Blooming flowers - BBC time lapse video

wonderful to see roses, passifloras, hibiscus, cacti blooming in HD!
(double click on the video to enjoy it in full screen!)

Tamil words borrowed from Portuguese

Here is an interesting email I got today, about some interesting Tamil word etymologies!

"There was a discussion about this word in kalaignar TV. பரவாயில்லை is actually a marwadi [marathi ?] word. "barwanahi" loosely translates to its ok. The marwadi community who migrated to erstwhile madras presidency and before that, used to tell barwanahi to locals. Then they learned Tamil and started telling Barwa-இல்லை. பரவாயில்லை - came into existence it seems. :)

ஜன்னல் - window - Portuguese - actual Tamil word - சாளரம்
சாவி - key - Portuguese - actual Tamil word - திறப்பு.

Interestingly the people in Sri Lanka and some parts of TN still use this word to mean key :) "


Searching more for the Portuguese-Tamil connection, here is a list of Tamil words borrowed from Portuguese.

for ஜன்னல், the Portuguese word seems to 'janela' and for for சாவி, it is 'chave'...

here are some more Tamil words that came from Portuguese...

அலமாரி- armário

அன்னாசி (pine apple) - ananas

சூப்பு (suck) - chupar / chupo

கோப்பை (cup) - copo

பப்பாளி - papaia (cud be from english too - whichever came first!?)

பேனா - pena

பீங்கான் (used now for porcelain but the Portuguese word means plate) - palangana

பீப்பாய் (barrel) - pipa

pun?ai - bunda (buttock in Portuguese)

and the following word, which i have always wondered abt, seems to have from Dutch!

கக்கூஸ் - toilet - kakhuis

hmmm, now i know an iota of Portuguese too ;-)

Mixed Bean and Lentil Soup - Indian Style

Being a fan of any kind of bean or lentil soup, be it the Moroccan lentil soup from TOGO's or the Vegetarian Lentil Soup from Whole foods, I always wanted to try cooking it myself - and finally i got to try it on a nice Sunday afternoon! It came out spicier than I had wanted it to but I still enjoyed it ;-)

here's the recipe...

== Prep ==

Usually Mixed beans are available in Whole foods or in Korean or Indian grocery stores. The mix I used for this soup had Red Kidney Beans, White Pinto beans, Green Lentils, Barley, Adzuki Beans along with skinned, split Moong dal.

Soak 1 Cup of mixed beans for at least 8 hours. I actually ended up soaking it for 3 days for lack of time to cook it - but it turned out to be the right amount of soaking since I did not pressure cook them. Look here for more instructions on cooking beans.

== Cooking ==

Boil the mixed beans along with 1/4 cup moong dal (split & skinned) - this lentil when overcooked, gives a creamy texture instead of a watery soup...

Boil or Steam 1 cup of chopped spinach (I steam it in the microwave for 3 minutes) - be sure not to overcook the spinach!

In a skillet, fry the following ingredients in 1 tbsp of olive oil : 1 tbsp cumin, 3/4 tbsp red pepper flakes or 1/2 tbsp of red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric.

Blend the fried spices with 1/4 cup of water.

Now, sauté 1 cup of chopped tomato with 1 tsp of oil till it becomes semi-pureed and then add the blended spice mix and bring it to a boil.

Then add the beans, spinach and 1 tbsp chopped garlic and bring to a boil.

add salt and a tbsp of butter as necessary and the soup is ready! you can also garnish it with some chopped cilantro if you like...

Enjoy the soup!