Creating new ODBC connection on 64-bit Vista/ODBC driver for 64-bit Vista

If u are trying to make a odbc connection to say MS Access or Excel, so that it can be used by a programming language (like java), on a 64-bit OS. Then the things u need to do are:
1.)Go to Control Panel
2.)Go to Administrative Tools
3.)Right click on Data Sources and go to its properties
4.)In properties change the following and click 'OK'
Target field to:
%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe
From:
%SystemRoot%\System32\odbcad32.exe
Start In to:
%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64
From:
%SystemRoot%\System32
5.)Having done the above go to Data Sources and in that go to System DSN.
6.)In System DSN click on Add and select the driver u want and click 'Finish'.
eg. Driver *.mdb(for Access 2003), *.accdb(for Access 2007), *.xls(for Excel) and so on.

7.)Having done this Select the file u want by going to 'Select' and choosing the file u want to use

in ur program and give the Data Source Name(DSN) the same as name the name of ur

file.This will do the job.

Note: The DSN need not be the same as the name of the file. But what ever u give the DSN ,makes ure u use that in ur program to get Connection.

Roti

Roti is generally served with a side dish, which is generally a curry or raitha.


Ingredients:
1.)Wheat flour - 2 cups
2.)water - 1 cup
3.)salt - pinch
4.) oil - 1/2 tbsp

Procedure:
Take wheat flour and salt and mix well. Now add water little by little and knead to a soft dough.(amount of water that goes to the dough depends on the wheat flour, so always little by little).The dough should be soft, with a little sticky consistency. Now oil ur hands and try to knead the dough. Add a little oil to the dough and knead well. If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour. The dough should be in a consistency , where u can roll out the dough with the rolling pin. Not divide the dough into 6 balls and roll each of then into 6 inch diameter circle.Fry the rolled out dough with little oil or ghee.
Roti is ready to be served. This goes well with any curry

Tips

1.)Is the dish gets too spicy because of addition of chili powder, spiciness of the dish can be reduced to a considerable extent by adding coriander powder to it.

2.)If the dish is too salty, add coconut powder or coconut milk to reduce the salty flavor. Sometimes adding something sour like lime juice, tamarind juice and tomatoes helps too.

Tomato curry

This is a very simple curry. It goes well with plain rice, rotis and kichidi. This is one more 'jhatpat' recipe, which take very less preparation time.


Ingredients:
1.)Tomatoes - 4( chopped)
2.)green chillies - 4(slit lengthwise)
3.)onions - 1 medium(chopped)
4.)mustard seeds - 1tsp
5.)cumin seeds - 1tsp
6.)Urad dal /minnapappu - 2 tsps
7.)red chili powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp
8.)turmeric - pinch
9.)coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
10.)oil - 1tbsp
11.)curry leaves - 5
12.)salt - to taste

Procedure:
Take oil in a pan, when it hot add mustard, cumin, urad dal. When they start spluttering add the curry leaves, onions and green chillies. Fry till the onions are translucent. Now add turmeric powder and ginger garlic pates and fry till the raw flavor is gone. Now add tomatoes and cook them. when they are almost done add salt, chili powder(add chili powder to taste.Some tomatoes are more sour compared to other, hence will need more chili powder to get rid of sour flavor.) and coriander powder and mix well. Cook for another 5 to 10 mins and tomato curry is ready to be served.

Kichidi

Kichidi is one more thing that I fall back to when i have absolutely no patience to cook. I guess i learnt this from my mom :))


Ingredients:

1.)Basmati rice -1 and 1/2 cups

2.)Moong dal/Pesarapapu - 3/4 cup

3.)green chillies - 4(slit vertically)

4.)onion - 1 small(chopped length wise)
5.)Cloves - 3
6.)cinnamon - 1/2 inch
7.)tomato - 1 (optional)
8.)turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9.)ginger garlic paste - 1tsp
10.)oil - 1tbsp
11.)salt - to taste

