Food Experiment – Fluffy American Pancakes

So pancakes. I mentioned in my previous blog post that pancakes are my greatest discovery from the 3 trips to the United States. I love eating pancakes. Unfortunately, as with bagels, we do not get them easily in India thanks to some pretty awesome local variations that we very well know as Dosas, Uttappams, or Cheelas (Poodas).

As soon as I had returned from my last trip to the US, I found Betty Crocker Pancake Mix in supermarts in India. For the next two years I used the pancake mix to make pancakes. All I had to do was add some milk, an egg, and cook on the pan! At times the stores would run out of stock and disappoint me and wife. Eating pancakes soaked in maple syrup is serious fun, but it is even more fun to make them at home! Seriously! And it turns out that the ones I made today at home, were the best pancakes I have ever eaten. Even better than those at IHOP or Clarke’s (Chicago)! So without wasting any more time, let us get down to the recipe, shall we?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour – I used maida, you may use 3:1 proportion of maida and wheat flour for a slightly healthier option
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons oil
• ¼ cup castor sugar for garnishing

1. Sieve the flour in a bowl, and mix in all the dry ingredients (except the castor sugar) together.

2. Pour the melted butter and milk, and mix the batter.

3. Add a whole egg and beat the batter till you achieve a fluid consistency. Ensure that you do not beat it too much to make it 100% homogeneous.

4. Heat a pan and brush a little oil on it. You need just a drop of oil if you are using a non-stick pan.

5. Pour a dollop of batter in the center of the pan. It will spread evenly to create a disk.

6. Wait till you see bubbles on the top of the pancake. Lift it using a spatula and check that the base has turned light to medium brown. Flip and cook the other side.

7. The other side will first swell giving the pancake its fluffy shape. Lift using a spatula to check the colour of the base, and remove from the pan if it is medium brown.

8. That is it! Go serve it with syrup of your choice, top with fruits or a scoop of fresh cream, or simply sprinkle some castor sugar on top. Use your creativity.

Makes 6 medium sized pancakes that serve 2 people.

This recipe contains moderate amount of calories, however it will become heavy once dipped in any sweet syrup or cream. Infinite variations of the recipe are easily possible. Baking soda, butter and eggs are not a must, but I would not recommend to try this recipe excluding all three of them together. As to why I call this recipe ‘American’ pancakes, the answer is that pancakes are made differently all over the world but specifically like this in the United States.

Difficulty: Low
Inflation: Moderate
Calories: Moderate to heavy
Eat when: Preferably breakfast or lunch or dessert
Yumminess Factor: Best enjoyed soaked in maple syrup topped with berries and sprinkled with castor sugar, or simply topped with vanilla ice cream ;)

Buon Appetito!

#302 Currently Listening To!

Over the last few months and the last few posts on my blog its been all about travel and photography. Must be boring. But well, that was about me for then. I almost forgot to tell you that this blog has now completed 5 years, and crossed 300 posts and 60,000 hits! I don’t care about these numbers, but to an analyst all that is visible are numbers.

I remember the late 1990s and early 2000s, when I was addicted to MTV and Channel V. After coming back to school and sometimes even early in the morning it was a tradition to switch to these channels to get a taste of the latest Western pop music. After that I went to college and stayed in hostel for 4 years, away from the crowds of a city and away from television sets. I yearned to go home and watch Channel V or MTV. Unfortunately, whenever I would go home during vacations, and put those channels on, I would only see shows like Roadies or some crappy Hindi film music. Staying away from TV, and these music channels playing lesser and lesser English music, put me in a state of limbo. I was stuck with the same songs for all four years of my college years. I would say, till last year, 75% of my music collection comprised of what I had put together way back in 2003/2004. Of late, it has come to my knowledge that MTV and Channel V have completely stopped airing Western music (You may say there is VH1, but whatever!).

What set me rolling were a few trips abroad. I would say, every trip I make abroad opens me up to tons of awesome new music! Trips to US would anyway do so, because radio stations in the US play only the latest and most popular music. Like, my discoveries during the trip to Korea were Canon in D Major (thanks Yunseong for this), and Katie Melua; during my trip to the US in 2008, I was introduced to Katy Perry (thanks the cab drivers of Chicago); during the Smoky Mountains road trip Dave Matthew’s Sing Along was the only thing on my ears (thanks to Ranga and Patrik da); 2009 was introduction to Coldplay (thanks Sudeep; well I had heard Coldplay’s Yellow way back in 2004 but remained stuck at that, did not even know about the existence of Viva La Vida and The Scientist!); 2010 was to perhaps the largest collection of awesome songs, but particularly Beera (thanks Patrik da – you literally planted that song in my head). 

