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January 22, 2009

Chana Saar Upkari (and an update on Sulekha)


A cold winter day.

A hot raging fever.

A nastier cold.

A painful throat.

A runny nose.


This must be a familiar scene for a lot of people. I know that it was for me. Almost every year, when the weather changes, I seem to catch cold from someone or the other. My otherwise strong immunity takes a beating at about the same time each year. This recipe is perfect for those times.


1 cup Brown Chickpeas

4 Red Chillies

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste

1 tsp Coriander Seeds

Salt to taste

For the seasoning:

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves


Pressure cook the chickpeas with 4-5 cups of water. Drain the liquid into a vessel. Keep the chickpeas for the upkari.


Grind together about 2 tbsp of cooked chickpeas with the coriander seeds, tamarind paste, and red chillies. Add this paste to the liquid in the vessel. Add the salt and bring to a boil. In a frying ladle, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and the asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add this to the saar.


Upkari


Cooked Chickpeas (from recipe above)

1 tsp Oil

4 Red Chillies

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

4-5 Curry Leaves

1 tbsp Jaggery

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

Salt to taste



In a kadhai, heat the oil. Add the mustard, red chillies and the curry leaves. When the mustard splutters, add the cooked chickpeas, salt and jaggery. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Uncover and add the scraped coconut.




We had this as our Sunday lunch with some dali-saar, patrodo and rice. I'm sending this over to this month's edition of JFI: Chickpeas and to Srivalli's MLLA.

Update on the Sulekha issue:


I wrote to Sulekha.com asking them to remove my content and ban the person who goes by the Sulekha username of AndhraMirchi. I got this response from them:



Dear Arundhati


Based on your mail, we have sent a mail to the blogger who posted the blog to remove the blogs. We were waiting for the blogger for an action till tomorrow and then we thought of removing the same. This is just to let you know that the reported content has been removed from our site.Also we would like to know if you could post your recipe blog in our site then it would be great. Please feel free to contact us at member.relations@sulekha.net and we are happy to help you.



Regards


Deepesh



It doesn't look like the content has been removed. I spoke to someone in Member Relations and she told me that Sulekha contacted AndhraMirchi and the person responded by saying that the posts were made by a friend. When asked to remove the content, the person said that he would do this after checking if the content is really lifted from somewhere else.



In the meanwhile, I found these additional links:



1.http://food.sulekha.com/cuisine/karnataka/capsicum-phodiyo.htm


and http://andhramirchi.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/09/capsicum-phodiyo/comments.htm


The photo on this page is lifted directly from my blog post:


http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/capsicum-phodiyo-capsicum-fritters.html


and the content is lifted directly from


http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/cauliflower-phodiyo-fried-cauliflower.html


2. http://food.sulekha.com/cuisine/karnataka/narlya-kheeri.htm


Photo and content is lifted from:


http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/patoli-nevryo-and-narlya-kheeri-coconut.html


3. Bread Upkari: http://food.sulekha.com/cuisine/karnataka/bread-upkari.htm


Word for word content lifted from: http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/07/bread-upkari.html


4. http://food.sulekha.com/cuisine/karnataka/cauliflower-phodiyo.htm


Copied From:


http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/cauliflower-phodiyo-fried-cauliflower.html


5. http://food.sulekha.com/cuisine/karnataka/chakli.htm


Copied From: http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/goodies-for-ganpati-on-ganesh-chaturthi.html




I was told that everything will be done in 2 hours. What is the result? Nothing much except that in a few posts, the extremely creative AndhraMirchi has made some cosmetic changes. Changed cumin to jeera, changed 2 cups to 5 cups etc, etc. The cheapness of some people.



More recent update: I got a call from the same lady at Sulekha Member Relations. They were able to confirm that this person did indeed make these cosmetic changes during the course of today. They have removed the user from Sulekha.com and along with the user they have removed all copied content. I don't think that is entirely true. I can still see some of the posts. Maybe it will take some time.

