main apne andheron me, kis tarah tumhe bhi pukaar loon??

this was in response to that hemant kumar song - tum pukar lo, tumhara.... intezar hai. this is an argument against any such pukar... :)

मैं अब वक़्त के काटने के कारोबार में हूँ
मैं दिन को शाम शाम से रात
और रात भर किसी सुबह कि फ़िराक़ में हूँ
मैं ये जो पल पल बस जज़ा की इंतज़ार में हूँ
मैं इन अंधेरों में किस तरह तुम्हे भी पुकार लूँ?

मैं पाप और पुण्य के फर्क से होशियार तो हूँ
पर मैं सब की खुशी घर की शान्ति के लिए
सही को ग़लत ग़लत को सही झूठ को सच कहने को तैयार भी हूँ
मैं ये जो फिर एक नए पतन की कगार पर हूँ
मैं इन अंधेरों में किस तरह तुम्हे भी पुकार लूँ?

मैं इस हाल पर कुछ सोगवार तो हूँ
पर मैं सपनो के छल में, जज़्बों के तर्क में
एक भयानक आने वाले कल के डर में गिरिफ्तार भी हूँ
मैं ये जो शामिल तिल तिल कर ख़ुद अपनी हार में हूँ
मैं इन अंधेरों में किस तरह तुम्हे भी पुकार लूँ?

मैं चाह कर भी
अपने अंधेरों में
क्या सोच कर
तुम्हे भी पुकार लूँ?

dard

रात ढले जब दर्द चले
रगों में बहता खून जले
सर्द बर्फीली उँगलियों से
बाहों में कोई ज़हर भरे
खींच के एक ही झटके में
वो भीतर का सब बाह्रर करे
नब्ज़ थमे और साँस डरे
जब खिड़की पर कुछ आन रुके
रात ढले जब दर्द चले
रगों में बहता खून जले ...

Bruschetta toast

I love these healthy, filling, breakfast toasts, my version of the Bruschettas.

Ingredients:

2 Slices of Bread
1 Tomato
1 Small Red Onion
1 - 2 Green Chillies
1/2 Cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese
3 Tablespoons Coriander leaves
A few fresh Mint and Basil leaves

Salt, Black pepper, and fresh bhuna zeera powder as per your own taste.

Method:

1. Finely chop the tomato, onion, green chillies, coriander, mint and basil leaves.
2. Mix in a bowl and add salt, pepper and bhuna zeera powder as per your taste
3. Spread a generous heap of the mixture on the bread pieces, and cover with a thick layer of the grated cheese.
4. Bake at 400 degrees C till the cheese melts and the bread toasts from the bottom.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with orange juice.
   

Picture pending :)

Boncconcini Salad

I have to make all salads spicy and indianized so to speak, or else they will go uneaten. Here is a salad that can very well serve as a complete meal, at least for lunch.

Ingredients:

* Mixed Salad Greens - 1 box 150 gms
* bocconcini cheese - 1 box ( I get the pearls, but any kind should do)
* Tomatoes - 2 cut in large slices.
* orange juice - 10 mL
* Hari Mirchi - 2
* Adrak - 1 " peice grated
* Olive oil - 2 tsp
* the following things add as per your taste:
*Caesar dressing - (any other kind should do well too)
* Salt pepper
* Lal Mirchi
* hing
* zeera
* kadi patta
* rai
* Croutons
* Fried cashews
*Hara dhaniya




Method:

You will need two different bowls to prep the salad. It is best served in individual plates or large bowls, so keep those ready too.

Bowl 1:

* to the salad greens add salt, pepper, orange juice, and dressing.
* Keep aside till plating.

You might want to buy pre-washed greens, or wash and dry yours completely before hand, as the dressing does not evenly coat wet leaves.

Bowl 2:

* Drain the bocconcini pearls and put in a metal or glass bowl
* In a small pan ( i use those small handle wali karahis for tadka) heat some olive oil
* Add jeera, rai, karhi patta, hing, hari mirchi and cook for a minute
* Add grated adrak and cook again
* Add Deghi mirch and pour on top of the bocconcini pearls.
* Mix well and keep aside.

You are now ready to plate the salad. I usually divide each component into equal parts with imaginary lines in my head based on the no of servings I am making, just to ensure that each serving has relatively the same concentration of each ingredient. I don't know why but for some reason it is important to me that all plates are relatively similar heterogeneous mixtures. ahhhh... If that is not a priority you can just keep adding stuff in the same bowl to begin with and serve it as it is.

here is my method, to each plate:

* Add one portion of the greens
* Add half the spiced cheese
* toss half the diced tomatoes
* Garnish with croutons, fried cashews and dhania.
* Voila!! you are done, dig in !

Butternut Squash Soup

Here's my version of the Butternut Squash Soup, and no, I am not going to bother to list the ingredients first that is way too much work for me, I am going to just write it out, and if you have been cooking for a while you know that that is how we cook as we go along we no longer line up everything before we start, those days are long gone :)

1. Cut the squash lengthwise, remove the seeds, place in a 425 C oven till its tender.

2. Scoop the flesh out and place one half in a zip lock freezer bag to use later, the other half to make the soup. (Personally I do my baking on one day and the other cooking on another so I would freeze both halves but, you get the idea.)

3. Heat 1tbs of extra vigin olive oil in a pressure cooker, add 1 small onion coarsely cut --> heat add 1 tsp zeera, 1 stick of cinnamon,5-6 whole black peppercorns, grated ginger per taste --> Heat --> 1 tsp dhaniya pwd, 1/4 tsp garam masala pwd, salt to taste, -->heat -->+ 1 apple peeled and diced, and some fresh green dhaniya leaves -->heat --> + 1 tomato -->heat --> 1/2 or 1/4 cup cashews --> heat --> the butternut squash and some water. Cook till one whistle.

4. When cool enough, use a hand blender to puree the soup in the cooker itself. Thin to desired consistency with milk or water per your taste.

5. Enjoy with fresh baked croissants.

taaron ki zuban par hai mohabbat ki kahani

I love this song, well that is sounding redundant now. after all why would i bother to put it on my blog if I did not like it. right!

anyways

तारों कि ज़बान पर है मोहब्बत कि कहानी
ऐ चाँद मुबारक हो तुझे रात सुहानी

कहते हैं जिसे चांदनी है नूर-ऐ-मोहब्बत
तारों से सुनहरी है हमेशा तेरी किस्मत
जा जा के पलट आती है फिर तेरी जवानी --> This here is my favourite line,because it is a beautiful idea, this concept of your youth coming back to you. Besides, इस बरस मुझ पर भी पलट कर आई है - जवानी. Yes, you are right, this just might be the euphoria that precedes a terrible mid life crisis, but if it is okay with you I would like to go ahead and enjoy it while it lasts. तो फिर मेरी तरफ़ से भी ऐ चाँद मुबारक हो तुझे रात सुहानी

I wrote this post a month back and here is the trouble, already ja chuki hai, I feel old again, must have been some euphoria when I wrote that part up there, it lasted a while too, for the past sometime i have been very happy and hopeful. Right now, not so much. नही नही ठीक है ठीक है, मुझे positive thinking वाला ज्ञान मत दो अभी, मुझे उसका इल्म है, पर, hard to think positive when you are churning your guts out all the time, and no, I am not complaining stating a fact here is all.



Movie: Nausherwan-E-Adil (1957)
Singers: Lata mangeshkar ,Mohammad Rafi
Music: C. Ramchandra
Lyrics:Parvez shamsi