Reenu Mathew's Blog: Reenued, page 4

What a condiment for my sea-food guests!

Wednesday is set aside for marketing by me and my neighbours. That day, we go to the local markets where people throng to sell their wares from mobile phones to fresh food including fresh vegetables, fruits even poultry, meat and fish. It is so crowded that people push you ahead if you stand in one place too long.My neighbours love fish and even though I am vegetarian, I don’t mind to accompanying them to the fish stalls simply because I love the looks on their faces as they sample all the different varieties of fish till they finalise their buys.And in that, I finally realised that I was the ‘reluctant’ owner of prawns… the best ones I was told; all part of some deal between my neighbours and the fisher folk. So, after I got it home, I wondered what to do of it till I remembered my own post of pickling and brining here on my blog. I set to work.
Prawns pickle Ingredients: 250 gms prawns cleaned2 tbsp of Kashmiri Chilli powder 2 tbsp of garam masala (if it is homemade then the taste is accentuated)2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste1 tsp of turmeric powder1 tsp of crushed pepper1 tsp of tamarind paste (I use the fresh tamarind grown in my home garden in Kerala see in picture)Pinch of nutmeg powderSalt to taste (rock salt is the best)6 cloves of chopped (into 3 round pieces) garlic Sprig of curry leaves 1 tbsp of Nigella seeds (also called kalonji seeds)2 tbsp vinegar2 tbsp of mustard oil
Method: For best taste use an earthenware pot. The older the earthenware pot, the better the taste... so don't be put off by the color in the picture. Mix the prawns, chilli powder, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, pepper, tamarind and salt and about 1 tbsp of vinegar and leave to marinate for about an hour.Put the marinate mix into the earthenware pot, add the chopped garlic and cook on low flame for about 5-7 minutes. You will see water oozing and the prawns will cook. Once you feel that the prawns have semi-cooked (it should be around 5-7 minutes after you started cooking), turn the flame on high so that the rest of the water evaporates and the masala is all around the prawns.Take a frying pan and pour the 1 tbsp mustard oil into it. Add the curry leaves and Nigella seeds and then shallow fry the prawns till all the water is gone.Allow to cool and pour it into a glass container greased with mustard oil. Add the remaining vinegar and 1 tbsp of mustard oil on top.Take it out every day for the next 5 days and check for any water formation. If so, shallow fry in high flame in mustard oil. Else you can just put in a dash of mustard oil if your pickle appears dry.After 5 days, your pickle is ready to serve. Always store in lower part of fridge.

Serve with parathas or rotis or plain chapattis or even with simple rice. If your family and many of your friends are sea-food lovers as mine definitely are, then this is going to be a super-hit during meals.

If your guests are apprehensive of ‘hot’ chillies as most of my young guests are, while marinating, add about a tbsp of jaggery. 

Chocolate mini cupcakes for a fond farewell!

There is a tradition in India that when you are going out to do something, an auspicious beginning should be with something sweet mostly yogurt and sugar.
My friend was leaving for Bangalore for advancement in his career. His wife is one of my best friends and the whole family was so sad at this move that I wanted to do something different - something that would be adhering to tradition but would cheer them up albeit for a while.
Chocolate and cake are soothing balms to many a sad heart. Hence the idea of chocolate mini cupcakes. Very simple to make and bake.

Ingredients:
1 cup (5 tbsp) self-raising flour or maida
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp drinking chocolate
1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
a pinch of nutmeg powder

Method:

Sieve the following - self-raising flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and drinking chocolate and set asidePowder the sugar along with cardamom and nutmeg powder till it is fine. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately and set asideNow take 1 tsp of sugar and melt in in a pan set on a gas with low flame. As soon as it melts and before it becomes a gooey mess, pour 1 tbsp of water slowly. Take a bowl and put the caramelized sugar into it, then put in the powdered sugar along with the cardamom and nutmeg and the unsalted butter. Then goes the whites and once blended, in goes the yolks and finally the vanilla essence. Blend smoothlyNext, pour the mixture of self-raising flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and drinking chocolate into this bowl slowly and mix well. Pour into a greased mini-muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes at 150 deg.The result I got was so satisfying for my soul - the kids were eating the cakes like toffees and I got repeat requests for them. My friends were distracted for a while at least... seeing the children happy. Well, that was my intention anyway.

