Majjiga Charu

Ingredients:
Red Onion - 1/2 medium or 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
Green chilies - 2
Curry leaves - 4
Yogurt - 1 cup
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - to taste

For tempering/ popu:
Ural dal - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Hing - pinch

Method:

• Whisk yogurt with 1/2 cup of water to make smooth buttermilk (or simply use buttermilk). Add turmeric and salt, mix well.
• Heat
  1tsp oil in a small sauce pan. Add the popu ingredients and when the
  seeds splutter, add curry leaves, ginger and green chilies. Fry for 30
  seconds, add onions and saute till slightly brown. Add this to the
  curd, mix well.

You can have this with plain rice also.

A recipe from cooks-hideout.blogspot.com

Pesarapappu Charu (Moong dal Rasam)

Ingredients:
Moong dal (Pesara pappu) – 1 cup
Red onion – 1 medium, chopped
Tomatoes (ripe)-2 medium, chopped
Green chilies – 3
Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Fenugreek seeds (menthulu) – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – 1tsp
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Red chilies – 1
Asafoetida – pinch

Method:

• Pressure cook dal till done with onions, tomatoes, green chilies, chili powder, turmeric and ¼ tsp of fenugreek seeds.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a sauce pan, add mustard and cumin seeds. After the seeds splutter, add red chilies and hing.
• Add the seasoning and 1 cup of water to the dal and cook for about 10 minutes on medium flame.
• Add lemon juice and chopped coriander after removing from the flame and mix well.

Vankaya Kottimeera Karam Kura (Eggplant in Cilantro Gravy)

Ingredients:
Indian eggplants – 10 – 12, cubed

For the Masala paste:
Cilantro (coriander leaves) – 1 cup
Green Chilies – 6 (or according to taste)
Ginger – 1” piece
Grated Coconut (fresh or dry) – ¼ cup
Salt – ½ tsp

For popu:
Chana dal – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Red chilies – 2 (optional)
Curry leaves – 6

Method:

• Grind
  all the ingredients for the masala paste with water. Add just enough
  water to grind, so that the paste is not too thick or too runny. Keep
  aside.
• Heat 2tsp oil in a pan,
  add the popu ingredients and after the seeds splutter and the dals turn
  light brown, add curry leaves and eggplant pieces. Cover and cook on
  medium-low heat for about 8-10 minutes or until the eggplants are half
  way cooked.
• Mix in the
  cilantro paste and salt; cover and cook until eggplants are completely
  tender and the masala paste doesn’t smell raw anymore. This will take
  10 more minutes.
• Serve hot with rice and dal for a wholesome meal.

A recipe from cooks-hideout.blogspot.com

Baingan Masala

Ingredients:
Baby eggplants – 8
Tamarind pulp – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste

To make the masala powder:
Chana dal – 1tbsp
Urad dal – 1tbsp
Coriander seeds – ½ tbsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tbsp
Red chilies – 3-4

For tempering:
Chana dal – ½ tsp
Urad dal – ½ tsp

Method:

• Fry
  the ingredients for masala powder in a ½ tsp oil, let cool and grind
  into a coarse powder (making it into a coarse powder gives the dish
  some texture).
• Cut eggplants into long thick strips (if the eggplants are very small use them whole, but make “+” cut on one side).
• In
  a saucepan, combine eggplants, tamarind paste, 1tsp salt and ½ cup
  water. Mix well and bring this mixture to a boil. Simmer till the
  liquid evaporates, but the pieces are still intact (pieces should not
  become mushy, so make sure that the only enough water with the veggies
  when simmering. If there is too much liquid, then drain out the extra
  water). Keep the cooked pieces aside.
• In
  a large pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil; add the dals for tempering and after
  they turn golden brown; add the cooked eggplant pieces. Sauté till the
  pieces turn nice and crispy on the bottom. Add salt (remember that we
  added salt while boiling) and masala powder; cook for another two
  minutes.

Enjoy with hot steaming rice and dal.

Egg and Lentil Curry

Ingredients:
Red Lentils (Sabut Masoor dal) - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 6, boiled
Cloves - 3
Black peppercorns - 1/4 tsp
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Green chilies - 2, finely chopped
Garlic cloves - 2, crushed
Ginger - 1" piece
Curry paste - 2 tbsp
Chopped tomatoes - 14 oz. can
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Vegetable Stock - 3 cups
Water - 3/4 cup

Method:

• Put
  the lentils in a large, heavy pan and add the stock. Bring to a boil,
  cover and lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the
  lentils are soft. Drain and set aside. I usually cook my lentils in the
  pressure cooker for about 4 whistles. Quick and easy.
• Heat 2
  tbsp oil in a pan and fry the cloves and peppercorns for 2 minutes. Add
  the onion, chilies, garlic and ginger and cook for 5-6 minutes,
  stirring frequently.
• Stir in the currypaste and fry for 2
  minutes stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes, sugar and water and
  simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
• Add
  the boiled eggs (I make 4 vertical cuts around the egg), lentils and
  garam masala. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes, then serve,
  garnished with cilantro.

