Seitan Spinach ala Subu

​Seitan Spinach ala Subu

​ 

(

​ 

seitan is pure gluten - replace with firm tofu

​ if you have gluten intolerance​

)

1. take a few chunks of " chicken style"

​ (aka Jangam style)​

 seitan wash in cold water in a colander (so as not to lose the small pieces) 

2. place on a plate and microwave for a couple of minutes on high

3. Microwave thaw  frozen spinach (or you can use fresh spinach and microwave slightly to reduce volume)

4. cut up about 3 green thai chillies in small pieces. keep this and perhaps some curry leaves (kadi patta)  in a small dry saucer

5. cut up a tomato or two into small chunks (~8-10 pieces). keep in another suacer

(you can also chop some onions if you are into onions but don't mix with tomatoes)

6. in a deep pan (because you need to stir fry), add high heat  oil (corn, canola, sunflower,ghee etc) when oil is hot add quarter to half a teaspoon or so of black mustard seeds, some fenugreek seeds (menthi), cumin seeds (jeera) , urud dal (split black bean which is white), a pinch of asafoedita (hing)  You may want to add the mustard first and then add the rest a few seconds later.

( I have given the Hindi names here so you can get these condiments from your local friendly Indian grocer)

7. when mustard sputters, lower heat and add the chillies, kadi patta - mini explosions will occur but that part of the deal

7(a) if you are adding chopped onions - this is the time to do so - stir fry for a minute or so

8. after a minute or so , add the seitan pieces from (2) stir nicely so that the a langmuir blodgett film of oil forms on the seitan pieces

9.  add the chopped tomatoes at this point and stir. Cover the sauce pan for 2-3 minutes. (this would be a good time to clean the place up)

10. open lid and add a quarter spoon of Turmeric powder (haldi). Be careful as Haldi can stain things like granite counters, add a pinch of salt. Stir. It should acquire a healthy yellowish tinge

11.   Now add the spinach and stir

12. add a tad of water (I use an espresso cup- make sure there is no coffee in it) 

cover saucepan and let it simmer at  low heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so - I like mine a little wet - but than can be varied.

13. Spread over cooked brown basamati rice or quinoa (also cooked)  and enjoy.

Our Visit to Soweto:

Our ESC team was taken on a tour of Soweto during our first week here.  The approach to Soweto from Johannesberg proper, takes you via the world cup soccer stadium. The approach is vast and majestic. The ultra modern Soccer City (now called the FNB stadium) that propelled South Africa in the mindset of the world, is at the gates of Soweto. The Stadium is shown below. 

Soweto itself lies beyond the man-made plaeaus of spent ore called mine dumps (Johannesberg was first settled as a large mining township )that have been piled high as if to hide the former black township from the rest of the city. The soil in these man-made plateaux is contaminated with heavy metals and blows towards Soweto on windy days.  The man made terraced pile called  is seen the  pictures below 

The welcome to Soweto sign with our team members in the foreground

(l-r : Subu I, Vania C, Renee D, Patricia G, Christel V, and Ron D.)

The entrance to Soweto is actually quite impressive. The houses on the outskirts are very impressive, with some unique architecture and in some cases flashy BMWs parked outside or in the Driveways. (BMWs are sometimes called Black Man's Wheels - nod to the progress made by some blacks after the dismantling of apartheid) . See a somewhat fancy house we saw through the bus window soon after we entered Soweto.

A relatively new fancy house on the outskirts of Soweto

However, Soweto is itself a very diverse place. As we enter into the main township we are greeted with the hostels. These are gender segregated dwellings with communal bathrooms and kitchens that used to house the miners. Even today these are considered somewhat rough places and are reputed to be hotbeds for the crime syndicates that operate throughout Joberg.

A view of the Hostels from the main road

We were headed to the Apartheid Museum. But our trip was punctuated by a stop at a roadblock where our driver was interrogated. This was taking a while and our accompanying city official felt it necessary to get off the bus and intervene. A police officer came over and greeted us and welcomed us and we were soon on our way. I would very much have liked to know what the official told the policeman.

The Apartheid Museum in Soweto is a fitting memorial and chronicles the important landmarks in the fight against apartheid. 

The Apartheid Museum: Note the black and white lettering at the entrance

To give you a feel for apartheid, your ticket is randomly coded for a "BLANKES" or a "NIE-BLANKES" (Afrikaans for white or non-white). You then have to enter through the appropriate door and you get a feel for how it must have been in the days of apartheid. There are pictures of passes which for whites had an entry for nationality (South African) but did not have nationality for non-whites and there were a host of other subtle and not -so-subtle differences.  A good part of the museum is devoted to the struggle against apartheid and details on some of the key personalities and events.

