The drumstick tree's leaves are its most nutritious part. See Drumstick at Wikipedia. They are particularly rich in Vitamin A, calcium, potassium, protein, apart from several other micronutrients. The leaves are commonly used in Indian recipes, particularly in the south. They are usually used whole or chopped. But one disadvantage is that they tend to clump together.

Recently, my wife Susan Mathius made two dishes which I couldn't find on the Internet: Moringa Paneer and Moringa Soup.

In both cases, the leaves are not used whole but scalded and pureed in a blender in the same way that spinach is used in Palak Paneer.

Here are the recipes.

1. Drumstick Leaf Paneer Curry

Paneer: 200 gms
Drumstick leaves: 2 cups
Onion chopped: 1 medium sized
Green chillies: 2
Garlic: 5 pods
Lime Juice: 2 tablespoons
Oil
Water
Salt

Cut Paneer into cubes and shallow fry it and keep aside.
Boil drumstick leaves in a vessel for few minutes. Add salt. Let it cool for a while. Blend it in a blender and keep aside.

Put oil in vessel. Add chopped onions and fry for 3 minutes.
Add chopped garlic and fry for a minute. Add green chillies and fry for a while.
Add pureed drumstick leaves and let simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add fried paneer and salt to it.
Transfer it to a serving bowl and add lime juice.

2. Drumstick Leaf Soup

Drumstick leaves: 2 cups
Tomatoes: 2 medium sized
Garlic: 4 pods
Green chillies: 2
Water: 2 cups
Salt

Boil drumstick leaves with 2 cups of water, garlic and green chillies for few minutes. Add salt and keep aside.
Blanch tomatoes and remove the skin.
Blend the drumstick leaves and the tomatoes in a blender. Heat the pureed drumstick leaves and tomatoes for 3-5 minutes.
Serve hot. Add salt and/or pepper if required.

This is what I said in November 2011: "I shall therefore go out on a limb and predict that in December 2012 the S&P 500 will touch 800."

On 31 December 2012 the S&P 500 closed at 1407.

The beginning of the next crash is overdue

Famous last words!

A few days ago I bought an Aircel mobile connection for use in a data dongle. The 2G speeed was not very good, so I asked for an upgrade to a 3G. It was activated after a day. The speed was reasonably good, so I went in for a Rs 697 3G data package valid for 30 days. A day later I'm still on 2G, with no response at all to my complaint.

Aircel actually has no 3G service in Thiruvananthapuram; it operates through Tata Docomo. The mobile store keeper knew this but still sold me an Aircel card, probably because Aircel pays a higher commission.

Be warned.

In my previous blog on 9 August 2012 I had said that monetary indicators were showing a slowdown. It seems I spoke too early.

The graph of M1 plus sweeps minus business loans below shows a continued rise.

The graph of Corrected Money Supply shows an ongoing rise. See the graph below.

Equity indices across the world are at a several-month-high. Investors seem to be hoping against hope that the bad news of the past year is past. Alas, two monetary measures that we have been tracking indicate otherwise.

The graph of Corrected Money Supply below seems to be faltering after rising continuously since 2009.

The graph of M1 plus sweeps minus business loans shows that the recent contraction is continuing.

The rationale behind Corrected Money Supply is explained in my ebook The General Theory of Money.

The rationale behind the second graph is more complex. But anyone who reads my book should be able to guess why it mirrors the economy so well.