What is a cheque book : some useful points to note

Introduction to Bank cheque book

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Cheque book is very familier to all of us. If you have a bank account, then you should have a cheque book. You can fill the form while opening for the account first time. Having a chequebook will provide lot of facilities to you. Generally there is a limit to withdraw money by ATM card, but for cheque book you can go for any amount.

A cheque is the usual method of withdrawing money from a current account, Savings accounts are also permitted to be operated by cheques provided certain minimum balance is maintained. A cheque without a date is considered incomplete  and is returned unpaid by the banks. A cheque that bears a date earlier than six months is a stale cheque and can not be claimed for.

Types of Cheques:

There are many types of chequebook available in every bank. Each type has its own use. Among them few are : Bearer Cheque, Order Cheque, Non transferable, Crossed Cheque/Account payee cheque, Post-Dated Cheque etc. Always ask your bank clerk about your requirement and then apply for a chequebook.

Who can apply for a cheque book :

There are many types of chequebook available in every bank. Each type has its own use. Among them few are : Bearer Cheque, Order Cheque, Non transferable, Crossed Cheque/Account payee cheque, Post-Dated Cheque etc. Always ask your bank clerk about your requirement and then apply for a chequebook.

Advantages of a cheque:

You can carry the cheque book instead of cash. For a big payment you can use the cheque.
If you dont have access to internet banking or you don't have your own laptop, you can go for cheque book to complete your payments. As its not advised to use internet banking from a cyber cafe. Its not safe.
In case of cheque, there is no limit of amount for any payment. As per your balance maintained in your account you can pay as much as you can.You can reissue a cheque book easily from branch or even internet banking.

Disadvantages/Risks of a cheque :

1. You should always know how much balance is there in your acocunt. Otherwise if you make a payment greater than your account balance, your cheque will bounce. In that case you have to pay a penalty. Sometimes you have to feel the embarassment also.
2. Becarefull with your signature. Dont disclose it. Keep your chequebook in a safe place.
3. Dont sign a blank cheque for future use. May be you think it will save you time. But if it reaches to someone else by any chance, just think what can happen.

Best practices to follow:

1. Always fill the details clearly. Dont overwrite any text.
2. Mention the date and amount clearly.
3. Always mention account payee on the top left of the cheque.
4. In the cheque book maintain all the cheque numbers with corresponding details.
5. Dont use ink pen to fill a cheque. Use only ball pen.
6. While submitting a cheque to a bank, mention your account number and phone number. The bank clerk might need to contact you.
7. Always keep the cheque deposit slip from the bank for reference.

Idli recipe

Idli Recipe

Recipe Category	Veg, Breakfast
Easy to make at home	Very easy
Ingredients Availability	Available everywhere
Time to Prepare	20 min
This preparation Serves	2-3 person

What elements required to make idli

Ingredients:
500gm urad daal
100 gm rice (atap rice)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sugar
hot water
idli maker

How to make idli 

1. Soak rice and dal in separate container overnight.
2. Now grind them to paste separately. Use hot water while grinding.
3. Now mix both the paste and add salt, sugar.
4. Make a thick paste and keep the mixture for 10-11 hours.
5. Now in the idli maker add the batter in small idli container and cover.
6. cook for 25-30 min. Idli is ready.
7. be careful while making the batter, as a thin batter will not make a good idli.

Chickpeas in a Tomato and Tamarind Gravy with Spices

Often I have been asked where my inspiration comes from in the kitchen. Plenty and varied it is. At times, when I am having a sleepless night, I will draft a recipe in my head and jot it down in the morning. At other times, I will get an idea and fuse a few recipes ideas into one that can surely be said to be my own. I enjoy looking through cookbooks and, time permitting, visiting my favorite blogs for ideas that I can adapt from and enjoy. At this point in time, after cooking for many years, I understand the correct balance of flavors and proportions that will please the senses of most of my friends and myself and husband.