Procedure:
Wash the dal(lentil) and soak for 15 to 30 mins(first start the cooking process by washing and soaking the dal). Take oil in a pan. When it is hot add cloves and cinnamon. Once it starts giving an aroma, add onions and green chillies. When the onions get translucent add turmeric and fry till the raw aroma of turmeric is gone. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry well till the raw flavor is gone. At this point, add the tomatoes(optional) and salt, and cook for 5 mins. Now to the above mixture add dal and rice and stir until all the grains are properly coated. Fry for 5 mins(this prevents the rice from getting mushy). The next step is to cook the above mixture in cooker(electric), with 4 and 1/2 cups of water. Kichidi is ready to be served. This goes best with the tomato curry, curd and pickle(Indian).

Gajar/carrot Halwa

Gajar halwa is one of the famous desserts of India. there is almost no one that does not like this dessert. This also happens to be my husband's favorite desserts. Actually it is his recipe that i will be sharing today.

Ingredients:
1.)Carrot - 3 cups grated (aprrox 3 large carrots)
2.)Sugar - 1 cup (can be adjusted according to taste)
3.)milk - 3 cups
4.)ghee - 1tbsp
5.)cardamon - 4
6)raisins - 10
7.)cashews - 10

Procedure:
Melt ghee in a pan , and add grated carrots to it. Fry in ghee till they get cooked. Add cardamon and stir for a couple of mins, till the carrots starts getting the cardamon flavor. Next add sugar and stir with the carrots. Let the sugar dissolve and evenly coat the carrots. Add sugar little by little. Amount of sugar can vary by taste. Once the carrots are cooked and sugar is evenly coated, add milk and stir well. On medium heat let the milk thicken up in the carrot mixture. Keep stirring regularly, to avoid the carrot mixture from getting burnt or sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once all the milk thickens up, take another pan add 1tsp of ghee and add raisins and cashew and fry till the raisins are puffed up. Add this to the carrot mixture and stir well. Let the carrot mixture cook for 2 mins. Carrot halwa is ready to be served.

Capsicum fried rice

This one more variation to the fried rice family. the main ingredient of this recipe as the name suggests is capsicum.

Ingredients:

1.)capsicums - 2 (chopped finely)

2.)onion - 1 medium (chopped length wise)

3.)cloves - 4

4.)cinnamon - 1/2 inch

5.)ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

6.)soya sauce - 2tsps

7.)basmati rice - 2 cups

8.)tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp

9.)garam amsla powder - 1tbsp

10.)oil - 2 tbsp

11.)salt

12.) green chillies - 2 (slit length wise)

Procedure:

Take oil in a pan, add the cloves and cinnamon and fry till u start getting the aroma. At this point add the onions and green chillies and saute till onions get translucent. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw flavor is gone. At this pint add capsicum , soyas auce,salt, garam masala and saute well. Try to fry the capsicum peices tilll they get soft. At this point add tomato ketchup and cook for another 4 -5 mins. Now add washed basmati rice and stir till all the rice grains are coated with the masala's. Next transfer the contents to an electric rice cooker. Add 4 and 1/2 cups of water and cook. Capsicum fried rice is ready. This goes well with raitha or plain curd.

Note:

First add soya sauce and then add salt accordingly. Because soya sauce gives saltiness to the dish, so add salt accordingly.

Carrot curry

This is a very simple, but very healthy dish. This is passed on to me from my aunt. This is one other recipe that i rely on when i have no patience to cook. It is so simple with minimun ingredients and the cooking time is also very less. So today i will share this recipe.

Ingredients:

1.) carrots - 4 cups of grated carrots (approx 4 large carrots)

2.) green chillies - 3

3.) mustard seeds - 1 tsp

4.) cumin seeds - 1tsp

5.)urad dal - 2 tsps

6.)coconut powder - 2 tbsps (optional)

7.) lime juice - 1 - 2 tbsp

8.)coriander leave 1/2 cup

9.) oil - 1 tbsp

10.)salt - to taste

Procedure:

take oil in a pan, when it is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and green chillies. When they mustard and cumin start spluttering add the grated carrot and mix well. Add salt and cook till carrots are cooked well. Once the carrots are cooked, add coconut powder and let it cook for 3- 4 mins. Finally add lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves. Carrot curry is ready to be served. this goes well with roti's or rice. I prefer eating it by itself :).