I wished and always wish him every success. God Bless!

Paris, our prayers are with you!

I woke up this morning to the see the great tragedy in Paris splashed all over the news, social media and the telly. This unprovoked killing of unsuspecting, innocent people who were enjoying the start of the weekend with their families reminded me of Mumbai in this same month in 2008.
I remember walking carefree through these beautiful boulevards and clicking pictures galore while touring Paris in 2013; just like those unsuspecting people who now lay dead or injured or scared as hell. The image I have in my mind and on file is completely different from the image that I see now everywhere. That is just so sad!
The mindless killing baffles me. I would like to think that common people all over the world are not so intolerant and unwilling to listen to reason. At the very least, these innocents deserve a chance to hear your cause before you pull those triggers and pins. And they are not the ultimate decision makers; they are people with families, friends, values and beliefs just like you  enjoying the life that they have been given by their Maker before you so cruelly snatched it away.

I pray that God in whatever form or name you worship opens your eyes to see the injustice that you are doing and your ears to hear those grieving cries pleading you to stop and your mind to think of 100 different ways to make your cause non-violent and your heart to believe that no good ultimately came out of violence. 

Personalizing your little girls' clothes....

Imagine your little girls wearing their very own brand of clothes!
What is required for this? Simply your time and patience.... 
And the rest follows below -First, you choose the fabric and the color that your little ones like.Then either you design some simple or fancy or get ‘inspired’ from all the designs floating all over the internet.Embellish or enhance the look of the dress with motifs or bows or ruffles or whatever you or your girls fancy.The last thing is to  personalize  it to make it their very own brand.


Just like I did for my little nieces….
Designing, sewing, painting, embroidering… I did it all. The result and the reward is well-worth the effort.
Try it... you won't be disappointed.

Giving away my book "Where is my Kaddu" for free this Diwali!

Giving is such a beautiful thing; it was the theme of the homily this Sunday at church. And this is the week of Diwali and I am modifying and combining some of the TV ads that have stuck in my mind -"Yeh Diwali, dil ke kareeb wali and jo bhi karo prem se karo" loosely translated in English means - "This Diwali is a symbol of things close to your heart and do whatever you want with love". 
My books are one of the things that are very close to my heart and this Diwali (i.e. today 10-Nov-15 to tomorrow 11-Nov-15), I offer them free to all of you to download on Amazon Kindle. Here are the links for India, US and UK so that you get a hang of it; it is available worldwide on the Amazon Kindle –India:http://www.amazon.in/Where-my-Kaddu-Reenu-Mathew-ebook/dp/B016ZVJRDS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445527757&sr=1-1&keywords=where+is+my+kaddu%3FUS:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016ZVJRDSUK:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-my-Kaddu-Reenu-Mathew-ebook/dp/B016ZVJRDS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445526876&sr=1-1&keywords=where+is+my+kaddu%3F


Wish all of you a very happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year!

Brining and Pickling

It is that time of the year again! When friends from all parts of the globe are in town for the holiday season. I so love it.
I have learnt from experience is that friends can drop in at this time at a moment’ notice.And I understand! They have family and other friends besides me and just about 15-20 days of vacation... so many people to meet and so little time.
I should be prepared for such impromptu surprise visits now. How can I whip up something for my friends in under 15 minutes without a sweat that they will remember me by till the next time we can meet?  Hmmmm!
Almost all of my friends are non-vegetarian. While my vegetarian dishes elicit a wow from almost everyone, my non-vegetarian dishes have people overwhelming me with praise.No, no, not just for the taste but more for the effort I put in to make the dish especially for them considering I am vegetarian by choice.The children are the tough ones to please really… for me at least. They either like it or they are most emphatic in saying that they don’t. Effort does not count for them; they need it to be appealing to their palate.
I have bought fresh chicken, fish and some meat too and ‘pickled’ them i.e. treat them to my own solution of spices, in rock salt and vinegar and mustard oil. I stored it in my fridge and will use it for preparing a variety of stuff including salads, sandwiches, pasta… well, almost anything that takes the fancy of my guests. For the benefit of my little-yet-tough-to-please guests, I have gone very easy on the chilli powder and also put in that dash of nutmeg to soothe their tender stomachs.