Cauliflower Phodiyo is word for word a copy from my post: http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/cauliflower-phodiyo-fried-cauliflower.html. The blogger is a different person called Saraamulu. I don't even know how to keep track of things like this.

16 comments:

FH said...

That's typical run around "Indian style" from Sulekha, isn't it? Never works if you request them with civility and then they want YOU post there? ridiculous. Keep it at it. I have seen Suganya's pics as well there.

Chana upkari and saaru, looks mouthwatering.
Take care of yourself. It usually happens here too, cold and all in Winter. So far we are okay, it usually starts with school kids first and then spreads everywhere!

Finla said...

Somekinds have no manners.
Changing the cup measurements etc and saying it is ok.
Atleast they removed most of the things they stoll from you.

Preety said...

wow i am so surprised that some people don't even want to make an effort and just copy everything..

And take good care of yourself..During cold my mom use to make us Besan ka Seera( you just fry besan in a ghee and then add milk of water & sugar to make a liquid kind halwa..) we have to eat it hot..Eat this 2 to 3 days in a row b4 going to bed at night, it surely works

Your remedies are new for me..

A_and_N said...

I am so going to make this sometime this week and I promise to let you know how it came!

jayasree said...

Its looks like even Sulekha team is encouraging the blogger. When they admit the blogger has made changes during the course of the day, I can't understand what stops them from removing the content.

Liked the channa saar. Perfect for winter.

Cham said...

It is ridiculous. How come they cannot verify once you noticed them and take action ....
Take care of yourself and the patrodo capture my most attention!

Priya Suresh said...

Wat shame of copying everything n posting without any manners na..that andhra mirchi should be shame of these nasty work..Happy to see the prompt response from Sulekha.com.. Channa saar upkari looks delicious..channa saaru would love to have them rite now..

Padmaja said...

Shame on their part Raaga!! Some people can't understand can they?
Btw lovely warming dish

Sunshinemom said...

Such a shame! It is so bad after all the hard work one puts in a post! I really hope your posts are removed!

Meanwhile, saar and upkari look good!

Suganya said...

I have the same issue too. I have written to Sulekha about 15 times now about my plagiarised photo, and am still waiting for an answer till this day. Its so frustrating.

ms said...

Hi raaga,
All the fault of copy paste, people have become too lazy to even come up with their own content. I hope this Sulekha issue gets resolved.

Lovely entry to JFI Chickpea raaga.Looks like you had a full Maharashtrian thali! When you have a cold you must eat more!
best,
ms

CurryLeaf said...

Watch out,once u give up then it will be blind copying.Love the chana upkari one of my favourite,but the centre of attention is patrodo. :P :P :P

Reeta Skeeter said...

hmmm Sulekha must be banned if this bullcrap continues...

saar and upkaro look yum and it is good in providing some nutrition too (mom says that)

Reeta Skeeter said...

hmmm Sulekha must be banned if this bullcrap continues...

saar and upkaro look yum and it is good in providing some nutrition too (mom says that)

Deepa said...

Plagiarism is creepy. But also, to put a positive spin on it for yourself, imitation is flattery (and copying majorly so)! This's happened to me tons of time, in so many things I do in life...and this's the positive spin I put on it to get over the irritation. Turns out some people spend their most creative time simply copying and pasting. I know a lady who publishes papers in India in chota mota conferences and hournals there, and she spends her summers in the U.S, copying and pasting other people's work for use in India. WHat's more, her family talks of it with great pride, as in "Look at how clever our mom is." I think, one day, they'll get caught doing something illegal and hopefully go to jail. Or, their kids will (having learnt the same ways). COmmend you for the time you've spent investigating this. Meeta (German food blogger) has filed a lawsuit against TOI for doing this to her, by the way. --Deepa

saurabh2222 said...

This type of incidents are very common.

All the fault of copy paste, people have become too lazy to even come up with their own content.

www.fundooad.com