Choley

This is one my favorite recipes. So today i will be sharing the recipe for it.

Ingredients:
1.)Garbanzo/chick peas - 430 gms (i use canned, but can use fresh chick peas. If using fresh chick peas soak it over night.)
2.)tomatoes - 3 medium
3.)onion - 1 medium(chopped finely)
4.)cloves - 2
5.)cinnamon - 1/4 the inch
6.)MDH choley masala - 2 tsps
7.)amchur powder - 1 tsp
4.)green chillies - 4(silt vertically)
5.)coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
6.)lime juice - 2tbsps
7.)oil - 2 tbsps
8.)salt

Procedure:
Take oil in a pan, when it gets hot add cloves and cinnamon. When they start giving out the aroma, add onions and green chillies. Saute till the onions get translucent. Now add the tomatoes and fry for a couple of mins. Then add the MDH masala and salt and stir for a min. Then add the peas and water and cook till the peas are completely cooked (test to check if peas are cooked it, take a pea in ur hand and try to press it between ur fingers. If it gets mashed easily with not much effort, the peas are cooked.). At this point add the amchur powder and mix well and cook for about 2 mins. Then finally add lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves. Choley is ready to be served. This goes extremely well with bhatura, puri or roti.

Methi/fenugreek leaves roti/paratha

Roti is one dish which can be had everyday without getting bored,because of the many varieties that can be made with it.

Ingredients:

1.)Wheat flour - 3 cups

2.)methi/fenugreek leaves - 1 cup (I use everest kassori methi and soak it in hot water for some time before use.)

3.)Chili powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp

4.)Coriander powder - 1tsp

5.)Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

6.)onion - 1 medium

7.)oil - 1tbsp

8.)ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

9.)cumin seeds - 1tsp

10.)salt

11.)sugar - pinch

Procedure:

Take oil in a pan, when it is hot add cumin seeds. When they start spluttering add onions and saute till they get translucent. At this stage add chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala and saute for a few mins(make sure the masala's do not burn). Then add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw flavor leaves . Then add the methi leaves soaked in water, salt and sugar and mix well. Cook till methi is cooked well.Let is cool down.

Now mix dough and methi mixture into a soft dough. Now make into small balls and roll out into roti's with a rolling pin.Fry roti on tava/pan with with little oil/ghee .

This goes well with raitha, pickle, curd or curry.

Chilli paneer and mushroom curry

This is one my OWN recipes, experiment with whose end results i was pretty happy :)). It so happened that i had couple of ingredients in the refrigerator for quite some time and had to use it soon. So that's how i came up with this recipe.

Ingredients:

1.)Capsicum - 1(finely chopped)

2.)Paneer - 200gms(cut into 1/2 inch cubes,preferably fried)

3.)mushroom -100gms

4.)tomato - 2 small(finely chopped)

5.)cumin seeds - 1tsp

6.)onion - 1 small(finely chopped)

7.)ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

8.)garlic - 3 cloves(finely chopped)

9.)soya sauce - 1tbsp

10.)hot sauce - 1tsp

11.)tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp

12.)chili powder - 1tsp

13.)green chillies - 2(slit lengthwise)

14.)sugar - 1tsp

15.)turmeric - pinch

16.)salt

17.)oil - 2tbsp

18.) pepper - 1/2 tsp

19.)coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

20.)garamasla powder - 1 - 2 tsp

21.)coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

22.)Lime juice - 2tbsp

Procedure:

Take oil in a pan. When it is hot add cumin seeds, when they start spluttering add onions and green chillies and saute well. Then add turmeric powder, garam masala powder,chili powder and coriander powder. make sure that masala's do not burn. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw flavor is gone. Then add finely chopped garlic and saute for min. then add mushrooms,tomatoes and capsicum and fry well. Add soya sauce and salt, then close the lid of the pan and cook till capsicum is properly cooked.

