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Saturday, April 29, 2017

Recipe: Chilli potato Chinese Style  

    Recently I made Chilli Potato chinese style this was a quick evening snack that the family enjoyed, given some interest on the recipe after S posted the same on her social network, I got down to writing the recipe.


    This dish can be made in a few minutes < 10 minute, the key  is the amount of time to boil potatoes
    What I am about to describe is a class of dishes that can be made based on the base vegetable, and the side  add-ons …

    Ingredients :

    Ensure you have the following handy [ quantity I leave it to the reader based on number of servings and taste preferences

    1. Base Veg: Potatoes // can be replaced with baby corn or mushroom
    2. Support Veggies: Onions, bell Peppers, Cabbage [ add-on ] , Spring Onions
    3. Spices : Chilli, Garli, Ginger, and  Red peppper Dry
    4. Sauces:
      1. Gobi Manchurian Masala from the super market [ this is the quickest = else one will have to make that oneself  ] some other chinese dry soup powders can also be tried out
      2. Soya Sauce
      3. Tomato Sauce
    5. Foundation: Corn Flour
    6. Oil for saute and Frying  [ any oil I use ground nut, gingely, Coconut , typically a mix of all of them ]
    7. Flavoring:
      1. Lemon Grass powder, Ginger Powder,
      2. Vinegar
      3. Sugar / Jaggery
      4. Pepper
      5. Salt
    8. Utensils: Wok, ladles, boiling vessel

    Recipe


    1. Start with Dicing potatoes and boiling them with salt, based on your preference you can peel or leave the skin either ways it can be eaten, both  are healthy, I prefer skin, less wastage and as I say the antidotes to the fruit / vegetable is in the skin,, surely some good bio-chemicals in the skin . This Takes ~10 Minutes and in parallel other things can be done
    2. Chop the Chilli, Ginger [ long shreds ] , Red Pepper [ 1 mm slices ] , Garlic and place then nicely on a plate
    3. Finely Chop Onion , Bell pepper, cabbage and Spring onions, [ this is add-on ] finely and place them on a plate
    4. Drop the veggies and Chilli Garlic and Ginger in a Wok and saute until gold brown onion
    5. In Parallel Add the Masala and Corn Flour and Make a nice loose paste mix with water
    6. Add the Paste once the saute is done and ensure enough oil not to allow the frying pan to get sticky
    7. As the water is lost and the mix become dry-oily, add Vinegar, Sugar Pepper, Salt and Soya Sauce along with Tomato sauce if needed based on preference
    8. By Now the potatos must be done
    9. Strain the potatoes and add them, the stock can be used as a health drink with pepper and other spices on the side esp for the cook
    10. Mix and let the ingredients meld into a nice chill potato

    This item is a quick 15 min snack for the evening, my approach is to go with what ingredients are available as long as the main categories { base, support, flavoring,, oil, spice } are available

    Hope you enjoyed this  simple recipe.





Tuesday, January 13, 2015

world's healthiest ginger collection 

My Readings on all About Ginger, collated from multiple websites, thanks to the folks their and their perspectives on ginger learnt a few things today.. 

My thanks to 
and
and 

Starting off, Ginger is one of India's and Asia's contribution to the world, a large portion of ginger is grown in the Malabar region in India [ Kerala, South Karnatak that i Call home territory ], we have grown as kids feeding off large quantities of ginger, Recently I read and was strongly influenced by Colin Campbell's Book The China Study that suggests that we shift to a plants based whole foods diet, and recently i had a fall playing football at my campus which has caused a induced Osteo-Arthritis / inflammation situation, as they say necessity is the mother of invention / change! and i was actively foraging for ways to battle my current predicament, when i  chanced upon these reads recently, placing my personal notes collection for general  benefit.. 