Strain and stress of what to prepare / give to my guests at a moment’ notice, that is history now. I am all set to welcome all of my friends with a smile on my face because I know I can dish up something appealing in just few minutes. You can be set too……

FREE today on Amazon Kindle: Those 16-30 Years of Undiluted Melodrama

I am a compulsive shopper. The words ‘% discount’ and especially ‘FREE’ are like music to my ears and an awesome sight to behold. I have self-published two of my novels under Amazon’ KDP Selectprogram and they offered me a free promotion deal. I chose today to promote my first book ‘Those 16-30 Years of Undiluted Melodrama’ because of the characters in this book. My protagonist Jennu mentions her best friend Simmu’love for ‘Halloweenish’ themes several times and she would also like to pay a tribute to her friend Gayu. Download my book for FREE today (exclusively on Amazon Kindle) to get an insight into the 16-30 years of undiluted melodrama in Jennu’ life.  
US:  Amazon.comIndia: Amazon.inUK:Amazon.co.ukYou get the drift of the links, right?
I would love to hear your thoughts on my book in the form of reviews on Amazon or Goodreads.
Happy Reading!

Happy Halloween!

It was the first time I was celebrating Halloween. Curious about the history of Halloween, I did some research on the significance. I read about the Christian influence first - Halloween is actually ‘Hallow’ Eve’ where you remember the dead specifically the saints on All Saints’ Day (Nov 1st) and all the departed souls on All Souls’ Day(Nov 2nd). In pre-Christian era, this was celebrated as the end of summer. Now, while I was in India, October being the month of the Holy Rosary, on the last day we would have the Rosary being recited throughout the day with a group of people heading each half-hour. Then came the 2 days of remembrance of the departed souls – All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
In those days, I was under the influence of cable television and American movies where Halloween was a day where you dressed up as some scary person, heard spooky stories and ate and drank weird colored stuff. So, now that I was finally in the US, I was excited to get into the spirit of Halloween. True to my influence, I wanted to be a witch. I got all the accessories – the cape, the hair and the hat, the blood-red nails and even my very own spider. My dress had those witches herbs and I covered my neck with a red scarf too. Check me out!

Unfortunately, I am lacking the evil visage and coupled with my smile (which I almost always involuntarily do when I am posing for a photo), I don’t look in the least bit spooky or scary which was the intent. Maybe I can be the good witch, eh?
Note to self: It is not only important to have all the accessories but also the act to look your part.

Happy Halloween!!!

Surprise! Your preconceived notions are being disproved....

I have preconceived notions about most things. These are not only from personal experiences but also from hearsay.
My notions about crowded buses at least some specific ones and crowded men' compartment in the Mumbai local train were conditioned on pure hearsay; still I thought they were best to be avoided altogether.