Keep checking on the veggies while the lid is closed, because it might get burnt if not stirred occasionally. If it is too dry and tends to get burnt add water and cook. Once the capsicum is cooked add panner and stir it. Now add hot sauce and tomato ketchup and stir till the panner gets all the flavors.Finally add lime juice and garnish with coriander. This can be served with roti or pulav.

Note:

Do not add paneer way ahead of time. If cooked for long paneer tends to crumble down.Fried paneer is preferred because it prevents the panner from crumbling down.

first add the soya sauce and then add salt. Adding soya sauce give saltiness to the curry, so adjust the salt in the curry accordingly.

Mango papu/dal

Raw mango dal is one of the authentic andhra recipes. It tastes really good with white rice and mango pickle. today i will be sharing the quick and simple, yet with the very same taste of the authentic mango dal done in an elaborate way.

Ingredients:

1.)Raw mango - 1(cut into an inch pieces.Do not throw the seed, leave it with some pulp)

2.)onion - 1 small chopped(not very finely)

3.)toor dal - 1 and 1/2 cups

4.)green chillies - 5 to 6(depending on how sour the mango is)

5.)curry leave - 6-7

6.)mustard seeds - 2 tsps

7.)cumin seeds - 1 tsp

8.)astefodia - pinch

9.)sambar powder - 1 tsp

10.)turmeric - 1/2 tsp

11.)ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

12.)coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

13.)sugar-pinch

Procedure:

Wash the toor dal well and soak it in water for about 15 mins to half an hour.Take oil in a pressure cooker.When it is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds,when they start spluttering add onions curry leaves and green chillies. Saute till the onions get transparent. Add turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw flavor goes away. then add astefodia and stir for a min. Then add the mango pieces and saute for 2 to 3 mins. Now add the toor dal and stir for 2 to 3 mins and add approximately4 to 5 cups of water. Ans pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.

After4-5 whistles, turn off the stove and let it rest till the steam is completely gone. (Test for this is, try to lift the weight of the pressure cooker.If no steam comes out,or, u do not get a whoosh sound, the steam is gone.Otherwise let it stand for some more time.)

Once the steam is gone completely, open the lid and mash the dal into a semi-smooth paste.Add salt,sugar and sambar powder and stir well. If the dal is too thick(dal is generally thick so do not add too much of water), add a little water and let it boil for 15-20mins. Garnish with coriander leaves. This goes well with white rice, ghee and a side of mango pickle. uuummmmm.....yummyyyyyyyy..!!!!

Note:
Add water to toor dal in 1:2 proportion(for 1 cup toor dal, add 2 cups water). Here we add a little more, because of the mango that we added. The extra water is for the mango to cook. As a rule of thumb, add water until the ingredients and completely immersed. This rule works pretty well most of the time :).

Diwali decoration

This is my first 'Diwali' here. I was feeling very nostalgic about the diwali celebration that take place in India. Diwali is the most pompously celebrated festival all over India. The streets and skies are so beautifully lit up. People are so vibrantly dressed....and the awesome food. And i should mention about the pooja decorations at 'HOME'....and my grama's authentic diwali recipes....i miss them:(.
Diwali here was just another day of the 365 days. I had to attend my classes. Some students almost forgot it was 'DIWALI'(they realized it, because i wore a traditional Indian dress for the class...how sad is that..:(((.) The streets were dark(with minimal lighting), and it was freezing cold out. I could not help but compare all these to diwali celebrations back home(which made me even more home-sick). So thought of making up to it. And this is how I did for diwali at my place. :):). Though not comparable to the diwali celebrations that take place back home...it did help me get over my nostalgic feeling.I was overwhelmed with the decorations at home...i cud'nt help but admiring it. (ask my sis and mom, they will tell u how i kept troubling them for one week with my diwali decoration episode..heheh.)

Tomato Onion Chutney

This is one of the simplest yet very very delicious chutney's. This chutney happens to be one of the popular and favorite chutney with my friends and family. So today i will be sharing the recipe of it.