Zingiber officinale

History and Background on Ginger 
  1. Zingiber officinale. The plant's botanical name is thought to be derived from its Sanskrit name Shringavera which means "horn shaped," a physical characteristic that ginger reflects.
  2. AS JV Hebbar notes, Ginger has been cultivated in Malnad region of Karnataka since times immemorial. The world famous tourist spot “Shringeri” , formed by Adi Shankaracharya, gains its name from the term “Shringavera Giri”( the mountains in which Shringavera – ginger is cultivated). Later, the name got evolved in to Shringeri
  3. some synonyms for ginger Ardraka, Moolaja, Ardra Shaka, Gulma moola 
    1. Dry ginger goes by the following names, Shunti, Mahaushadha, Vishva, Vishva Bheshaja, Nagara, Vishvaushadha, Shrungavera,  Rahuchatra, Ushana
  4. top commercial producers of ginger include Jamaica, India, China, Fiji, Indonesia and Australia.
  5. choose fresh ginger over the dried form of the spice since it is not only superior in flavor but contains higher levels of gingerol as well as ginger's active protease (it's anti-inflammatory compoun
  6. Ginger, is a rhizome, a thick underground stem that sprouts roots and shoots.
  7. Each ginger plant can grow up to three feet high and produce 2-5 sections of ginger, which can be harvested year-round. After a ginger root is broken off from the main plant it is washed and dried in the sun.
  8. Once dried, it can be used for cooking or medicinal purposes.
  9. Ginger can be grown at home, in simple pot gardens with a 3-6 months time period, possibly idea for a balcony garden in an apartment or roof gardens, 


Consuming Ginger, Recipes 
  • Turn up the heat while cooling off by making ginger lemonade. Simply combine freshly grated ginger, lemon juice, cane juice or honey and water.
  • Add extra inspiration to your rice side dishes by sprinkling grated ginger, sesame seeds and nori strips on top.
  • Combine ginger, soy sauce, olive oil and garlic to make a wonderful salad dressing.
  • Add ginger and orange juice to puréed sweet potatoes.
  • Add grated ginger to your favorite stuffing for baked apples.
  • Spice up your healthy sautéed vegetables by adding freshly minced ginger.
  • How to handle ginger? Read a comment from a lady who suggest 2 simple ways  ways: 
    • either I freeze it and grate it into my dish using a microplane - fresh ginger flavor instantly whenever I need it; 
    • Chop it into a fine mince before adding. In a hearty textured dish, I guess peeling wouldn't be necessary, but in a finely textured sauce or custard I would definitely peel it.
  • Do you need to peel ginger while using? I get the sense that peeling is not of great value, possibly some nutrients are lost in the process, clean the ginger and use it, if making puree then peeling anyways does not make sense. 
    • If you still have to peel, then soak in hot water for a couple of minutes and use the edge of a tea spoon to peel off of the skin. 
    • Does peeling eliminate fertilizers and fungicides? this debate is not conclusive, the possibility that ginger soaks all the chemicals into the roots thereby not being a surface phenomenon is high likelihood, suggested that we use  

Ginger as medicine
The detailed nutrient profile is provided by WHFoods Ginger Nutrients profile page.
  • Ginger is one of the oldest medicinal foods.
  • Charakas classical categorization 
  • Trishna Nigrahana – Group of herbs useful in relieving thirst
  • Shoola Prashamana – Group of herbs useful in relieving abdominal pain
  • Deepaneeya – Group of herbs useful in improving digestion strength
  • Arshoghna – Group of herbs useful in treating piles,
  • Truptighna – Group of herbs useful to relieve pseudo-satiation,
  • Since the herb originated in Southeast Asia, it's not surprising that ancient Chinese and Indian healers have made ginger a part of their toolkit for thousands of years.
  • Ayurvedic texts credit ginger as a "universal great medicine". An old Indian proverb says that "everything good is found in ginger." Traditional Chinese medicine holds that ginger "restores devastated yang" and "expels cold".
  • Ginger grows best in warm, damp areas, it's currently cultivated in China, India, Australia, and Jamaica. China and India produce most of the world's ginger, with half being produced on India's Malabar Coast.
  • Oils give ginger its distinct aroma and flavour, as well as its medical properties. The amount of these therapeutic compounds in ginger is determined by geography, time of harvest, and processing methods. 
  • Volatile compounds in ginger

  • (cyclooxygenase) and LOX (lipooxygenase), making it anti-inflammatory.
  • it can lead to a lower production of chemical messengers like LTs (leukotrienes), TNF (tumor necrosis factor), and PGs (prostaglandins). This occurs systemically and at the site of inflammation,
  • Ginger is in the same family as cardamom and turmeric ] What more proof regarding the value of Ginger!! 
  • Beta-elemene is an anti-cancer pharmaceutical derived from ginger
  • ginger in Asia is common because it's believed to cleanse the body of toxins from meat dishes.
  • ginger is a "warming" food for the body. helps the body sweat, thereby a good cure for colds, 

