Fish Slices in a Green Curry

This is a simple, tasty fish curry which uses very little spices or oil. While I like to prepare it in microwave but it can easily be prepared in a pan. What you need:

• 1/4 kg thinly sliced sear (=king mackarel = surmai) fish
• 4 garlic pods
• 1 green chilli
• a cup of coriander leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera (=cumin) seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 4 tablespoon coconut milk available in stores
• juice of 1/4 lime or 1 kukkum piece
• Water
• Salt

Take a flat microwavable vessel which you think can just accommodate all the pieces in a layer (don't put them yet). Grind or finely chop the garlic, chilli and coriander leaves. Keep 1/4 of the paste aside and put the rest of it in the vessel and pour enough water so that the liquid will cover fish pieces. Now add lime juice and black pepper powder followed by salt (approx. 2 tsp level) so that the liquid is on the saltier side. Put the fish now and microwave at 60% power for 13 min. Add the coconut milk and put for 2 more minutes. Now add the fresh paste that was kept aside.

It tastes very nice with plain rice. The curry is very watery and has a wonderful combination of mild tartness of lime, freshness of coriander leaves, sting of green chilli smoothened by the dash of coconut milk.

Why Does Coffee Keep Some People Awake All Night?

One cup of coffee a day keeps my sleep away
even if I am tired
I may drink it at any time of the day
in the night I am all wired

The sheer joy of seeing a child grow up around can make one forget how difficult it can be sometimes, I mean for the parents. While we, the parents, want to be the heroes/heroines who are always the cause of joy in their lives, we end being the villains/vamps who don't let them do the very things that make them happy, like stay up all night, scribble on walls, make calls to their friend's (4 year old's) homes the first thing in the morning, not take bath but if start a bath then not finish it, listen to the same story three times in succession and the list is just too long. In the bargain sometimes there are moments when both parties are in agreement and that is pure heaven. Such is the time of night just before we go to sleep with lights off when we have the time for "why questions": questions which begin with a 'why'. He loves it just to delay his sleeping time and we love it because we get to know what is on his mind as he keeps on growing. Initially when he just began to frame sentences most of the questions were to sort out what was bothering him all this while when he understood unfairness but couldn't articulate it. Most of them were pretty difficult to answer, topping the list would be: why so and so pinches me when I am sleeping in the day-care, why grand-parents have to go away every time they come, why do I have to go to school every day etc. etc.

And then thankfully we got technical, the focus being on wipers, the ones that go swish-swish on your windshield on a rainy day. "Why do cars have two wipers while autos only one?" We tried the big versus small windshield logic which worked for a few days but what about a bus. Oh boy! As a last resort we tried the sorry logic which can't be disproved but doesn't make any sense anyway: "people who drive cars like two wipers and people in autos and buses like to have only one." Quite pathetic, ruling out the possibility of any bus-drivers or auto-drivers owning a car but for parents of four year olds stuck with a question at the fag end of the day you must have only one emotion and that is sympathy. Not entirely convinced he let us off the hook several nights to come till he found the answer much to our delight. "Cars have two people in front while buses and autos have one", one wiper per person in front, your honor case is closed.

More growing up and we got philosophical. "Why must we share our things" etc. etc. But one of my favourites came the other night "why can't we be in the middle of the road while cars can?". I had to pause and was about to say that my dear son it is time I told you that it is a big bad world we live in where big bullies get their way but came up with something like if the cars drive on the sides their tyres may get stuck in the holes on the sides. "That is correct....... mmmmm but our shoes can also get stuck in the holes, no?" That was one big hole and my shoes were so stuck.

While for everything else there is your credit card
there are somethings money can't buy
Like answers to the beautiful questions
that begin with a why.

This is a space for me to pause for a while and write about random events or thoughts that colour my life. Where, sometimes dark, mostly light, the waves interfere and diffract but the focus remains always on me and all that is mine.