Peas Pulao Against Plagiarism…

…and to appease the Rānāchandi in me. After what I stumbled onto yesterday.

My Payesh recipe copy-pasted verbatim, my photograph used, the watermark cleverly removed! The Blog owner wrote in her introduction that she was making it for her special friend on a special request. I could not even leave a comment on this Blog (sayanti-bonappetit.blogspot.com), apparently the owner had disabled comments!

I posted my woe on my Facebook profile. The kind people who enjoy reading my Blog promptly replied. I emailed the Thief. I alerted other Food Bloggers whose work I could identify in the Thief’s site. I went to bed with a bitter taste in my mouth.

A note of shamelessness awaited me in the morning from the Thief.

From: "Sayanti Sarkar" <saayanti@XXXX.com> To: preeoccupied@yahoo.com hi, thanks for this mail...otherwise I would'nt hv know wat was happening using my name.....oh hole shit......after getting this mail did a google search and saw something really crap!!!!! suddenly from morning my inbox were filled up with similar mails like you...and i am gettng sick and tired of replying them...... if i did dat i should not hv replied for your information....... may be some of mah frnds has done this terrible cyber crime........... i donno....anyways i hv deleted the blog with help from the google blogger administrators..............!! will chk for sure who has done this!!!! regards

In the meantime, my friends and readers had also commented and emailed her. The Blog was removed/disabled from Blogspot.

But is this really an end? Do we have to keep a lookout for our stolen content from here on? How does one become a Blog monitor and why? I have so many questions in my head – are there any copyright laws for Bloggers like me?

If you have answers and suggestions, help this small-time food Blogger, who takes the pain to chop, cook, click and post. Its a lot of work you know.

I am still mad at yesterday’s discovery, and will probably be for the next few days. And in between being mad and blogging, I will still continue to cook and post here. Sometimes just for myself!

Ingredients for Peas Pulao are:

2 cups long-grain Basmati rice, washed and sieved for 10 minutes
1 cup green peas (I used frozen ones)
Half tablespoon freshly grated ginger
Three-fourths cup of room temperature water
Few drops of lemon juice
2 tablespoons melted ghee
Generous pinch of grated nutmeg
2+2 green and black cardamoms
1 small piece of cinnamon
2-3 cloves
2 bay leaves
Sugar (optional)
Salt

Heat ghee in a pan and add the bay leaves, cardamoms, cinnamon and cloves. Sauté for a few seconds, then add the rice.

Mix the rice well in the pan to coat it with the ghee. Add the grated ginger, green peas, salt and sugar. Mix again.

Gently mix the rice and peas for about five minutes. Add the grated nutmeg and mix again. Transfer the rice in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the water and few drops of lemon juice and cover with a cling film.

Microwave for 20 minutes. Check on the seasoning, if you think there is less salt, balance and microwave for a minute or so.
Let the Peas Pulao stand for about 5-7 minutes before serving with the curry of your choice. I will serve it with some Mutton Curry and salad.

Keema Pulav

Looks like it had to be Keema tonight, especially after the way Finely Chopped went raving about his two course meal – one of them, the mouthwatering bowl of Hyderabadi Kheema!

That’s when on the other side of the earth, a very upbeat Bengali decided she will mince no words and just post a recipe of this award-winning Keema Pulav. Try it and you will know I wasn’t bragging!

Ingredients for Keema Pulav are:

One and half cups Basmati rice, washed and drained, keep in a sieve for 30 minutes
300 grams mince meat (beef or goat meat)
Quarter cup crispy fried onions
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon garlic paste
4-5 green chilies, finely chopped
Handful of finely chopped coriander leaves
Few mint leaves, torn
Few drops of lemon juice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 black cardamoms
2 green cardamoms
2-3 cloves
Few peppercorns
Pinch of grated nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1 small stick of cinnamon
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
Ghee
Salt

Heat ghee in a large pan and add the whole spices, let them splutter for a few seconds and add the chopped green chilies and cumin.

Add the mince meat and sauté for a few minutes, getting a little caramelization on the meat. Add the ginger-garlic paste and red chili powder and mix well. (Photos of this step are missing, the camera ran out of juice and needed recharging!)

Add the rice and fold between the mince meat mixture. Season with salt, garam masala powder and a pinch of nutmeg.

Top the fried rice and mince meat with fried onions, chopped coriander and mint leaves and give it a good mix.

Pour the rice-keema (mince meat) mixture in a microwaveable bowl, add three cups of water, few drops of lemon juice, cover with a cling wrap and cook for 18-20 minutes.

Once the cook time is over, let the Keema Pulav stand for a few minutes before you serve it with a cooling Raita.

P.S. Vegetarians can use minced soy nuggets instead of mince meat/keema.