I have said earlier in my blog that I love surprises.... seemed to be the theme of that day. I was travelling with one of my many nephews by train. It was his first trip by Mumbai local train and he was quite excited about it. In Mumbai, most of us time our trip to the minute as per the train schedule. And we needed to get to Nerul station so there were two changeovers and hence not a minute here and there.
I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but with me, if I have such a hectic schedule then chances are quite high that something totally unplanned happens which almost kills my schedule. 
That fateful day, it was heavy downpour and lack of rickshaws. To meet the planned schedule, we got into a crowded bus... unfortunately one of those specific ones which was on my 'to-be-avoided' list. So, there I was with a very defensive posture ready to kick and snarl at any guy who threatened to be a pest. What happened next was a complete contrast to my stance. 
The guys tried to make place in that overcrowded bus to allow me to reach the seats in front which are reserved for ladies. My nephew trailed behind. Now, in one of the seats reserved for ladies was a couple... I presume this of course from the fact that the lady was fussing over this man who had a bandaged knee and ankle. Surprisingly, he got up from his seat as soon as he saw me to allow me to sit. Ya, I am in my defensive stance but making that obviously ill man stand would be offensive on my part. So, I told him to stay put and was rewarded with a weak smile.
At the station, I am appalled to see the huge queues and curse my luck, that I had forgotten to put my ATVM Rail Card in my purse. I am mentally rescheduling my trip all the while being angry at myself.... so I could not have been a pretty sight. The guy in front of me turns around and says "Madam, why don't you go over to the ticket window specifically reserved for Ladies. The queues are much shorter there". I was kind of in a bind wondering whether all those angry thoughts had not been in my inner voice as I had presumed. Still I thanked him and went over to the said window and got our tickets in under 5 minutes. The best part was that we could manage to get the train that was part of my originally planned schedule. 
My nephew was adamant on not travelling in Ladies compartment and I did not press him. But that meant, I had to travel with him in the crowded Men' compartment. Oh dear!!
My personal experience that day was far better than I had experienced in the Ladies compartment. I got to sit in the train (first two legs of our journey) and there was no pushing and screaming. I listened to the men discussing the latest news from finance to entertainment; why I even saw some guys playing some card game using one of their briefcases as the table. The rest were on their smart phones utilizing the 2G/3G networks to the hilt. 
By the time, we reached the last leg of the journey from Thane to Nerul, I was sure that I was going to have to remove my rose-tinted glasses from my pleasant experience till that time. 
We entered the compartment which was literally packed to capacity. I decided that the smart thing to do would be to stand in the aisles away from the door so that the chances of being pushed were lower. The train was just leaving Thane station when two men got up and were looking at us intently. I am filled with dread, my hands are clammy and a thousand thoughts on how to fight and what to do crosses my mind... but I am still indecisive on my next step. The guys urged us to sit down in their seats comfortably and that they would let us know when our station was due to arrive. Huh!!! My brain seemed a little befuddled. I wondered whether it was a trap. My nephew did not seem to think so and he sat down in one of the vacated seats. He seemed surprised at my reluctance. The men were still smiling and urging me to sit down in the remaining seat… I mean even a nanosecond of hesitation could cost you the seat in a Mumbai local but none of the other men rushed or pushed past me to sit there. I sat down and through that 40 minute train ride, I found those men to be extremely civil... protective even.
Though I never let my guard down even once during any point of that day, I could not help but wonder whether I should not have any preconceived notions on hearsay.
And last, I wish I had taken photos of all these men who had been so kind and thank them on Facebook as people generally do. Unfortunately, I was so busy being surprised that frankly it did not occur to me at all. I hope I thanked them personally at least.... I think I did.

Have you surprised anyone lately?

I have always loved surprises... the good kinds that is.
Surprise gifts on birthdays, festivals or any normal day, your family, friends and neighbors getting you something... no matter how little that they made... it just brightens me up. I feel good that an effort was made to just brighten my day .

Surprise visits can go both ways, I am sure.
The negative aspects could include your already well-laid plans being completely spoiled or having to be readjusted or the quiet moment that you planned becoming anything but... to name a few. I am sure all of us may have experienced it during some part of our lives.
However, imagine this scenario - you know your friend is alone, kind of sad, moody and irritated because of some personal issues and maybe even wallowing in sadness and despair.
What if, you make a surprise visit, hold their hand, talk about the issue (if your friend is amenable) or talk about general stuff, reminisce about the good old childhood days (that never fails to perk people up) or just whip up their favorite dish.
It takes a lot of effort from your side, because you may have 'n' things lined up to do, the travel may take you about 2+ hours each way, you may have to deal with some complications during your travel.... well, you get the drift.
But, when reach your friend' place and see that look of surprise or that whoop of pure joy.... you know it is worth it. You did your bit to cheer your friend after which you heard the words - 'Thank God, you came. I was so lost and moody. But that talk of good old days of school and college; it just brightened up my day'. I tell you honestly, nothing I did that day compared to the elation & happiness I felt on hearing those words.

After 2 hours of travel back in a crowded local train (euphoria about my surprise visit being such a success made that 2 hours seem like hardly anything), I was walking on the railway platform and I chanced to look at the indicator for the next train on the platform. It was the same train that another friend took every day. I could wait and surprise her or hurry home to relieve my bladder. After a moment of deliberation, I decided that I would wait. If I did not laugh or cough or do any abrupt moments, my bladder should hold it...
The train pulled in to the platform. Everyone seemed to be in a tearing hurry to get home and so, I was afraid that I would be 'surprised' and miss her. And I was, because she was not on that train. Yup, these are the complications that happen... so I call her and she is on another train but 15 minutes away. All I am going to get to do is say 'Hi' and then both of us have to rush home. My bladder makes impatient noises but I still shush it and stay. The train was 10 minutes late. And even though I managed to see her for all of 3 minutes and say a few words, I felt good for making that effort. Best of all, my bladder still held up.

Have you surprised your friends or neighbors lately? Try it, it may very well just brighten up your day!