Aloo Baingan- Indian Potato Eggplant Dish

I love potatoes in any form. Add egg plant to it, ..Ummm! I know there are thousands of aloo baingan recipes out there. Here's mine going out too.

Serves 3-4
1 large potato -chopped little large
3-4 medium size egg plants again chopped large
half of a tomato (optional)-chopped small
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
3/4 tsp aniseed/saunf
1/2 tsp ajwain
1 inch ginger
2 small garlic cloves
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch hing/asfoetida powder
1 heaped tbsp dry roasted coconut
1 tsp subzi masala- I used Everest brand
1/4 tsp garam masala- I used Mothers shahi garam masala.
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Chopped cilantro leaves for garnish

To prevent darkening of the cut baingan and alu, you can put it in a bowl of water. But I prefer not to do that as some nutrients are lost in the water. You can time it so that you cut them just before adding them to the pan.
Heat oil in a thick bottom pan. Once hot add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add jeera, sauf, ajwain. Add hing and then turmeric. Chop finely or grate ginger into the spice mixture and then add chopped potatoes. Stir it so its coated and cover it. While its cooking, grind the roasted coconut. Once ground add the coconut mixture to potatoes along with salt. Once again stir and cover. After potatoes are halfway done, add eggplants along with chopped garlic and red chilli powder and stir and cover it. After the egg plants have been cooking a while, add tomato and the readymade spices and stir and cover it. Tomato is optional. I like its tangy flavour. You wont need to add much or any water. It will cook in its own steam. When its ready, garnish with chopped cilantro leaves. Goes very well with rotis and phulkas. Enjoy it!

World Earth Day

April 22 . Celebrated as World Earth Day since last 40 years. I disagree with having only 1 day of 365 dedicated to a global looming crisis. I mean its better than having none at all. It does give an excuse to spread the message. However what I mean is that only 1 day of practising 'Green' isnt going anywhere! One must practise 'Green' 365 days of the year to support the planet. Anyway, coming back to practising 'Green' today, I would like to focus on gardening. While everyones talking about containing carbon footprint (which is very important) and all, we must also remeber a fun and creative we can help our planet. By planting more trees! Well need not be only trees. Any plant, shrub, herb that you grow is a part of the planet and helps it thrive. Big or small that patch of earth you garden is a part of our planet. Even if you dont have a big backyard, what you grow on your front step, roof top or balcony can help our environment and world thrive.
It is very rewarding to even just look at your creation. The beauty of gardening is that anyone can do it. When you invite children to garden with you, even the smallest project yields incredible rewards, from creating special memories to teaching life long skills that encourage healthy living and help environment. So lets come together to celebrate World Earth Day bycreating or adding to our garden. Pick native plants(they are sturdier, contain carbon footprint), conserve water, use  more organic fertilizers, less chemicals and we can work together to help our planet have many more Happy Earth days to come. Go Green Today.

Don't be a Part

Consumption by humans is on the rise. One report says that the way humans are consuming, we need nine more planets to meet our needs of land, steel, water etc. Consumption increases waste generated. That bring us to topic of plastic pollution. Currently so much plastic waste generated world over. Be it the number of plastic bags given out every time you go shopping or the packaging. Every time one goes shopping, one has a large garbage pile the next day. Take away food is another major contributor to garbage generation. Take away food being so popular leads to vast amount of plastic containers being generated as waste. So much plastic! All these plastic waste mean that many more pounds of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And that much bigger our global warming and climate change problem!

Agreed that you as an individual are not a major contributor to climatic change and global warming problem. The carbon dioxide gas emissions of the industrialized developing countries are the reason we are facing this problem today. And the present greenhouse gas emissions by the developing countries are adding to the problem. We have had developed and developing countries contest on who should be capped and how much during the Copenhagen G8 Summit. So, coming back, individual contributions in separate may not seem to matter. But, individuals make communities. Communities make countries. And countries make up this world. Cumulative effect of the individual effort the world over will be significant.

Average plastic bag or bottle is used for a few minutes while it needs nearly 500 years to decompose. Statistics say that less than 6% of plastic generated is recycled. Majority end up in the landfills. The rest end up in the bellies of the sea turtles and other sea life. A walk along the Khaleed Lagoon, Buheira Corniche will prove it. Peer down the railings and you can see plastic in various forms. Bottles and bags. I feel sad for the fishes nibbling plastic thinking its food. I am sure they have atleast 1 course of plastic for every meal. Watch this video: http://gulfnews.com/gntv/news/turtle-rescue-1.616076

Around Sharjah emirate garbage isn’t segregated into plastic, glass and wet waste. How can recycling work without segregation?

Also, why aren’t people attempting to carry own bags while shopping? I do. I use the large reusable plastic bags sold at supermarkets for 50 fils. I find them convenient and saves on atleast 10 bags per trip. CLOTH BAGS are the BEST for environment to use. But it’s forgivable to use plastic bags if you are REUSING them. An average family uses nearly 100 plastic bags per month. One can avoid this waste by carrying own bags. It’s a good idea to keep a spare bag at hand and avoid accepting plastic bags from the stores as much as you can. You just need getting used to…. used to remembering to carry your own bags. And used to refusing unnecessary plastic bags from the stores. Once you start, you will start enjoying it. It’s definitely easier to carry few large sturdy bags than to carry multiple thin bags. The reusable bags look way more ‘COOLER’ and are good for your ‘GREEN’ conscious image.

Plus plastic bags and bottles lying around are such an eye sore!