Quick Fix Recipe 1: Mushroom + Egg + Onion

Just like many students, I started cooking in September 2008 when I left India for my studies at Oxford. A few weeks before I left, I tried my hand at cooking simple dishes. It wasn’t that hard. But once you start cooking on your own we realise that every recipe needs so many things. May be in small amounts but the list of ingredients is so big (specially for Indian food). Although I enjoyed cooking, I hated going to the supermarket in that cold weather just to get garlic paste or lemon juice. I complained to which my mum said, “There is always something you can make from whatever you have in the kitchen.” As a student that statement is quite reassuring. Theoretically speaking, it is possible to make something, but will you that thing taste good enough to eat. Many of us might face this challenge.

In this process of learning how to fix myself a quick meal with as little number of ingredients as possible I have come up with a few recipes that I will share with you. Just to re-iterate, these are the recipes that I found tasted good to me and have been made with the whatever I can find in my kitchen. Some of these have been tasted by others and they have seemed to enjoy it.

Quick Fix Recipe 1: Mushroom + Egg + Onion

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 small onion, sliced (rings or half-rings)

200 g mushroom, sliced

3 eggs

40 g butter

salt, garlic paste

Method:

1. In a pan, pour 1tbsp olive oil and sauté the onions till they are nice and brown.

2. In a separate pan, do the same to the sliced mushroom. Once the mushroom have absorbed the oil, add 20g butter and mix rapidly so that the butter is spread evenly. Add garlic paste and then keep on mixing for 2-3 mins more till the mushrooms lose a little bit of water. You may add salt or pepper to taste at this point. Add these mushrooms to the onion pan and keep the pan warm at the least level of heat (easy on gas stoves than electric ones!)

3. Break the 3 eggs in a bowl and whisk them together. You may add salt and chili powder to taste at this point. Pour the mix onto the pan which had the mushrooms on it. Mix vigorously and break any lumps formed (a bit like bhurji). When done, add 20g butter and mix for a little more time. Then add the contents of this pan to the pan that has onions and mushrooms.

4. Mix them well for the last time. Pour them in a bowl and enjoy this with Toast or Garlic bread or Khakra.

Overall Cooking Time: approx. 15 mins (includes time needed for chopping onions &  mushrooms).

Hope you enjoy this recipe and if you do then don’t forget to subscribe to this blog by email.

Why not treat ‘Change’ as empowering?

Since the Obama campaign, the word ‘change’ has become ubiquitous. Today it is treated synonymous to ‘change for the better’. This optimism is exactly what the world needs right now. There are many such campaigns out there which are trying to empower the people to change. Yes, may be there is a need to ‘empower’ someone to change because it is inherently human to oppose change. Change challenges the capacity of a human being to adjust to new people, things and situations. Evolutionarily speaking, it possibly stems from the fact that change can be risky for the survival of the species. But we aren’t apes anymore, who only want to procreate and advance their race genetically. We are an intellectually evolved superior species with a whole different set of aims which are not quite supported by our instincts. Opposing change is one of the characteristics of our lizard brain. If change is forced upon us, we tend to accept it sooner, otherwise our mind keeps on baffling us with the resistance game.

The lizard brain opposes change

Is there something that can be done about it? Can change be treated as empowering? Well, I think the roles can be reversed and instead of needing power to change, we can draw power from change. It’s not hard to come up with a list of pros or cons in any situation. When that is done, how about making a list of things that will be gained from this change. Remember, those are also the things that will be lost if this change is not accepted. Doing a gain v/s pain analysis, it can surely be rationalized whether the proposed change is advantageous. If the answer is in affirmative then there it is, our winner. The battle against the resistance has been won. The power that drove this change came from the rationalising towards the drive to gain the things that this change offered.

Of course, there would be times when we are stranded in the murkiness of ambiguities. Rather plausible a time to draw the personal experience card (the positive ones of course). I have gained a lot from change and found it to be immensely pleasurable at many levels. This is of course thinking back and connecting the dots. Yet, I was happy to undergo the change, however hard it seemed. It gives me hope when I look at the situations I had been in and the way they have emerged now. If that doesn’t seem like the card you can play, then look at successful people around you. Let us look at the biggest names, Bill Gates & Steve Jobs. Both speak about change as the catalyst of their innovations and eventual success. There is a lot more of such inspiring stories which all begin with ‘change’. Change is feared, and perhaps rightly so. But a new perspective on it can lead to a new addition to your self-manipulation toolbox. Why not, then, treat change as empowering?

Also published as an editorial article at Youth ki Awaaz. You can Subscribe to this blog by Email.

Why Exeter must support a meatless day a week?

Two students from the JCR of Exeter College have proposed to the JCR & MCRthat one day in the college hall should be meatless. Their main argument stems from the UN’s Livestock’s Long Shadow Report. The  400-page report is an in-depth assessment of the significant impact of world’s livestock on the environment. Meat consumption is projected to double by 2050 , ensuingirreversible consequences. The meat industry already contributes to 20% of global emissions.

According to the college chef, we buy (approximately) the following amounts of meat  every week: 150 kg Beef, 150 kg, Diced Chicken, 600 Chicken Breasts, 100 kg Lamb, 60 kg Pork, 30 kg Bacon, 10 kg Sausages. This translates to 16.4 tons of CO2e (see below) every week of which red meat alone contributes 12.8 tons. Considering that the hall is run on full capacity for 30 weeks (3 Terms) in a year and 30% capacity for 15 weeks, it means the hall’s carbon footprint coming from meat consumption is a staggering 566 ton of CO2e per year. A meatless day a week, can reduce that consumption by about 15%, which is 85 ton CO2e. This is equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of eight people in the UK. It’s not just a reduction in the carbon footprint but also our water footprint. (More on that here). The UN report also speaks about the impact of meat on water depletion, water pollution & biodiversity.

However, moving beyond the environmental impact, What other advantages are Exeter students posed to have if the motion is passed? A reduction in the amount of meat bought by the college will decrease the spending of the hall. The money saved can then be utilised to reduce the cost of the food or can be invested into buying healthier foods. Of course, it’s healthy and people who have always had meat will get a chance to explore vegetarian food (I am sure the chefs will do their best to make that an indeed pleasurable experience).

Delving into the counter-perspective. What are things that could go wrong if the motion is passed? Well one possible argument can be that the quality of vegetarian food will go down because people are not given a choice. Not really a thing we cannot handle, isn’t it? I definitely I think thatthe chefs are indeed open to experimenting with recipe suggestions in offering better vegetarian options. Now coming to the choice of day. Which day is the best for doing this? There is a strong argument for Mondays. The points for a Monday are enlisted here. Against? Yes, Exeter has the famous steak night on Mondays. But the catering manager has agreed to make adjustments such that the steak night will still happen on another day of the week. Three Oxford colleges have already passed a motion to have Meat Free Mondays. If not, any other day is fine too. The catering has made it clear that if the motion is passed for any day of the week they are ready to swing things around to suit the best needs and interests of the students.

I hope that these arguments serve to convince you that this is definitely a good idea and makes you come support the motion in the JCR on Sunday the 31st at 8.30 pm.

^ CO2e stands for carbon dioxide equivalent, which is an internationally accepted measure that expresses the amount of global warming from greenhouse gases. CO2e is not limited to carbon dioxide but includes other gases like Methane & Nitrous oxide.

* Calculations of the carbon footprint have been done based on reports published by New Scientist & the Guardian.

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