Ingredients:

1.) Tomato - 3 - 4 large

2.) onion - 1 large

3.) garlic cloves - 2 finely chopped

4.) chilli powder - 1- 1and 1/2 tsp

5.) salt - to taste

6.) oil - 2 tbspns

7.) sugar/jaggery - 1 tspn (optional)

Procedure:

Chop onion and tomato into large pieces. Take oil in a pan, when it is hot add the onions. saute till they get translucent. Then add the finely chopped garlic and saute for 2 - 3 mins. Next add the tomatoes and saute till the tomatoes get cooked. Finally add salt and chili powder and cook for a couple of more mins. Let the above mixture cool down, then blend it in a blender to a smooth paste. Depending on taste adjust the salt, chili and sugar.

This chutney goes extremely well with idli and dosa.

Vegetable pulav

This is a very simple recipe which comes to our rescue when we have absolutely no patience to spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen. This can be had by itself or with plain curd or raitha.

Ingredients:

1.) Basmati Rice - 2 cups

2.) cloves - 5

3.) cinnamon - 1/2 inch

4.) cardamon -2

5.) bay leaf - 2

6.) onion - 1 small (chopped vertically)

7.) biryani masala - 2 tspns

8.) green chillies - 4

9.) garam masala powder - 1 tspn

10.) salt to taste

11.) veggies - 1 and 1/2 cup

12.) ginger garlic paste 2 tspns

13.) cashew - 10

14.) oil - 2 tbspns

Procedure:

Take oil in a pan, when it is hot add the spices . Then add the onions and cashews and saute till golden brown. next add the ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw flavor is gone. Now add the green chillies and saute for 2- 3 mins. Then add the veggies and saute for 5 mins. Next add salt, biryani masala and garam masala. Saute till veggies are nicely coated with the masala.(take care that the masala's dun burn). Once the veggies are sauteed properly and thoroughly coated with the masala's , add the rice and toast it for 3 mins. Now remove from heat and transfer the content to a electric rice cooker. Add 2 and 1/2 cups of water and cook.

Prawn/Shrimp Curry

Shrimp is one of my favorite seafood. This is a recipe passed on from my granma. A very simple but very very delicious recipe.

Ingredients:
1.) Shrimp - 125-175(8 oz ) small shrimp
2.) onion - 1 large
3.) cloves - 3
4.) cinnamon - 1/4 inch
5.) gingergarlic paste - 1 and 1/2 tsp
6.) chili powder - 1 -2 tsp (depending on how spicy u want)
7.) Salt - to taste
8.) turmeric - 1/2 tsp
9.) Coconut Powder - 2 - 3 tbspns
10.) Coriander leaves - 3 sprigs
11.) oil - 2 tbspns

Procedure:
Finely chop the onion. Take oil in a pan, when it is hot add the spices. Then add the onions and saute till they become translucent. Now add the ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder and saute till the raw smell of the ginger garlic paste is gone. Then add the shrimp and fry them for 2 to 3 mins. Add a little water and cover the lid and cook till the shrimp is done. Add the coconut powder and let it cook for another 10 mins.Finally garnish with coriander leaves and serve. This goes well with rice or roti.

Vegetable Dum ka Biryani

The minute one thinks of hyderabadi cusine, "dum" ka biryani come instantaneously to ones mind. It is a very popular dish in hyderabad. There is no restaurant in hyderabad that doesn't have the dum ka biryani. So today I will be sharing the vegetarian version of dum ka biryani.



