Mint Paprika Fried Chicken & Roasted Sweet Potatoes (by nava-k)

By Nava-K

Having been cooking for sometime, I prefer to cut my chicken into smaller bite sizes than one big huge piece. This is one way of not wasting food as most of the time I noticed that when serving to guest, some are unable to finish that one big piece of fried chicken, especially if there's other variety of dishes available at the same time.

As such, from there on, I always cut my chicken into smaller pieces and another advantage is its faster to be fried. To go with this fried chicken, I roasted some sweet potatoes plus some ready-made mayonnaise as the dipping sauce.

Ingredients
200g Chicken - cut into bite sizes
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp dried mint leaves
2 tbsp rice flour
1 egg
salt to taste
enough oil for frying


Marinate the chicken pieces with all of these ingredients except the oil and leave it at least for 4 hours to infuse the flavors.

For the Sweet Potatoes
200g yellow sweet potatoes - cut into thick stripes (no need to remove the skin)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil and when heated, fry the chicken pieces until cooked and dark brown in color. Remove and drain over the kitchen towel.

While is being fried, mix the sweet potatoes with the olive oil and salt. Place on a baking tray and bake at 200g until the color is golden brown and crispy in texture.

Serve the fried chicken with the roasted sweet potatoes and if you like, with some mayonnaise as the dipping sauce.

Originally posted at: nava-k

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ALIENWARE M18X RELEASED !!!

Dell's Alienware has finally been launched M18x , the latest giant to their gaming arsenal. Thats right , the most anticipated arrival of the gaming giant is over and gamers can quench their thirst for games in the best portable way possible!

It is available in  "SPACE BLACK" and "NEBULA RED" colors.

For specifications / details, please read: ALIENWARE M18X RELEASED !!! (TeKnoGamia)

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America Welcomes President Ayub

A special Envelope of US Mail printed on occasion of President Ayub's Visit to the US - Autographed by the President

President Muhammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan paid a hallmark visit to the USA in 1961 on the invitation of the US president Kennedy. A special envelope with Auyb Khan's autograph was issued on the day as shown above. A friend once shared this special envelope photo and I thought of sharing it with my viewers.

Related References:

Watch video of Ayub Khan's visit

Relations (Pakistanpaedia)

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History and postage stamps of the United Arab Republic (UAR)

Many would not know now that there once existed a union between the Egypt and Syria known as the United Arab Republic for a brief period between 1958 to 1961. Syria quit the UAR in 1961, while Egypt continued to be officially part of UAR until 1971, when the union finally ceased to exist.

The UAR adopted a flag based on the Arab Liberation Flag of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, but with two stars to represent the two parts. This continues to be the flag of Syria. In 1963, Iraq adopted a flag that was similar but with three stars, representing the hope that Iraq would join the UAR. The current flags of Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen are also based on Arab Liberation Flag of horizontal red, white, and black bands.

The need to form a union between Egypt and Syria stemmed from the vulnerabilities of the communist uprising in Syria and Syria sought help from Egypt to curb the communist rise in the country and offered to form a union with Syria. Although the then Egyptian president Gemal Abdul Nasser resisted formation of such a union, Nasser opted for a total merger in early 1958. Nasser became UAR’s first president (and the last too as the union died its own death after three years).

The union never ran smoothly for many reasons, and Nasser was unable to run it efficiently and carry the Syrians along with him. On September 28^th 1961, a group of military officers staged a coup and announced Syria’s independence from the UAR. Although Nasser did not vocally objected to the Syrian exodus from the union, he continued to talk of unity among Arab countries till UAR finally came to its logical abolishment in 1971 and Egypt became Arab Republic of Egypt.

From 1958 till 1971, the UAR stamps were used by both Syria and Egypt (though Syria reverted to Syrian stamps in 1961 after it quit the union). The above stamps of UAR from my collection are from this period.

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What do you call this phenomenon?

We see things everyday that do not correspond to our memory dictionary. And if someone asks as to describe an occurring pehenmoenon, we find ourselves at loss of words for a description. 

If someone asks us what does the phenomenon of the sun rays peeping out of clouds as above or from behind a mountains is called, we would simply call it sun rays - as simple as that. But is this the correct word to describe the phenomenon? Certainly not.

In fact the rays peeping through the clouds or from behind a mountain or an object are called the Crepuscular rays. Some also call these the God's rays. But Crepuscular rays is the correct word. Crepuscular rays appear to diverge outward from behind the clouds or obscuring object.

Although seen diverging out, the light rays are in fact parallel, but these appear to diverge out or converge towards the source, sun in this case, due to perspective, the same way as the rail tracks or a road is seen to be converging in the distance. Crepuscular rays are often red or yellow in appearance because blue light from the sun is selectively scattered out of the beam by air molecules.

Photo Source: Let there be light (Jalalspages - Flickr)

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How, What, When and Why?

Hobbies and pastimes are generally mind and body relaxing, like sitting by a lake and fishing or reading an interesting book. But there are some who want to dig in something mind boggling, challenging and informative. Their quest for How, What and Why makes them dig deeper into the apparent and find out the hidden secrets. This is what I call How, What and Why hobby.

The How Stuff Works is a famous and one of the most read website to answer the many Hows. Like for instance, one would like to know How a fluorescent bulb glows or How a lead pencil is made. Or one may would like to know How deep is th Pacific Sea or How far is the nearest star after the sun. and still How to find a boy or girl friend (most frequent asked question from fortune tellers). The quest for Hows is very long, but very few attempt to find the answer to the How as it requires extra strain on one’s brain to dig in for an answer.

Likewise the What and Why. Why dogs bark at night or the wolves howl at night? Do these creatures converse with each other or do they just howl or bark to shed away their loneliness? Why do we shed tears while peeling or cutting onions or what is wrong with the people, or What are your strengths and weaknesses type questions in an interview. And finally What is this blog post all about?

Interesting, isn’t it to dig for what apparently there is no answer. In my future posts, I will post the many Hows, Whats and Whys and may be give a clue to their answers. I like setting a bit of mind boggling posts as it adds an informative pastime and hobby.

And wait, we can also add When to the list too, like When was the last time you were really happy? Shouldn't we?

This is our Crystal Maze....

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Assorted stamps of UK from my collection

Awhile ago I shared the first page from my stamp collection of UK. Now am sharing the second page, which is generally from the earlier era of Queen Elizabeth. However, in the left columns, the last stamp is that of his father's time. The stamp above it dates back to 1948.

There are also commemorative stamps on the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill and Sherlock Holmes in the second column from the left.

Previous Reference: My collection of stamps of the Great Britain

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