• Green chilies,chopped-250 gms
• Coriander seeds,coarsely ground-2 tbsp
• Rai kuria-1.5 tsp *
• White vinegar-1.5 tbsp
• lemon juice-1.5 tbsp
• Turmeric-1/4 tsp
• Salt-2.5 tsp

Tempering-

• Cooking oil-3 tbsp
• Fenugreek seeds or Nigella seeds-1 tsp*
• Fennel seeds-2 tsp
• Asafoetida-1/2 tsp

PROCEDURE-

1. Wash and then wipe green chilies with a napkin.
2. Chop chilies into roundals.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the tempering ingredients.
4. When seeds become golden then add chopped green chilies and saute them for few seconds.
5. Now add 1 and 1/4 tsp salt and stir fry on high heat ,till all the extra moisture evaporates.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and let it come down to room temperature.
7. In a bowl and coarsely ground coriander seeds,rai kuria,1/2 tsp salt,turmeric ,vinegar and lemon juice and mix well.
8. Now add the chilies in the lemon juice mixture and mix properly.
9. Transfer the pickle in a sterilized glass jar .
10. Start using after a day so chili will absorb all the flavours,but can aslo use the same day.
11. Stays fresh for 3 month in the refrigerator.

NOTE-
1-*You may substitute fenugreek seeds with kalonji/nigella seeds if you like the flavour and taste of kalonji.
2-*Rai kuria /Rai ki daal- are mustard seeds with the skin removed and then split/cracked or roughly ground and are yellow in colour,but you can also use coarsely ground black mustard seeds instead of rai kuria.