Drumstick Curry

Pitla (Drumstick Curry) Recipe

Ingredients

• Onions - 2 (Med)
• Tomato - 1 (Med)
• Mustard seeds - 1.5 Tsp
• Curry Leaves - 6-7
• Green Chillies - 2 Nos.
• Drum  Sticks - 10-12 Pcs (Boiled)
• Oil - 1.5 Tbsp
• Coriander Leaves - for garnish
• Salt - to taste
• Chilly Powder - 1 Tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Besan - 1 Tbsp (Paste)

Method

1. Half boil the drumsticks in a pan with little salt & keep aside
2. Take a Kadai with little oil & add mustard seeds, when it starts to flutter, add the curry leaves and saute.
3. Add chopped onions , tomato and green chillies and saute till onions turn light pink. Once the onions turn pink, add the chilli and turmeric powder (haldi) and mix well.



4. Sim the gas and leave it for 1-2 min.
5. Add around 1.5 cups of water to the onion tomato mixture and stir well.
6. Bring to a boil on high flame.
7. Later, add the boiled drumsticks and stir on medium flame.
8. Make a thick paste of Besan and water and add it to the curry. This besan paste thickens the curry.
9. Add more water to curry if required and keep stirring on medium flame.
10. Bring to boil.
11. Garnish with Coriander leaves.and serve.

Paying your Utility bills

Its a busy life - we all have our share of daily problems to deal with. Paying of utility bills is one such redundant task, it happens month on month. The last thing you want is to miss on the due date and end up paying the late payment charges
Each of us have at least 4-5 utility payments every month - Electricity, Telephone, Broadband, DTH, Gas bills and so on.
The times are over when you needed to stand in lengthy queues outside government offices to make your payments. I am listing below a few smart ways by which you can eliminate/reduce some of your monthly worries.

1. Most banks now offer a facility to place stand-in instructions for paying your monthly bills. You need to register for their service by logging into your online bank account (or some banks even accept over phone banking). Once you provide the details of your electricity/telephone or other bill details (Account No, Telephone No etc), the bank then verifies the detail with your service provider.The registration becomes active usually from the following month. Once active, you should receive an email/sms from your bank every month when the utility bill is generated. Usually you continue to get your physical/soft copy of your bills as before. Most banks offer the service as free and some also offer some cashback for  the first three/six months period
2. If you own a Visa Debit or Credit Card, you can opt for auto or manual payment of your bills through Visa Bill Pay. The service is free and you also receive reminders/confirmations on your bill status
3. Through sites such as Paytm, Freecharge, Mobikwik etc. These sites also offer you certain cashback for making your payments.
4. For consumers specifically from Karnataka, the government has come with an initiative - a single website where you can pay all your utlity bills - Karnataka Mobile One
5.  You can pay the bills online by logging into the sites of the individual providers. I have listed here some of the sites, specific to Karnataka 
BSNL Landline
BESCOM
BWSSB
6. You can also pay all your bills through  BangaloreOne  - either online through their portal - Bangalore One  or at any of their centers.

If there are other simpler ways or if you have any queries on the above points, please feel free to post your comments

Spicy Prawn Curry

Spicy Prawn Curry (Achari Prawns) Recipe

As I said, I am a bit of a creative person, and I sometimes carry this creativity into the Kitchen, Today I tried a new recipe with Prawns which I would like to name 'Achari Prawns'
It turned out very well and I would like to share it with you.

Ingredients

• About 1Kg Medium Prawns 
• Lemon Juice - 1Tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Kashmiri Chilly Powder - 2 Tbsp
• Grated Coconut - 4 Tbsp
• Sliced Onions - 3 Nos. (medium)
• Tomato - 1 (Medium chopped finely)
• Mustard Seeds - 1 Tsp
• Fennel Seeds - 1/2 Tsp
• Methi Seeds - Pinch
• Whole Coriander Seeds - 1 Tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1 Tsp
• Dry Red Chilly - 5-6 Nos.(soaked)
• Garam Masala - 1 Tsp
• Achari Masala - 1.5 Tsp (Any masala used for making pickles)
• Tamarind paste -1/2 Tsp
• Oil as required
• Salt (as per Taste)
• Coriander leaves and grated coconut for garnish

Method

1. Marinate the prawns (Lemon Juice, Turmeric Powder, Kashmiri Chilly powder) and keep aside for about 20-25 minutes
2. Take a non stickpan and add around 1 Tbsp oil
3. Add Cumin seeds , Methi seeds, Grated Coconut, Mustard seeds, soaked Red Chilly(dry) and mix well.
4. Once it turns slightly brown, allow it to cool and then grind it to a fine paste and keep aside.
5. Take any pan/kadai , put two Tbsp of oil and saute the sliced onions till they turn slightly brown.
6. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and mix well on low flame till oil separates.
7. Transfer the grinded paste (from step 4) to the onion-tomato mixture and keep stirring on a low flame.
8. Add garam masala, achari masala, salt and tamarind paste.
9. Transfer the marinated prawns and boil on low flame
10. Once ready, garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves
11. Serve Hot with Roti or Rice.