Oddly enough, this food blogger who cooks up creations that receive rave reviews does not like to eat too much at a time. Not a bad thing when you consider it. Why tax your system with a huge meal? All the same, if I am not really that hungry, my own food is the cure to that problem most of the time. I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but just saying that I know what I like. This thick chickpea dish is almost like a chutney and certainly pairs well with grains or wrapped up in a flatbread.

Chickpeas in a Tomato and Tamarind Gravy with Spices

Recipe by Lisa Turner Cuisine: Indian Published on June 5, 2012 Chickpeas simmered in a thick and earthy but tangy and spicy tomato and tamarind gravy Print this recipe Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas 1-inch piece fresh ginger, minced 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 4 - 5 black cardamon pods, crushed 1 stick of cinnamon 2 bay leaves 5 cups water 3 tablespoons sesame oil or ghee 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon ajwain seeds or dried thyme 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon garam masala 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper pinch of asafetida 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt 1 large tomato, diced 3 fresh green chilies, seeded and sliced into small strips 3 tablespoons tamarind paste 1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped 2 tablespoons fresh mint, trimmed and chopped Instructions: Rinse the chickpeas and soak for 8 hours or overnight in several inches of water with a little yogurt whey or lemon juice added. Drain and rinse, and transfer to a large saucepan along with the ginger, garlic, baking soda, cardamon pods, cinnamon, bay leaves and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the chickpeas are tender. Mash some of the chickpeas with a fork or potato masher. Heat the oil or ghee over medium heat in a frying pan. When hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and ajwain seeds or dried thyme. Stir and fry until the mustard seeds begin to pop. Toss in the onion and stir and fry for 5 minutes or until the onion begins to brown. Now add the spices and salt and stir and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook until the mixture is thickened. Transfer to the pan of chickpeas along with the chilies, tamarind and half of the chopped herbs. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat slightly. and cook for another 15 minutes or until thickened. Garnish with the remaining herbs and serve hot with fresh cooked rice or flatbreads. Makes 6 servings

More Chickpea dishes you are sure to enjoy from my Vegetarian Cooking site:
Baked Paneer and Chickpea Cutlets
Chana Saag
Chickpea Vindaloo
Chickpeas with Mushrooms

On the top of the reading stack: browsing my library

Audio Accompaniment: silence

Cauliflower Kachori (Gobi ki kachori)

Cauliflower Kachori Recipe

Recipe Category	Veg, Snack Recipe
Easy to make at home	Very easy
Ingredients Availability	Available everywhere
Time to Prepare	20 min
This preparation Serves	3 person

What elements required to make this recipe

Ingredients:
1 big gobi or cauliflower
1 potato
1 big onion finely chopped
250 gm Maida
15-20 pea nuts
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 green chili finely chopped
1 tbsp jeera powder
1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp sauf (Misti jeera)
2 tbsp mustard oil
1/2 tbsp ghee
Sunflower/Soybean oil for deep fry
Salt to taste

How to make Gobi ki Kachori 

1. Cut the gobi in small pieces and also cut the potato in cubes.
2. Boil them both with little salt in a pan.
3. Now mash half of boiled vegetables with maida(flour) and salt. Make a dough.
4. In a pan heat oil and fry the pea nuts first.
5. Then add raw jeera (sauf). Wait for spluttering.
6. Add onions, rest half vegetables and fry them properly for 5-6 min in a medium flame.
7. Add jeera powder, turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste to that.
8. Finally add ghee and if required add salt.
9. Now from the dough, make 2 poori and put the fried vegetables as stuffing.
10. Seal the outlines of the poories. It will be like a stuffed kachori.
11. Now deep fry the kachori's one by one.
12. Serve hot with sauce.