Some Studies that showcase gingers health and nutritional Benefits 
  1. Ginger is regarded as an excellent carminative (a substance which promotes the elimination of intestinal gas) and intestinal spasmolytic (a substance which relaxes and soothes the intestinal tract).
  2. Ginger is very useful in reducing the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, even the most severe form, hyperemesis gravidum, a condition which usually requires hospitalization. In a double-blind trial, ginger root brought about a significant reduction in both the severity of nausea and number of attacks of vomiting in 19 of 27 women in early pregnancy
  3. ginger was shown to be far superior to Dramamine, a commonly used over-the-counter and prescription drug for motion sickness.
  4. Ginger contains very potent anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols. These substances are believed to explain why so many people with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis experience reductions in their pain level
  5. A study published in a recent issue of Osteoarthritis Cartilage. In this twelve month study, 29 patients with painful arthritis in the knee (6 men and 23 women ranging in age from 42-85 years) participated in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study
  6. A study published in the November 2003 issue of Life Sciences suggests that at least one reason for ginger's beneficial effects is the free radical protection afforded by one of its active phenolic constituents, 6-gingerol. In this in vitro (test tube) study, 6-gingerol was shown to significantly inhibit the production of nitric oxide, a highly reactive nitrogen molecule that quickly forms a very damaging free radical called peroxynitrite
  7. February 2005 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine sheds further light on the mechanisms of action that underlie ginger's anti-inflammatory effectiveness. In this research, ginger was shown to suppress the pro-inflammatory compounds (cytokines and chemokines) produced by synoviocytes (cells comprising the synovial lining of the joints), chrondrocytes (cells comprising joint cartilage) and leukocytes (immune cells
  8. University has already applied for a patent on the use of (6)-gingerol as an anti-cancer agent and has licensed the technology to Pediatric Pharmaceuticals (Iselin, N.J.
  9. Dr Rebecca Lui and her colleagues from the University of Michigan, showed that gingerols, the active phytonutrients in ginger, kill ovarian cancer cells by inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death) and autophagocytosis (self-digestion
  10. Investigators have isolated the gene responsible for the compound and the protein it produces, which they have named dermicidin. Dermicidin is manufactured in the body's sweat glands, secreted into the sweat, and transported to the skin's surface where it provides protection against invading microorganisms, including bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus (a common cause of skin infections), and fungi, including Candida albicans

Thanks to EasyClip a simple Android app that helps clip and aggregate notes from various Android Applications.. making blogging easier .. 




Monday, October 06, 2014

Gmail Contacts - un labeled contacts Issue resolved 

recently i have been trying to pare my contacts in Gmail down to a manageable limit, over 10 years of use had resulted in a lot of unused contacts that were clogging the performance of contacts and dialer on my android phone..

This issue was getting aggravated as i use 3 accounts on Android, a personal, professional and a shared account with my wife..

One of the backup phones that i Use on and off, a HTC 1V [ this by itself needs a separate slam review!! how HTC has screwed its prospects by making trishanku phones is a post in itself! ] has issues with excess contacts, crashing the messaging and dialer apps.. causing untold grief to my on a daily basis

For this i started paring down my contacts database, and after some cleanup i found a serious hidden problem in GMail/contacts, while the web list showed totally 200+ contacts [ i ensure that all contacts are labeled "my contacts" so that that becomes a indubitable basis for contact accounting.. ]  my android phone showed that i had 350+ contacts in my personal account [ gopu44]

Did Some research as to where these hidden contacts are , a google search and a export of all contacts to csv/XLS revealed the problem ..which was that in gmail / contacts  unlabeled contacts do not have a easy way for access.. so what does one do?

The Resolution!

for all users who are trying to map all their contacts on gmail/web, this is a good working solution..

do a "*" search and it throws up all contacts classified across "my contacts" , "Circles" and "Other contacts" here, the user, that is me, then could select all the "other contacts" and label them "My contacts"

This is a seemingly easy solution that is not very evident to most users! and i suggest that if you are cleaning up contacts do the above step first .. if you have a better solution do post.. happy to know what else works in managing contacts.

It would also help gmail to resolve this issue such that un-labeled contacts can be easily accessed by users.. I am sure google is hearing, a while back i had made a suggestion or youtube that they should start donations for interesting video posts, such that people who enjoy these video can make cents / micro payments to the author / artist there by creating a sustainable revenue for these exceptional people.. later a few months later i saw this implemmented and announced in youtube, surely it was not my suggestion but collective voices + market forcces that made google adap and change.. hopefully google also makes some changes to the gmail/contacts section that has stagnated for  a long while now..

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Total Cost of running a Indigo Diesel Sedan 

Yesterday i had posted about the two wheeler that we had for 11 years and today I am writing about a indigo diesel sedan that we owned for 10.5 years nearly and recently had sold that car.

