G.I. Joe: Retaliation

When you go to see a sequel of a movie, you generally have an expectation of the movie being bigger and better than the previous one. In this case, i don't remember seeing the 1st one, so the 2nd one was a fresh movie to me with all new characters.

G I Joe has a predictable story line... bad guys and good guys... bad guys create a problem, good guys solve it... but thats how G I Joe plots are... no surprise at that.

The story starts with pakistan going into unrest and the president of the united states making a call to retrieve nuclear warheads from a centre in pakistan and sends the G I Joes in. The president is the bad guy posing as the president. Hence, the mission is a plot for the bad guys to get all the warheads in the same place and steal them from the Joes and kill all of them. Miraculously 3 of the Joes survive in an amazing fashion by going underwater in a well and avoiding detection, make their way back to US soil and find the bad guys.
First, the president and an evil plot by the Joes to use the feminine beauty to do the work.
2nd, getting storm shadow on their side to give insider info and let him get revenue against zartan
3rd, the new Joe team to take down the bad guys
4th, win against the bad guys.

A few things that stood out in the movie:
1. The mountain fight sequence between Snake eye, Jinx in capturing Storm shadow
2. The last fight sequence where the Joes save the world from evil... just the last part of roadblock and firefly
3. The disguise technology Zartan used to make himself look like the president. nice.... i wish i had that.. :D
4. The massive amounts of ammunition that Bruce Willis has in his house in some amazing places.

In fact i went back to watch the 2 fight scenes again in 3D... ;)

What i didnt like
1. the predictability of the movie..  the good people will win at the end...
2. the thrill of seeing all the Joes working together, not just 4 and ninjas.
3. I wish they didn't destroy london, i like the city.

Most important, looked like the budget for this movie was limited to kill all the Joes in the 1st 10 minutes of the movie... poor Duke, the apparent hero of the last one, becomes non existent in this one... :D

Last said, its a movie that you can watch once and forget about... nothing lasting...

Chole Masala - Punjabi iStyle

the punjabi "iStyle" has nothing to do with apple, its a desi attitude filled statement. :)
chole is something that i always wanted to make... my roomie Ankush was my inspiration.. he makes out of the world chole and we always end up eating sooooo much... plus theres always the childhood memories of my favourite aunty's chole!! :D WOWWWW....

honestly speaking this one wasnt even close to what aunty or ankush make but in a way in the neighbourhood (even though a little far off). lots of improvements needed but i know what!! :D

Ingredients:
Kabuli chana (chickpeas) - 500gms
Onions - 4 - 6
Tomatoes - 4 - 6
Ginger - 2" piece
Garlic - 4 -6 cloves
Green chillies - 2
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tbps
Tea leaves in a muslin cloth
Oil


Optional:
Potatoes

Masala:
Salt to taste
Chole masala - 2 Tbps
garam masala - little for kicks
Red chilly powder - 1 tbps
turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon or less

Preparations:

1. Boil the chana daal in a cooker with enough water and a teabag for flavour. Let the cooker whistle 3 - 4 times so that the chana is amazingly soft. keep it aside. 
2. Throw aside the tea bag
3. Separate the boiled chana and the water. keep the water, it will be used in the gravy. 
4. Put some oil in a pan and heat it
5. Put jeera into it and roast
6. Put onions into it and roast till pink (new colour introduced into Food for Dummies)
7. Put the tomatoes in and fry till they cook 
8. Add the masalas - chole masala, garam masala, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and cook it till the raw smell of masalas dont come in. 
9. Add the boiled chana daal and mix well. 
10. Add salt to taste. about 2 teaspoons. 
11. Add the water from the cooker for the chana and the masala to cook. 
12. Add a boiled potato if you like, its my favourite. the amazing taste of chole masala in the potato... WOW!! :D 
13. Cook the whole bit for 5mins or till the liquid comes to a boil
14. Simmer for a few mins till the liquid is thick and flavourful. 
15. Eat hot with chopped onions, metha imli chutney if u like and bread!! :D 

Tips:

1. Theres nothing called excessive chole masala... the more the better taste. and by saying that i dont mean put the whole packet but dont be afraid to be generous. 
2. Be generous abt the onions and the tomatoes portions, cause thats the only base in which the taste is and the whole dish rides on it. i made that mistake of proportion and wasnt able to make all the chana that i boiled. 
3. Indian break, white bread, rice or nothing goes perfectly with chole... 

PIzza - home made with bread!!

 Sometimes its very important to eat something new. something thats not the run of the mill, standard following the receipe.. just take whats there at home and put them together and hope in hell that the tastes blend together and you can relish and enjoy the fruits of your labour! :D

Enough philosophy, now to food!! :D

Ingredients:
Bread
Tomato sauce/pasta sauce/pizza sauce
Veggies of your choice.
i choose: 

Yellow and orange pepper
Onion
Potatoes

Salt to taste
Cheese if you are a fan. (not me as you can see)

Preparation:
Switch the oven at 180 degree celsius.
Prepare the bread
A layer of the sauce
a layer each of the veggies - order and amount all upto your taste.
salt on top to give it some great taste
put into the oven for 10 mins, till the bread is crisp and golden brown

gobble it away!! :)

Tips:
1. try using green peppers, according to me they taste anytime better. the other colour peppers give a little sweet taste
2. if u add cheese, mozzarella is best. pizza in true style. amounts can be varied as much as u like it. :)
3. Pre-heat the oven for 10 mins, the bread cooks faster!! 

Dal masala - Chakna

the desi (indian) version of a snack with a drink. :) the dal masala all made from ready made stuff.. packets opened and made... :D

little spicy, little tangy and amazing with a good drink!!


Ingredients:
Haldiram packet of spicy daal
Onions
Coriander leaves
Lemon to squeeze


Preparation:

1. Open the packet of haldiram spicy daal packet and empty it into a bowl.
2. Chop some onions and coriander leaves, fine 
3. Mix them into the bowl
4. Squeeze a lemon into the mixture and mix well 
5. The best dish in town is ready... 

all u need are some good friends, a good drink and a great conversation. :D

Bread Poha - my anytime food

Bread Poha is my all time anytime food... its easy to make and fills ur tummy and doesn't need any big fact ingredient list to make it.

people who know me, will say that i always have the mood  to eat something. my favourite line is "mujhe kuch khana hai" (translated - i want to eat something). this something generally doesn't have a name or a food item associated with it. but over the years the time to decide what that something should be has shortened.
Why i am writing this is to give the context of why bread poha is so important to me. if you haven't figured it out, bread poha ends up being my something a lot of times.

Ingredients:
bread
onion
jeera/cumin seeds

Masala:
Haldi
Mirchi

Optional:
Tomatoes
Garam Masala
Dhaniya powder

Preparations:

1. Take some oil and heat it in a pan
2. Add jeera and roast it
3. Add haldi, mirchi, garam masala and dhaniya powder, haldi more, others less
4. Add onions and roast them till golden brown
5. Break the bread - rough or cut squares on bread
6. Mix it with the onions 
7. Add salt, not too much cause bread already has its own taste
8. Mix properly... cook till the bread is crisp
9. Its ready to be served

Tips:

1. Tomatoes add a tingy taste to the bread poha. i dont like it so i dont add it
2. Experiment with the flavours, can add chillies.