Feature
Favorite Eid recipe of Biryani to mark flavors to this festival
Eid al Fitr 2019 will be celebrated on tentative date Tuesday 4th of June 2019 as actual date is depends on sighting of the moon of Shawwal, the 10th month in the Islamic calendar.
The holy Month of Ramadan where Muslims all over the world celebrates with joy and festivity as they read Quran and Duas with spending maximum time doing Dhikr (which stands for counting on set prayer beads through fingers reciting silently within the mind or aloud).
Whole month of fasting teaches them true meaning of commitment and tolerance while being sympathetic towards the poor and needy. After offering Eid prayers, people greet each other with formal embrace three times.
Mostly a sweet dish is made at home to mark the festival. Everyone gets new clothes made for this occasion. The day full of togetherness and happiness is spent with friends and family as they get together indulging in eating and handing out Eidi (gifts given to kids on Eid, usually money).
The charm of generational recipes biryani, korma and sevaiyyan are some of delicacies which come to mind rejuvenate traditional flavors of the festival. To marks the festive season try this favorite Eid recipe of Biryani that you can cook up home like taste.
Generational recipe of Biryani to mark flavors this Eid festival:
Ingredients:
½ kg Chicken
450 gm Basmati Rice (washed & drained)
3 Green Cardamoms (Elaichi)
½ tsp Mace (Javitri)(ground)
¼ tsp Nutmeg (Jaifal)(grated)
3 Cloves (Lavang)
1 Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini)
2 Whole Star Anise
2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
2 cups thick Curd (Yogurt)
4 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 big Onion (sliced)
2 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
2 tbsp Chilly Powder
A pinch of Saffron (dissolved in 2 tbsp warm milk)
Salt to taste
8 tbsp Oil
2 tbsp Ghee
6 cups Water
Method: Take curd, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, tomato paste, chilly powder, nutmeg, mace, and salt in a bowl and mix into a paste. Marinate the chicken with the paste and keep it to the side for 3-4 hours.
Put water in a pot and get it to boil. Heat ghee in a pan and crackle star anise, cardamoms, cloves & cinnamon. Stir in rice and fry it for 4-5 minutes. Add the rice to the boiling water, sprinkle a pinch of salt and cook until rice is ¾ cooked.
Strain the rice using colander. Take 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry onion until it is golden brown. Remove the onion and keep it to the side. Pour in the remaining oil into the pan and cook the chicken for 6-7 minutes or until it discharges oil.
Mix in rice and add fried onion, ghee and saffron. Now cover the pan with aluminium foil and set the pan over another pan. Cook on high flame for 5 minutes. Reduce the flame to medium and cook for about 20 minutes. Take off the heat and serve hot.
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.