Fun stuff

After days of doing nothing - i finally found something fun to do. Cal hooked my laptop to download my videos so I have been using the editing software to edit my films! I just started few days ago - and so far worked on a short video for Ava Noor (my sister-in-law's niece who is the cutest lil baby) and then I started on my the footage of my students dancing at this years Lotus show. Currently I am working on Rang de Nila footage to put up for view. Rang de Nila stuff will have a professional working on it but i am working on just a simple version to have up while he finds time on his schedule to start the editing. Its a lot of fun! To cut and paste music, split images and sew them together! I will post them up on my website most likely once I find internet with speed enough to upload!

Other fun stuff has been the new apt. Today we took measurements and I went to some furniture stores to check out prices and window shopping. i totally miss US stuff - nothing here exactly fits my taste - but as they say - when in Rome... - so i picked out a color scheme to paint the walls with and Saturday will go out the blocks to imprint on the walls. I'll send pics as it progresses.

Mi Casa es...

Its been about a month and a half since being in dhaka now. The political unrest is a little bit under control.

From what I understand - the riots were started by the political parties taking an opportunity to bring down the military in the eyes of the people. The two ruling parties has been like a feuding family for the last 20 years or so. They were the sole causes on unrest in the city as they tried to one-up the other. So, it seems when the students stood up against the army to step off the campus grounds - the two parties paid off a few 100 students to star a city wide riot to demonstrate the ineptness of the current army government. But the reality is - the army not only complied but also took it further by calling a gearing so the students had a floor to speak about the situation. When curfew and city shutdown was announced to stop the riots - the parties went nuts. They played their old tricks of calling out to the "west" and asking for the return of democracy and save the country from military control. The military, meanwhile, has been working better for the people than ever before to maintain peace and bringing justice so the common people can feel safe. Granted - the military gv't has its own set of issues but politics isn't perfect. When the so called "democratic" parties were in place - Bangladesh was ranked the world's #1 corrupt country! Now, under military gov't there is voter registration - photo and thumb print ID - in place so the election being held in Dec 2008 will be a fair and just election. The leaders of the parties and families are in jail or in exile. People seriously hope that the 2008 election brings about a fair and just gov't in place and run it with the people in mind rather than for personal power and greed. Most people have lost hope - it is common to hear - "eh, nothings going to change" but there are few hopefuls that are holding out thankfully.

Recipe for Fried Eggplant

This eggplant dish is one of my favorites.

Spices needed

Salt
Turmeric
Oil

optional
onion/garlic/cumin/coriander paste

Cut the eggplant into thick slices about 1/2 in thick. Make paste with few drops of water, turmeric, salt (add the optional paste if you want) and mix. Take the eggplant slices and coat both sides well. Heat up the oil in a fry pan. Once hot, place the eggplant slices in the oil. Turn down the heat and let it cook. Turning over midway to cook the other side. Its done when the eggplant is soft and falling apart in the middle a bit.

serve warm with rice or roti. its delicious!

Recipe: Sweet, Spicy, Sour Chicken Curry

I saw this recipe on TV the other night and tried out last night. Cal loved it. It gives a really unique taste to chicken curry... here goes the recipe.

You will need
Chicken - cut into pieces
Oil - for deep frying
Onion - chopped
Garlic - chopped
Ginger - chopped
Sour yogurt
Salt
Black Pepper
Chili Powder - adjust to your taste
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 1 big
Cardamom - 2-3 pods
Cinnamon stick - half of 1
sugar
fresh chili and coriander

Clean chicken and cut to desired pieces. Marinate in salt and black pepper for abt 1/2 hr. Deep fry in oil just until it puffs up - it doesn't have to fully cook. Put aside for later. In the oil cook the onion, garlic and ginger till onions are transparent. Put in all the spices - adjust to your taste. Stir and cook the spices for a bit then put in the chicken and mix in with the spices. Pour water or chicken stock to cook the chicken in - cover and let simmer. Mix in sugar and salt into yogurt to your taste of how sour you want. Pour in the yogurt once the water is boiling. Stir well and cover and let simmer. Once the yogurt is cooked (it starts really soaked in the chicken) you have few options. You can adjust the sweet (add a bit more sugar), spicy (add a bit more chili powder) and sour (by adding sour yogurt).

option 1: mix in some green chili (split in half) and top it off with fresh coriander
option 2: mix in some almonds and cook for 2 more mins and serve with some almond slivers on top.
option 3: fry some onions till crispy and serve with it sprinkled on top.


Serve with fluffy white rice or parothas.