Chicken Cutlet

Chicken Cutlet Recipe

Recipe Category	Non Veg, Snack Recipe
Easy to make at home	Very easy
Ingredients Availability	Available everywhere
Time to Prepare	30 min
This preparation Serves	3 person

What All Elements Need To Prepare This Recipe

Ingredients:
200g Chicken Keema (You can purchase from supermarket)
1 potato
1 big onion finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 green chili finely chopped
1 tbsp jeera powder
1 tbsp Chicken Masala/Sabji Masala
1 egg
Bread crumbs or biscuit powder (you can prepare at home)
2 tbsp mustard oil
1/2 tbsp ghee
Sunflower/Soybean oil for deep fry
Salt to taste

How to make Chicken Cutlet Recipe

1. Boil the potato and then make a peel.
2. In a pan add oil and heat for 1-2 min.
3. Add chopped onions and chilies. Stir well till golden brown.
4. Add chicken keema, salt to that and fry them altogether.
5. After 5-7 min of cooking, add ginger garlic paste and other masalas.
6. Add little ghee to taste well.
7. Finally add the potatoes and make a dough.
8. In a separate container beat the egg with salt and in another one take bread crumbs.
9. Now from the dough, make cutlet shapes. Dip that cutlet in the beaten egg.
10. Next cover it with bread crumbs.
11. Finally put the cutlet in a deep pan for deep frying.
12. Fry till the color turns dark and crispy.
13. Serve hot with sauce and salad.

Fresh lemon pound cake

Babies are cute and adorable but they’re also a handful – their moms usually do not have time for anything else but them. A very good friend of mine is the mother of a beautiful baby boy and when she invited me to first visit her son I knew I could not go empty handed: besides a present for the baby I brought a freshly baked cake for her, too (which she told me later made a wonderful breakfast)

Fenugreek Leaf Dosa

Really, I can't get enough of dosas, otherwise known as Indian crepes or crispy savory pancakes and easily confused with the names of other Indian pancakes whose names that I have trouble keeping track of. Depending on the region and various cuisines of India, references to these delights vary, but essentially the common aspect of these fried flatbreads is that the batter typically consists of fermented legumes and often rice. A staple in South India, these are easy to prepare but, yes, a bit time consuming if you make just one at a time. A tip is to heat two pans with some oil so that you aren't standing in the kitchen for too long.

I also can't get enough of using fenugreek leaves, also known as methi, as a seasoning. Dried fenugreek leaves are easily available in any Indian or Asian grocer. Perfect with chutney or any other spicy sauce, these fenugreek leaf dosas can be enjoyed for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or snacking anytime your tummy wants something that is good for you.

Fenugreek Leaf Pancake (Methi Dosa)

Recipe by Lisa Turner Cuisine: Indian Published on June 3, 2012 Fragrant Indian pancakes seasoned with coconut, spices and dried fenugreek leaves Print this recipe Ingredients: 1/2 cup basmati rice 1 cup split mung beans 1/2 cup dried unsweetened coconut 3 - 5 dried whole red chillies 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (remove any seeds) 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon cayenne a good few handfuls of dried fenugreek leaves (methi) sea salt to taste 1 1/2 cups of water sesame oil for frying Instructions: Thoroughly rinse the rice and split mung beans and soak overnight in enough water to cover. Drain and transfer to a food processor. Add the coconut, chilies, tamarind, spices, fenugreek leaves and salt. Process, gradually adding the water until you have a batter that is of pouring consistency. Cover the mixture with a clean dishcloth and let stand for a few hours. Heat a teaspoon or so of oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When hot, ladle about 1/2 cup of batter into the pan and use the back of the ladle to form the pancake into a circle roughly 7 inches in diameter. Drizzle a little oil over the pancake, and cook until small holes begin to form and the bottom is golden brown (about 3 to 5 minutes). Flip the pancake and cook for another few minutes. Repeat for the rest of the pancakes. Keep them warm on a plate in a 150° oven while you complete the process. Serve warm with a spicy chutney or sauce. Reheat leftovers in foil wrap in a 350° oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Makes about 10 – 12 pancakes

More Indian flatbreads from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen you are sure to enjoy:
Rice Flour Pancakes
Savoury Rice and Urad Dal Pancakes
Makki Di Roti (Griddle Cooked Corn Bread)
Chickpea Flour Pancakes (Pudla) with Crushed Peas, Ginger, Chilies and Cilantro

On the top of the reading stack: The Indian Grocery Store Demystified by Linda Bladholm

Audio Accompaniment: The Roots