Badusha- Balushahi- Sweets..

My first experience with this Badusha was in Hyderabad.  They used to sell these at the food counters in my previous organisation.  The first bite itself was enough for me to fall in love with them.  I have a very selective palette when it comes to Indian sweets.  I don't experiment much with them unless they are really appealing to my eyes.

When I moved to Bangalore, I started to miss Hyderabad and it's cuisines.  It's one of the best places for a foodie like me.  Even the street food are so perfect.  I have a few of my favorite stalls for Chinese, evening snacks- south Indian, North Indian snacks, chats..etc.

Ingredients:-
1 Cup Maida
1/8 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Ghee
1/4 Cup Yogurt/Dahi
1 Cup pistachios / Almonds - sliced into pieces as per your choice
Oil

Method for The Badusha's-
Mix Maida, Baking powder, soda in a dry bowl.  Add Ghee and rub it with your fingers to resemble grainy sand.  Pour in the yogurt and mix into into a rough dough(Do not over knead to smooth dough).  Cover the bowl now and leave it for 25 minutes.

Ingredients for Sugar Syrup:-
1  Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup water
5 Green Cardamons crushed

Method for Sugar Syrup -
Heat water and sugar together in a pan.  Add the Cardamons crushed. Keep stirring the mixture until it reaches a thread like consistency.

Uncover the dough and divide it into equal parts. Roll them with your palms into small round balls. Press into the center of each ball using your finger to form a dent.

Heat Oil in a frying pan and fry the Badusha's into deep golden brown. When they are still warm, Drench them into the Sugar Syrup for 5 minutes.

Remove from Syrup and place them over the tray or plate.  Garnish as per your choice with either pistachios, almonds or cashews.

**This recipe has been inspired from a favorite blogger of mine- Arundhati of Escapades.**

Custard Pie Recipe...

So Here's the Recipe for - CUSTARD PIE--

Ingredients :

1. 2 Cups plain flour (Maida).
2. A pinch of salt.
3. 1/2 cup of Unsalted Butter, chilled and cubed.
4. Some cold water.
5. 3 Large whole eggs.
6. 2 Egg yolks.
7. 1 Cup of castor/ powdered sugar.
8. 1 tsp Vanilla essence.
9. 500 ml light cream.

Method : 

Pastry -  

Sift flour and salt and place them into a large dry bowl.  Add the butter cubes into the mixture and gently rub the flour and butter using fingertips. The mixture should resemble breadcrumbs.  Add few drops of water to the mixture and stir it until the dough binds together.  Do not knead the dough.  Wrap the dough in a clean cling film and chill it for 15 to 30 mins in the refrigerator.

Coat the inner lining of the Pie dish with butter or oil.  Take the chilled dough and press it against the walls and base of the Pie dish, covering the entire dish with the crust.  Use a spoon to give a smooth texture to the pie pastry.  Remove the excess from the lining walls of the pie dish using spoon or knife. Place the pie dish along with the crust to chill in refrigerator.

Filling :

Preheat the oven at 220 C for 15 mins.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and the egg yolks with sugar.  Beat it only gentle.  

Warm the cream until it's flows freely.  Do not burn or boil the cream. Cool it down a little and then pour it gently into the beaten eggs mixture.  Add the Vanilla essence too.   Stir constantly to avoid any lumps.  Pour this mixture through a sieve.  

Place the pie on a baking tray/ dish and bake it in the center of the preheated oven for 10 minutes at 220 C to brown the crust.  Now lower the temperature to 180 C and then continue baking for another 20 - 30 mins. Check the final product using a toothpick prick test.

Happy Custard Pie Baking Friends !!

Equal opportunity employer???

Equal Opportunity Employer??

Have we ever wondered what is the meaning of this sentence.  I have always failed to understand it.  Are these Multinational Companies displaying their equality status on the basis of Gender and Disability?

Few years back I had applied several times to one of the best MNC who's major revenue generation is via Search Engines.  I attended the written aptitude and English test as advised and was asked to attend a presentation at their office the following day.  All dressed, I started for their office in the outskirts of Hyderabad city.   Had to overcome many traffic obstacles before I reached the appointed venue.  The presentation was excellent and so was the food at the cafeteria.  The paint on the walls and the vibrant colors all around made me want to commit myself to this MNC.  I was at their office for an hour and a half.

On my way back, the visions of the workplace environment kept me occupied and I didn't realize the heavy traffic.  After a day or two, I received a rejection mail thanking me for the showing the interest in that MNC and also wishing me luck for future endeavors.   My application was rejected.  This moment all the interview questions started crossing my mind and I kept wondering about the written aptitude test.  I didn't have a clue as to where I had made a mistake and what had gone wrong with my answers.  I was confident that I had answered all the questions accurately.

After a few days of disappointing memories I started to forget about this MNC.

On fine day, a friend of mine invited me to her house.  We had great food and I had the opportunity to meet my friend's sister-in-law who worked as an HR for this MNC.  There were several discussion on the interests of this MNC's recruitment procedure.  She revealed that this MNC would recruit those candidates who would have passed out from certain graded colleges. I was surprised to hear this news.

I had never imagined that this company would have certain college category.  I had graduated with 1st Class.  Once I had submitted my resume in their website, their HR representative had called me and had discussed all the academic details along with my professional experience.  So, at the very first instance I had provided my college name and the grades too.  They could have simply rejected me then and there.

I was filled with anger and frustration as I Many felt that I had been treated unfair. Many of my friends had been treated the same way by this MNC.  This is not a professional behavior by this MNC.  If they had to reject many applications like me then they should set the college status as their first set of filtration.  They do not have any rights to generate hope and expectations in the beginning and then shatter them without mentioning the reason in the rejection mail.

Often I have heard the candidates being rejected due to certain gap in their education or professional  career.  I have worked continuously for around ten years and have the right to take a break as and when I need it.  The MNC's do not understand this or maybe their pretend not to understand.  The candidates have to compromise on Salary or on their designation.   Why do the MNC's not evaluate the candidate on their ability and capability rather than just judging them on the gaps in education and career?  Why can't they learn from the West that humans can learn the skills at any point in life? When will the so called MNC's stop judging candidates on the basis of scores and pin their interest more on the assessment of skills?

When will they start living up to their tag lines of being An Equal Opportunity Employer ?

I would be very glad that one day every person would get equal opportunity to execute their skills for the right job assigned. Why are we even thinking of gender equality as we all believe that both men and women can develop the same skills and execute them.  Yes being handicap does stop an individual from performing certain skills but there are no boundaries set.  I am glad that at least the MNC that I have worked for does hire cross gender  too provided they have the skills to do the job assigned.

But, segregation of the ability of an individual on the basis of college status is not appreciated.