The Indigo LS is a C1 grade sedan from tata motors and was a very good option when i bought the car in 2003/ Aug in hyderabad.. Over the last 11 odd years we used the car extensively, especially in a lot of inter-city long drives for holidays and travelling in and around south india.. We will fondly remember some of the trips jotted below


  1. the Drive from Hyderabad to bangalore which we shuttled 3 times including the one when i took delivery of the car and drove to bangalore on thesame weekend 
  2. A long south india trip covering Hyd-Blr - Chn - Hyd 
  3. Long 1500 km drive to Hampi-Pattdakal-Badami-Aihole done in 2004/Aug, 
  4. An  adventurous trip through the kerala forests from Kochi to Kodaikaanal was exhilerating  in heavy rains and fog.. that was 1400 km in 3 days 
  5. A nice vacation to goa through the ghats of shimoga / jog falls in 2011 
  6. A few trips to native village of palakkad. 
  7. The trip to Madurai, Tanjavur in 2011/Jul


The car served us well being a very good roadster for high speeds, though the car was sluggish to run in the city, it was good on the highways, typically gave me 16 kmpl in the city and 18 kmpl in the highways making it a economical option for travel.. The main drawback was the poor service provided by Tata Motors and their dealers.

the total Cost table for the car, which we totally ran ~ 96000 km is as below



CATEGORY AMT AMT/KM

PURCHASE ₹4,60,468.00 ₹4.81
RUN DIESEL ₹2,12,625.00 ₹2.22

PARTS ₹1,85,707.00 ₹1.94

REPAIRS ₹1,12,713.00 ₹1.18

TAX ₹84,885.00 ₹0.89
RUN CLEAN ₹28,303.00 ₹0.30

ACCESSORY ₹24,644.00 ₹0.26
RUN AIR-OIL-POLL ₹22,684.00 ₹0.24

INSURANCE ₹17,967.00 ₹0.19

SERVICE ₹15,481.00 ₹0.16

FEE ₹28,692.00 ₹0.30

AUTOCAB ₹5,309.00 ₹0.06

FUNCTION ₹1,416.00 ₹0.01

TOTAL COST ₹12,00,894.00 ₹12.54

SALE ₹1,25,000.00 -₹1.30

NETT COST ₹10,75,894.00 ₹11.23

TRAVEL KM ₹95,790.00

# OF MOs 126.00





Run /km ₹2.75





RUN COST ₹5,27,224.00  Factor 2X

CONV VAL / MO ₹4,354.52


bought the car for 5,20,000 INR and then had to spend another 50,000 INR for transfer from AP to KAR when i shifted back to bangalore.. 

thanks to a few road accidents early on the repairs and parts cost for me was skewed to the higher side and that also reflects on the lower insurance, as i have clubbed the insurance refunds in the insurance category! 

The last few years the extent of use reduced due to heavy travels abroad starting 2010.. therefore the overall mileage again like my two wheeler is muted and much lesser than the typical average.. 96000 km over 126 months translates to 750 km / mo which is a below par average fora diesel vehicle. 

Total run / km turned out to be 2.75 INR / km direct cost and the convenience value of the car calculated to 4500 INR odd per month.. 





Monday, February 24, 2014

TCO Analysis of a Kinetic Nova That we Owned for 11 years  

When i was in hyderabad, way back in 2002 working for Dr reddys, I had bought a Kinetic nova, a Gearless two-wheeler that was the vehicle of choice for  transport for the 1st year in 2002 and then for my wife in the subsequent years, was a very useful little buggy that we used extensively until our daughter gayathri was born in 2006. After that milestone it became a emergency utility { read when car for service}, or for local drives like to the grocer.. 

In those 11 years we totally clocked 23,500 km and i recently sold the vehicle for 9500, will have good memories of the vehicle, doing the long drive to Film City in hyderabad in 2002, and zipping through the roads of bangalore the few time i rode it to office, obviously being a bit largely built for the small frame of the bike it would have been sight on the road.. visualize one of the beagle boys {from mickey mouse fame,} driving an undersized scooter!!

after selling, thanks to my diligent accounts, i was able to quickly retrieve the Costing of the bike through a pivot on libre office { recently have moved to Ubuntu and therefore nacho! libre!! } and thereby all my Excel tricks are limited. Regardless, i was able to mash up a quick costing and time value of the bike over these years..

as in the able below..