Toor dal Chutney

Ingredients:
Toor Dal - 1 cup
Red Chilies - 10-12
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1tsp
Garlic - 2 pods
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Dry roast the dal along with the chilies, till dal turns golden brown and gives out the nutty aroma
2. Let the mixture cool down completely.
3. Grind the mixture with water (Do not add too much water, add little at a time. We dont want a watery chutney).
4. Add jeera and salt, pulse to combine.
5. Heat oil in a small pan. Add chopped garlic and fry on low flame till garlic is golden brown.
6. Add fried garlic into the chutney and mix well.
7. Serve with white rice and ghee

How To Make Your Computer Faster

Computers are wonderful devices that allow us to do many things but things can get rough once the garbage that comes in through our internet connection begins to stop up our system. I have put together a step-by-step procedure for cleaning all of this out.

Follow the steps below and you will see a noticeable improvement in your system. If you're looking to really speed things up -- like make your computer 2 times faster --

   1. Download Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program, Adaware, and Spybot Search and Destroy. Microsoft's program can be downloaded at Microsoft Windows Defender. Adaware can be downloaded at Lavasoft Downloads. Spybot can be downloaded at The Home of Spybot-S&D. All of these programs are free.
   2. Install Microsoft's anti-spyware program now, but not the other two.
   3. Run MSconfig. To do this, select Start>Run and type msconfig
      into the space. Select the Startup tab and get rid of all unnecessary
      programs. The way to determine this is to go to ProcessLibrary.com and check it against their database.
   4. Boot into Safe Mode. To do this, restart the computer and press F8
      continuously. Select the Safe Mode option from the list and continue to
      desktop.
   5. Delete any spyware programs from your add/remove. To do this,
      select Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs. Check all
      unknown programs against SpywareGuide.com.
   6. Locate the temp folder in your computer and delete everything in
      the folder. This is located, usually, in C:\Documents and
      Settings\Username\local settings.
   7. Still in Safe Mode, install Adaware and Spybot. Run Adaware,
      Microsoft's anti-spyware and Spybot. Update to the most recent
      definitions in each program and run them in full scan mode. Microsoft's
      program cannot be installed in Safe Mode. You have already installed it.
   8. Reboot into standard Windows mode.
   9. Download HijackThis. You can get this program here Merijn.org.
      Install and run it. Click Do A System Scan and Save A Logfile.
      HijackThis will analyze processes that are running on your computer and
      alert you when there are things running that should not be there. It
      will also let you know when there are programs running that are not
      malicious but can safely be gotten rid of because they are not needed.
  10. Post the logfile in the Automated Log Analyzer at HijackThis.
  11. After determining what's safe and isn't, check appropriate boxes and click Fix Checked.
  12. Run the Microsoft Anti-Malicious program, which you can download at the Microsoft Download Center.
      This program is designed by Microsoft to detect and remove programs
      whose sole purpose is harming your computer. The technical term for
      this type of program is a rootkit.
  13. Download and run BLBeta Expert. This can be downloaded at F-Secure Blacklight.
      Make sure to carefully review anything it detects before removing.
      BlBeta is another program that is designed to get rid of rootkits.
  14. For Internet Explorer, click Tools> Internet Options>
      Security Tab. Click on the Internet Globe icon and select Custom Level.
      Disable the following:

a.       Download Unsigned ActiveX Controls.

b.      Initialize And Script ActiveX Controls Not Marked As Safe.

c.       Active Scripting.

d.      Scripting Of Java Applets.

15.  Also click High Safety under Java Permissions.

16.  If this causes trouble viewing any favorite sites, click the Trusted
Sites icon of the Security Tab and use the Sites button to add the
URL's of sites that are exempt from these requirements. The purpose of
these changes is to tighten the security of your system so that not so
many malicious programs make it to your system.