Ingredients:
1.) Basmati rice - 2 cups
2.) Cloves - 6
3.) Cinnamon - 1/2 inch
4.) cardamon - 2
6.) star - 1
7.) Bay leaves - 3
8.) Green chillies - 5
9.) nutrela soya chunks - 1/2 cup
10.) Biryani masala - 2 - 3 tspns
11.) garam masala powder - 1 tsp
12.) onion - 1 medium
14.) Curd - 1 cup
15.) milk- 1cup
16.) Edible color or kesar(saffron)
17.) veggies (carrot, peas, cauliflower)
18.) Ginger garlic paste - 1 and 1/2 tsps
19.) mint leaves - 1 /2 cup
20.) Turmeric - pinch
21.) chicken/mutton masala - 1-2 tsp(optional)
22.) Cashews - 10
23.) salt

Procedure:
Take one table spoon of oil in a pan add 2 cloves, 1/4 inch of cinnamon stick and one cardamon,
bay leaf, cashews and star. Once u start getting the aroma of the masala's and the cashew starts getting brown , add rice and mint leaves and toast it. Remove the rice from heat when it is slightly toasted. Cook the rice with 3 cups of water ( 1: 1and 1/2 measure of rice and water). When the rice is 80% done, remove from heat.

Take the soya chunks, add water to it and microwave it for about 2 mins. Once they are soft, run it through cold water and wash it thoroughly.Squeeze out the excess water from it.
Chop the onion vertically. Fry half of the vertically chopped onion till golden brown.

In a pan add 2 tbspns of oil. When the oil is hot add the rest of the spices(cloves, cinnamon, cardamon and bay leaves). Once they start giving out a nice aroma add rest of the vertically chopped onions and saute. to this add ginger garlic paste and vertically slit green chillies and saute well. Once the onions are golden brown and the raw flavor of ginger garlic paste is gone add the veggies along with the soya chunks. Stir for a minute and add biriyani masala, garam masala , chicken/mutton masala and salt. Cook till the veggies are 75% done. Now add curd to this and cook the veggies till 80% done (it would take just another couple of mins).

Take a wide pan and add a layer on the cooked veggies. Now add a layer of the 80% cooked rice. Top with fried onions. On top of this add another layer of veggies. Over the veggies add another layer of rice and top it fried onions. Finally dissolve kesar or edible color in milk and pour over the biryani. Close a lid on pan (tightly) and place it on low heat for about 10 mins, till all the flavors are steamed together (this is the meaning of DUM).
Sometimes the bottom may get burnt, to avoid this place this pan in another larger pan with water(double boiling).
Once the biryani is done mix well and serve with salan, bagara baingan , stuffed capsicum (http://arcotneha.blogspot.com/2009/01/stuffed-capsicum-curry.html) or raitha.
Generally the dessert that accompanies this rich entree is qubani ka meeta (http://arcotneha.blogspot.com/2009/01/qubanikhubani-ka-meeta.html), another famous dish from hyderabad.

Stuffed Capsicum Curry

Capsicum is one of my favorite veggie. It tastes just so delicious with any ingredients. The recipe I will be sharing is a real Delicious one.

Ingredients:

1.) Capsicums - 2

2.) Onion - 1 medium
3.) Tomato - 1 medium

4.) Potato - 1 large

5.) Paneer - 4 1/2 inch cube
6.) Peanuts - 1 tbspn

7.) Sesame seeds - 1 tsp

8.) Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

9.) Cumin - 1 tsp

10.) Green chillies - 2

11.) Coriander powder - 1 tsp

12.) Chili Powder - 1 tsp

13.) Amchur powder(dried mango powder) - 1 and 1/2 tsp

14.) Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

15.) Jaggery - 1/4 to 1/2 inch cube ( according to taste)

16.) Coriander - 2 sprigs

17.) Ginger Garlic paste - 1 ans 1/2 tsp

18.) Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

19.) Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece

20.) Cloves - 2

21.) Bay Leave - 1

22.) Salt - to taste

Procedure:
Cut the tops off. Remove the seeds and membranes inside and make a hollow. From the tops chop the the capsicum into fine pieces.

Stuffing:

Boil and peel the potato. Once it is cool mash it. To it add crumbled panner, one finely chopped green chili, 1/2 teaspoon amchur powder, salt, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, pinch of garam masala, pinch of coriander powder and few leaves or fresh coriander and mix well.

In a pan take about 1 tbsp of oil. When it is hot add mustard seed and cumin seeds. When they splutter add 1/4 of finely chopped onion, turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste. Cook till the raw flavor of ginger garlic is gone. To this add the above prepared mixture and cook till the raw flavor of ingredients is gone. Once the mixture is cooked let it cool down and fill the stuffing in the capsicums. If u have some extra stuffing use it in the gravy.