CAT SUBCAT AMT INR/km
NOVA NOVA ₹35,591.00 ₹1.50
PETROL NOVA ₹22,922.00 ₹0.97
NOVA PARTS ₹6,300.00 ₹0.27
INSURANCE NOVA ₹5,476.00 ₹0.23
TAX NOVA ₹5,140.00 ₹0.22
NOVA REPAIR ₹1,895.00 ₹0.08
NOVA OIL ₹1,370.00 ₹0.06
TAX SERVICE ₹1,300.00 ₹0.05
NOVA SERVICE ₹1,150.00 ₹0.05
NOVA RTO ₹1,000.00 ₹0.04
NOVA ACCESSORY ₹695.00 ₹0.03
NOVA HEADWEAR ₹650.00 ₹0.03
NOVA REGISTRATION ₹600.00 ₹0.03
NOVA FEE ₹550.00 ₹0.02
AUTO NOVA ₹483.00 ₹0.02
FINE TRAFFIC ₹600.00 ₹0.03
NOVA MISC ₹277.00 ₹0.01
NOVA POLLUTION ₹220.00 ₹0.01
NOVA WMAN ₹180.00 ₹0.01
NOVA WASH ₹170.00 ₹0.01
NOVA AIR ₹71.00 ₹0.00

Total Cost

₹86,640.00

₹3.65

Sale Value ₹9,500.00 ₹0.40

Net Cost ₹77,140.00 ₹3.25

Km run 23,717.00

# of Mo ₹137.00

/Mo Conv value

₹230.00



The Total buy and transfer cost to bangalore, amounting to 41,330 INR was the max cost, translating to INR 1.75 to the km, then there was a ~ 1,00 IN cost / km as the vehicle regularly gave 45 kmpl over the 11 years...

The total cost, including repairs, service and insurance with the buy and petrol cost came to 86,640 INR and knocking of the sale value of 9,500 the net cost was 77,140 INR.. which i would consider as the TCO of the vehicle.. translating to 3.25 INR /km

IT was also my intention to find the convenience value / mo for which i used the formula of net cost - 2*running Costs {  which mainly is petrol} divided over the number of months of ownership .. that translated to 230 INR / mo... which is a reasonable value to expect..


Overall i would say that a 2 wheeler gives about 3.50 / km cost-value and one can look at a convenience value of 250 per month which equates to the inherent rental that a person pays for the vehicle for ownership..

This analysis is obviously skewed by the extra transfer costs and low mileage over 11 years which typically should have been upwards of 55,000 km!







Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Xolo Q700 battery Analysis  

The Xolo Q700 packs a fully loaded 2400 mAH battery, in contrast to most phones that range between 1800 and 2000 mAH, and this is a highlight of the Xolo Q700.. in the past 6 weeks I have seen that the phone very easily handles a whole day of smartphone use for news, emails, wifi network, 3G network and everything that a person buys a smartphone.
I observed that the phone drains really fast between 25% and 13% - some bad sectors in the battery? This could be one defect..

27H average life - Xolo Q700 easily lasts a day 

Overall as the table below showcases I am getting ~27 hours of use time with the phone with the screen, google play and voice calls being the big drains. But at 18 hours of voice calls no body is complaining.
Row Labels
Avg. Hrs Life
.Count
Screen
14.58
4
Googplay
16.30
1
Gmail
17.45
2
Voice Calls
18.10
4
AndSys
25.28
4
Overall
26.93
4
fastnews
35.80
1
MailDroid
42.20
1
googsvcs
67.80
2
mediaserver
93.60
1
AndOS
167.33
4
emoze
214.30
3
CellStandby
366.30
4
PhoneIdle
516.78
4
Wifi
806.70
1

How did I derive the above statistic?

Beasically recorded the overall drainage of the battery 4 times over the past 2 weeks recording diligently the amount of time used by each of the dominant app, as shown below
Services
pct
time
DrainRt
UOM
Hrs Life
Overall
Batt%
Time Stamp
Overall
100%
11:37:00
6.2%
../H
16.1
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
Screen
45%
03:43:43
8.7%
../H
11.5
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
Voice Calls
24%
02:52:18
6.0%
../H
16.6
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
AndSys
5%
00:26:45
8.1%
../H
12.4
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
CellStandby
5%
11:37:00
0.3%
../H
322.7
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
AndOS
4%
03:32:40
0.8%
../H
123.1
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
PhoneIdle
3%
03:13:30
0.7%
../H
149.3
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
Googplay
2%
00:14:05
6.1%
../H
16.3
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
Wifi
2%
11:37:00
0.1%
../H
806.7
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
Gmail
2%
00:11:15
7.7%
../H
13
11:37:00
72%
25/07/2013 18:31
… and so on.









Used the above raw data to pivot out the statistics..
Hope the average reader finds this useful..

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