  17. For Firefox, type about:config in the address bar. Right click in
      the window and click New and Integer. In the first box, type
      privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins. In the second box, type 2. This
      will prevent Flash popups in Firefox.
  18. Open Regedit by clicking Start>Run and type in regedit.
  19. Once Regedit is open, click the plus symbol next to the
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, the plus symbol next to Control Panel, and
      then click the Desktop folder icon to display its contents. In the
      right pane, double-click MenuShowDelay to change its value. (This
      Registry location is referred to as
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL\PANEL\DESKTOP\MENUSHOWDELAY.) The default
      Value Data is 400, or 4/10 of a second. Change the Value Data to 0 for
      the least delay, and click OK. This will make menus appear instantly on
      your computer instead of having a delay.
  20. Open
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\FILESYSTEM.
      Right-click Filesystem, select New, and DWORD Value. Rename NewValue#1
      on the right-side pane to DisableNTFSLast-AccessUpdate. Double-click
      this new entry, change the Value Data field from 0 to 1, and then click
      OK. This disables the constant updating of the dates when a file or
      folder were last updated. This will speed up the system.
  21. Open
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\EXPLORER.
      Create a new DWORD Value called DesktopProcess, and set its Value Data
      to 1.
  22. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
      Double-click the AutoEndTasks string and change the value to 1. This
      causes all of the components of the explorer to run in one process,
      making your computer faster.

23.  There is a caveat for some users here. Do not make this change if
you are not running at least a Pentium processor and 16 MB of physical
memory.

  24.

  25. For Firefox, type about:config in the address bar. Right click in
      the window and click New and Integer. In the first box, type
      privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins. In the second box, type 2. This
      will prevent Flash popups in Firefox.
  26. Open Regedit by clicking Start>Run and type in regedit.
  27. Once Regedit is open, click the plus symbol next to the
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, the plus symbol next to Control Panel, and
      then click the Desktop folder icon to display its contents. In the
      right pane, double-click MenuShowDelay to change its value. (This
      Registry location is referred to as
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL\PANEL\DESKTOP\MENUSHOWDELAY.) The default
      Value Data is 400, or 4/10 of a second. Change the Value Data to 0 for
      the least delay, and click OK. This will make menus appear instantly on
      your computer instead of having a delay.
  28. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\FILESYSTEM. Right-click Filesystem, select New, and DWORD Value. Rename NewValue#1 on the right-side pane to DisableNTFSLast-AccessUpdate. Double-click this new entry, change the Value Data field from 0 to 1, and then click OK. This disables the constant updating of the dates when a file or folder were last updated. This will speed up the system.
  29. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\EXPLORER. Create a new DWORD Value called DesktopProcess, and set its Value Data to 1.
  30. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
      Double-click the AutoEndTasks string and change the value to 1. This
      causes all of the components of the explorer to run in one process,
      making your computer faster. There is a caveat for some users here. Do not make this change if you are not running at least a Pentium processor and 16 MB of physical memory.
  31. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand SOFTWARE, expand
      Microsoft, expand Windows, and expand CurrentVersion. Right-click
      Explorer, expand New, click Key, and name the new key AlwaysUnloadDLL.
      Click AlwaysUnloadDLL, double-click the Default string, and change the
      value to 1. Windows tries to keep some DLL's in memory when the program
      uses them. If a user has low memory, this can cause performance issues.
  32. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
      Double-click the HungAppTimeout string and change the value to 1000.
      Now, double-click the WaitToKillAppTimeout, string and change the value
      to 2000. This sets your system up to more efficiently handle
      application hangups. It also will optimize the amount of time a system
      takes to close a program when you try to end Windows.
  33. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand System, expand CurrentControlSet, and click Control. Double-click the WaitToKillServiceTimeout string and change the value to 2000. This optimizes the time that it will take for Windows Services to close when the system is set to shut down.
  34. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, click Desktop, and
      double-click the MenuShowDelay string in the right-hand pane. Change
      the value to 100. This will cause Desktop menus to appear almost
      instantly.
  35. Close regedit.
  36. Set Recycle Bin to 1-3 percent of the hard drive space. To do this,
      right click on the Recycle Bin. Select properties. Move the slider down
      to the desired amount and click Ok. By default, the Recycle bin takes
      up too much of your space.
  37. To ensure DMA is in use, click Start, right-click My Computer,
      click Properties, select the Hardware tab, and click Device Manager.
      Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers entry, double-click the entry for
      the channel where your hard drive is installed (most likely the Primary
      IDE Channel), and use the Transfer Mode drop-down menu to select DMA If
      Available if PIO Only mode is selected. Click Ok, reboot, and recheck
      the setting to make sure it sticks. When this is enabled, it will allow
      information from your CD/DVD to go straight to memory, bypassing the
      system processor and speeding up the system.

You should notice markedly increased speeds in your computer.
Remember that this is not a "do once and forget it" procedure. Crud is
constantly building up in your computer, so make sure and set up a
maintenance plan to keep your computer clean.

An article from howtodothings.com