Once the capsicum are stuffed, in a skillet heat about 1 tablespoon of oil. Place the stuffed bell peppers and cook them covered on medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn them to sides in-between so that they get cooked evenly on all sides.

Gravy :

Dry roast the peanut and sesame seeds and grind them to a coarse texture. Take about 2 tbspns of oil. Add cloves , cinnamon and bay leave. When they start giving a good aroma add rest of the
onions. When it is slightly brown add turmeric, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw flavor is gone. To this add green chillies and saute. Next finely chopped capsicum(pieces that we chopped from the tops of the peppers ) and tomato. Fry for about 3 minutes and add the roasted peanut and sesame powder. Mix well. To this add chili powder, amchur powder, salt ,coriander powder and garam masala powder and mix well. Add a little water to make the gravy thin. Let the gravy simmer for a couple of minutes.

When it is almost done Add the stuffed capsicum to the gravy. Cook the capsicum and gravy with closed lid for about 10 minutes an medium flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. This goes well with rice, roti or biryani (http://arcotneha.blogspot.com/2009/01/vegetable-dum-ka-biryani.html).

Qubani/Khubani ka meeta

Qubani ka meeta is one of "THE" famous desserts of Hyderabad. Qubani is nothing but the apricots.It is such an easy yet intricate dish, intricate with the taste buds. Today I will be sharing the recipe for this famous dessert of hyderabad.The apricots that I use for the dish are the great lake apricots(de-seeded), this is because of their easy availability in US. Traditionally it would require the Asian apricots. But by using these great lake apricots also the taste is comparable.

Ingredients:
1.)Qubani(apricots)-1/2 pound
2.)Sugar-1 cup(can be adjusted according to taste)
3.)Almonds-6(soaked in water)

Procedure:
Soak the apricots for about 2 to 3 hours. Soak the almonds for 1 hour. Remove the skin and chop them coarsely.Then pressure cook the apricots for about 3- 4 whistles. Seperate fruit and water carefully. Transfer the apricots into another container and try to crush it thoroughly(Do not use a blender to crush).

Now place the mashed fruit on the stove and keep stirring frequently to avoid burning of the fruit or sticking to the pan. Add coarsely chopped almonds. While stirring, try to crush till the fruit has no chunks. Do this till the fruit is cooked. It would take 20 minutes roughly.( this is not the exact time it would take. It may vary, so go by ur taste buds :). When the apricots are cooked ,generally it gives a little sour taste and has a strong apricot flavour with very little or no water content.)
Now add sugar to this mashed pulp. and keep stirring. If it gets too thick add a little water (water that we got after pressure cooking preferably). Cook till the sugar evenly dissolves into the apricots mixture.

The Qubani ka meeta is ready to be served. This goes best with cool whip or vanilla ice-cream.

Note:
Qubani ka meeta is always served hot. While cooking the apricots the most important thing is to make sure that the fruits doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan or burn, so keep stirring frequently.

Ganpathi

My gift to my father-in-law on his bday :).

This being the 60th bday of my FIL, i wanted to gift him something really really special. I thought of going shopping looking for a really nice gift, but was left with no time because of my hectic course wrk. And more over i had to leave to India the very next day of my course wrk's last day. This also being the first bday of my FIL since our wedding, it was very special to me.

After a long time of thinking of an 'IDEAL' gift, here it is.

Im not really a 'drawing and painting ' person(Used to do a lot when i was a kid,but now manage to make some decent recognisable stuff...hehe). But i should say my sisy's drawings inspired me a lot. Her artistic skills are amazing.(though i keep pulling her leg all the time :), you might want have a quick snapshot of her art http://navyapondicherry.blogspot.com/)

Welcome

Hi all, Welcome to My Niche. Just as to give a headsup as to what you can expect from this blog spot, this will be a mishmash of all the things I do in my free time. That would include a few recipies, some tips, some music and so on.