Language is a very potent flash point and a key turning point was the forcible instruction of black children in Soweto of Afrikaans. This was the language of the oppressors which the blacks had no desire to learn. This led to student peaceful student protests. The police however opened fire with live bullets and killed scores of unarmed students. The first to die was a black boy called Hector Petersen and there is a museum dedicated in his memory that details these protests and the lasting effect it had in the struggle for apartheid. This was the famous Soweto Uprising which I remember reading about (in 1976)  in the papers when I was in high school. 

One of several murals depicting the student protests that led to the Soweto Uprising

We also saw Mandela's House in Soweto - a small two room house that is now a national landmark

In front of Mandela's House in Soweto. 

Soweto is key to not only South Africa's past but also it future. Many of the officials I have met these last two weeks trace their roots to Soweto. It is there that they experienced apartheid and it was there that they rebelled against it.  Today while parts of Soweto would look like any middle class area in the world, there are parts of Soweto that are comparable to the worst slums anywhere in the world.  These informal settlements as they are often called exist in many parts of Joberg and present a key challenge to the administrators of Joberg as they try to make Joberg a smart and world class African city.

Some thoughts and impressions of South Africa

Some thoughts and impressions of South Africa:

South Africa is indeed a fascinating place. It is most of all a very modern experiment in reconciliation. For those of us who grew up in India, we know that Mahatma Gandhi's inspiration for Satyagraha was ignited by the racial (actually skin colour) injustices he was subjected to as a young barrister in South Africa. Modern South Africa is resetting centuries of racial injustice and is doing so admirably in my opinion. Vestiges of past feelings do permeate on all sides of this equation: folks who lost their privileged status are resentful, some people are angry at past injustices, but overall the vast majority just want to pick up and move on. They are South Africa's hope and future. It will take a couple of generations to erase the effects of apartheid and so these next 30 years or so are going to be very critical. Skills and proficiencies are in short supply, and the government at all levels need to transform to a meritocracy to ensure competent governance. Activism got South africa out of apartheid, but it will need much more than activism to move South africa to its rightful place in the comity of nations. While these issues are common in all nations that have struggled against the scourge of colonialism, it is more acute in South Africa. From my very limited vantage, I can only hope that this process accelerate considerably. 

Sports

Sports seems to be leveling field. Football (soccer), Rugby and Cricket are team sports that becoming universal symbols of unity. Its been a rather bad season in both Rugby and cricket though, but in the case of their loss against Australia in Rugby, all South Africans were universal in their praise for the team and the game they played, and universally critical of the referee ! As is increasingly common the world over, South African of  Indian origins play a prominent role in the national Cricket team including their captain Hashim Amla. But the South African Cricket team is being pummeled by - well those Aussies again !   As elsewhere, The Premier League  and 20-Twenty are hugely popular and enquiries into allegations of corruption in the SA Cricket Board abound.

My ESC Assignment in South Africa

I am currently on an ESC assignment in Johannesberg, South Africa.  ESC stands for executive Service Corps and is aligned with the more well known Corporate Service Corp (CSC) that is run by IBM's Corporate Citizenship Affairs. You can read a short essay about the CSC here

Briefly,  small teams (about 6 for ESC and 10-12 for CSC) are sent to locations where they work with local government, NGOs and such to address problems of mutual interest aligned to IBM's Smarter Planet agenda.

Our team of six is in Johannesberg (also called Joberg, CoJ....) working the Municipality on their vision of a smart Joberg. Specifically we are addressing the issue of Public Safety. But more on that later.

We have spent a few months preparing for this assignment back home, but the reality of the task ahead hits us when we are here physically. We arrived on the 9th of October and have been busy scoping out the problem and defining a subset that we can contribute in a lasting way that will help the city make the transformation to their vision of a smarter Johannesburg. We obviously also work closely with local South Africa IBM folks, and also plan to meet with their employees in mentoring sessions and the like.

Its been about a week since we've been here and we have been quite busy. I will try to keep this blog on our SA activities current - my first task is to catch up to this week which I plan to do this weekend.

December 28th 2006

There is so much talk about blogs and such that I thought I should get into the act.

I am not sure what I'll be writing about but clearly my thoughts for the day that I think I can share with the general public.

The big thing I am doing to day is continue my reading of theArgumentative Indian by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.