Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Financial Planning

Basic and simple steps of financial planning

A financial plan can be a budget, a plan for spending and saving future income. This plan allocates future income to various types of expenses, such as rent or utilities, and also reserves some income for short-term and long-term savings. A financial plan can also be an investment plan, which allocates savings to various assets or projects expected to produce future income, such as a new business or product line, shares in an existing business, or real estate.

Mediclaim

It protects your savings when you are admitted in hospital and by submitting medical bills/doctor’s certificate, you can easily claim with the medical insurance company.

Recently, they started to issue cashless cards and it’s easy for patients to get admit in listed hospitals.

- You are safe as the expenses would be taken care by medical insurance company


Insurance

It’s not an investment, yeah! It’s only for your life safety coverage.

In your absence, your family would get the insurance claim amount and I suggest for “term insurance” where the returns would be very low however the insurance coverage would starts from 25lakhs. For more details on insurance coverage and how it’s work, click here

- You are secured with the basis insurance coverage with minimum premium amount.

Savings

There are lots of products available in the market with different assets classes like bonds, equity, mutual funds, real estate, gold, currency and portfolio management services (PMS)

Keep your portfolio with 20:30:50

It’s simple calculation, liquidity (emergency or short term funds 20%) - balanced (Medium term funds 30%) - equity (Long term funds 50%) it’s suits for the person who is within/around the age of 30 and for others who crossed the age of above 60, it’s vice versa.

- You have basic financial planning for your earning.

For more details, please get in touch with your nearby financial planner

Kulfi an Indian Icecream

Kulfi is one of the famous ice creams in India and varieties are available in different flavors.

Am fond of Kulfi ice creams and used to have Kulfi in Besant Nagar beach in Chennai where Kulfi’s are available in mobile ice cream shops (upto 4 Kulfi's at once).

Quality Kulfi ice cream would available in Besant Nagar beach near to the entrance and the cost would be 20INR as first quality and second quality would be 15INR


Special of Kulfi ice cream:

Kulfi is the famous Indian ice cream served by most Indian restaurants all over the world. It gets its special texture from the small bits of milk-skin that comes from simmering the milk slowly in an open wok.

Traditionally, Kulfi-wallahs used to freeze it in little earthenware or terracotta cones, with earthenware lids sealed in place with dough. It was then frozen in old-fashioned ice-cream makers using a mix of salt and ice, to lower the temperature enough to freeze. You can make it in any container in your home freezer. It is served with Falooda or on its own. This falooda is different from the falooda drink popular in Mumbai. Also see Kulfi 2, Kulfi 3 and Mango Kulfi. Makes approximately 10 kulfi cones.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 litre full cream milk
• 1/2 kg. sugar or according to taste - (Diabetics can add artificial sweetener but add it after cooling)
• 1/4 pint of double cream, malai if you live in India (optional)
• 1 tbs. corn flour or arrowroot flour
• 1 tbs. semolina (sooji)
• 3-4 tbs. cold milk or water
• A few strands of saffron (optional)
• 50 gm. almonds, blanched and chopped
• 1/2 cup green pistachios, blanched and chopped
• 1 tsp. green cardamom powder (ground illaichi)
• A little rose water or Kewda (screw pine) water


Instructions

1. Soak pistachio and almonds in hot water, leave for 1/2-1 hour. Hot water loosens the skin. Peel the skins off. Slice thinly or chop in a nut chopper. Do not put in food processor, it will make them too fine & paste like.

2. Boil milk in a wok/karahi/kadhai, until it is reduced to half. You must keep stirring it regularly. If it catches or burns, you have to throw away the whole amount because the smell of burnt milk is rather unpleasant. A heavy bottomed pan or wok works better, as milk is less likely to catch.

3. Keep scrapping off the milk-skin from the sides and bottom of the pan every few minutes and putting it back in the simmering milk. It is this skin that gives the kulfi it's distinctive, rough texture.

4. Dissolve corn flour and semolina in 3-4 tbs. of cold milk or water.

5. Add this, sugar, saffron and cardamom powder to the milk. Stir continuously and boil for a further 5-10 minutes, until the mix thickens like custard. If it is too thin, add a little more corn flour dissolved in cold milk and cook for a further 5 minutes.

6. Cool.

7. Add chopped almond powder and pistachio.

8. Whisk double cream until thick and fluffy, add to the cooled condensed milk, and fold in gently. I usually omit the cream.

9. Freeze in Kulfi moulds or in any airtight container. If you have an ice-cream maker, use that. It will give you a much softer Kulfi. It is traditionally quick frozen in a mix of salt and ice (at low temperature of -20° C). This temperature is difficult to reach in normal home freezer. Kulfi is eaten when it is slightly melting on the outside/edges. So, take out of the freezer 10-20 minutes before serving, less in hot countries. If you don’t have time, either stand the moulds in a bowl of hot water for 10-15 seconds or microwave on full, for no more than 10-15 seconds.

10. Using a knife, ease each kulfi out onto the plate.

11. Serve with Falooda or on its own.


Notes

• Variations

• Chocolate flavoured Kulfi; add 3 tsp. cocoa powder dissolved in 2 tbs. of cold milk, along with cream.

• Mango kulfi; add 200 ml. of mango pulp, along with the cream. If not using cream, cool the boiled milk and then add mango pulp. As mangoes are very sweet, specially the tinned ones, reduce the sugar/sweetner accordingly

• For a sugar free version, use sugar free sweetener, instead of sugar. Add it after the condensed milk has cooled down.

Buy ingredients from a recommended supplier

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