So coming back to the point, what am I currently listening to? My last trip to Chicago was very fruitful in opening up a huge number of awesome songs to me. But I would think it also has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of awesome songs have released this year! I definitely think so! Thanks also to iTunes, I can now tune to hundreds of radio stations from almost all over the world, listen to music from any genre, and even switch channels if I don’t like what they are playing: Mozart to Yanni, Sleeping music to Soundtracks, Pop to Rock, with Jazz, Blues and all that and much more in the middle, or just Top 40 Billboard songs! I am loving it :)

Here are a few songs I am currently listening to, and they are in no particular order (and yes I know, some of them are not latest any more):

Lady Gaga – Bad Romance (this song became the most watched video on Youtube for a while)
Shakira – Waka Waka
K’Naan – Waving Flag
Ke$ha – Tik Tok
Fireflies – Owl City
Jason Derulo – Whattya Want
Train – Hey Soul Sister
Timbaland feat. Katy Perry – If We Ever Meet Again
Raavan OST – Beera
Justin Beiber – Baby (this song’s video is currently the most watched video on Youtube)

This actually sends me back to Q4-2008, when me, Rashmi and Ramya had that wonderful run of watching some excellent movies in Chicago!

And this I recommend to all of you, if you have iTunes and broadband internet, go to the Radios section, and play from one of the hundreds of music channels, especially Absolute Top 40 (1.fm). If you don’t, you could still visit www.1.fm and play one of their tens of music channels!

Enjoy!

#298 People, and rules of photographing people in public

Recently, I purchased a 75mm-300mm telephoto lens for my DSLR. Eager to click, I set out with my kit. I clicked a lot of pics, hundreds of pics on my first two outings with it. I got some good shots. Clicking pics like the ones above, is not called ‘stalking’. I knew about this as I had Googled earlier, but here are the rules if you do not know:
1. If you are in a public place that does not explicitly prohibit photography, you are free to shoot anything and anyone. However, you may not shoot people especially kids if they are engaged in sexual activities.

2. You do not violate human rights of anyone by taking their photographs without permission. This really means that you are violating their freedom of privacy, which honestly does not exist anywhere beyond their homes and private indoor spaces.

3. You do not violate their privacy if you click their photos in a public space. There is no right to privacy in a public place, with the exceptions of public toilets. Talk of CCTV cameras in public places!

4. You however need to ensure that you are allowed to take photographs on the land you or your subjects are standing.

5. You do not harass anyone by taking their photographs. However, repeatedly and deliberately chasing a person around clicking photos is considered harassment.

6. You do not need the subjects’ permissions to publish the photographs, unless it is for a commercial purpose.

7. Publishing photographs of people with captions could land you in trouble if you misidentify the subject or if the caption is unduly mocking or in false light.

Read some more rules here: http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

This, for the United States, perhaps one of the more liberal countries. For other nations, it is best to look up the rules and social customs. Even in the US, laws differ slightly for each state: for example in Texas, you cannot take a picture if it is for someone’s sexual gratification, like a shot on a nude beach!

In general, it is not illegal to take pictures of people in public settings. If I go to the Mumbai Marathon as a photographer, I cannot possibly ask permission from each and every of the hundreds of runners! It is still the best and the safest to ask people if you can click their picture, in my tiny history, I have got a 100% positive response.

#296 Chicago, etc

Willis (Sears) Tower, from the Grant Park

Seen at the Millennium Park

 
Polish Rally at Grant Park. 1 of every 12 Americans is of Polish descent.

#295 Tulips on the Magnificent Mile

The first time I heard or read the word Tulip was sometime in kindergarten. As with all uncommon flowers, I did not care to remember what they looked like in the book. There was also a guy named Tulip in my college, and I think Tulip Joshi is one of the prettiest persons I have seen in Bollywood. But honestly, I did not know what tulips looked like, till last month! In Spring, you can find Tulips almost everywhere in and around Chicago. I am not sure of other places. One particular place in Chicago has been well advertised for tourism: The Michigan Avenue, or the Magnificent Mile.