GAMA Newsletter December 2017

NEW SL ETTER DECEMBER 2017CHRISTMASRECIPES! Exclusive photos from GAMA's Christmas/ New Year event RAKSHAKAN Short story by Jane Joseph

PRESIDENT'SMESSAGESHANKARCHANDRAMOHANDear readers,GAMA wishes you all a very happy and prosperous2018. In this winter edition of GAMA newsletter, Iwould like to reflect upon the past year for GAMA.GAMA had quite an eventful year in 2017. In this year,the organization?s mission was to serve thecommunity with cultural activities and eventsyear-round, along with respecting its responsibilitiesand focusing on a professional execution. Lookingback, we can confidently say that we did our best toalign with this mission. We conducted a total of 18activities and events this year ? SaReGAMA, GAMA'sBirthday Trivia Contest, Free Math Evaluation Session,Malayalam Workshop, Robotics Class, Spring Fest,Hurricane Harvey Relief Drive, NeighborhoodPookalam Competition, Onam, 6 Sports Tournaments(Soccer, Volleyball, Throwball, Tennis, Table-Tennis andCricket), Game Day, GYG Toy Drive and Christmas/NewYear. In the educational domain, GAMA restructuredthe Malayalam classes to align with the Malayalamcurriculum of University of Texas. GAMA also startedthe first batch of UT Malayalam credit course inNovember. Since January 2017, the GAMA Board metmonthly to plan, prepare and organize all theseevents. The enthusiasm of the team was high and theprofessionalism was at its best, resulting in GAMAbeing a finalist for the best non-profit organizationaward by Austin Business Journal this year.

As you all know, being on GAMA's director board is ademanding and time-consuming responsibility. Itdemands remarkable dedication from individuals whoare willing to go the extra mile for their community.This year, a team of 15 Directors administered theassociation. Of these, 7 directors (Sivaprasad Valappil,Lisa Thomas, Bipin Ravi, Bijoy James, JayaprakashPattonakandi, Renju Raj and myself) are retiring aftercompleting the 2-year tenure. Let us thank andappreciate their efforts and wish them well. I wouldalso like to thank all the GYG directors for their helpand support for us.It?s time to pass on the baton to the new team for theyear 2018. Let us welcome the new directors - GeoJoseph, Jacob Thomas, Rakhesh Raveendran, SajeevSadasivan, Sandya Nair, Shine Thankappan, SreejithNambiar and Uma Sitaraman - who were approved byour general body in December. They will join thecontinuing team - Anu Mahesh, Arif Rasheed,Bhagheerathy Rabishanker, Binu Babu, KamalVijayakumar, Remesh Chandra, SankarnathPangapattu and Suresh Venukuttan. One takeawayfrom my experience to the new Board of Directorswould be \"To do great work, love what you do\", alongwith respecting the responsibilities and focusing onprofessional execution. I wish them all the best and asuccessful year ahead.We were able to organize all activities of GAMA thisyear by the selfless services of our directors andvolunteers from the community and our well-wishers.We are thankful to each one of you who worked hardwith us to make all activities a grand success.Sincerely,Shankar ChandramohanPresident, GAMA

MEETOURTEAM Dear readers, The season of festivities is upon us. A time to make memories with our friends and family as we bid adieu to yet another year and welcome new beginnings with the new year . GAMA started off the holiday season with our Christmas/New Year event on December 2. In this edition of GAMA's newsletter, we bring you exclusive coverage of this event, along with featured short stories by Jane Joseph and Premachandran P., and a few Christmas recipes. We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter as you cuddle up with a cozy blanket and sip your hot cocoa. We wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Please send your valuable suggestions and feedback to [email protected]. Sincerely, The Newsletter TeamBhagheerathy Rabishanker Bipin Ravi Kamal VijayakumarLisa Thomas Sankarnath Pangappattu Shankar Chandramohan

GAMAANNUALREPORT2017GAMA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable LISATHOMASorganization for Indian Americans who haveroots in Kerala and are bonded by the WEB/ SOCIALMEDIAcommon language of Malayalam. Theassociation is administered by the Board of To facilitate effective communication withDirectors comprising of 15 members. Since regards to news, events and activities to theJanuary 2017, we have met on a monthly community, GAMA uses our website,basis to plan, prepare and organize several Facebook group, twitter, text messages andcultural and arts programs. And thanks to weekly communication emails. Following arethe Austin community, we have had some of the major achievements of the teamtremendous participation this year. On this year:behalf of all members of the association, Ithank the directors for their hard work and - Introduction of GAMA Austin twitterdedication during this year. acco u n t .SPONSORSHIP - Leveraging QR code technology on all GAMA ticket purchases.Sponsorships are pivotal to GAMA andprovide the financial base for various - Introduction of SMS text alerts fornon-profit and other community activities program updates and GAMA news.throughout the year. The current year ?sSponsorship team has done a tremendous - A completely redesigned GAMAjob by on-boarding several new businesses to website, which will be launched in Janour sponsorship portfolio. For the year 2017, 2018GAMA has had a total of 14 sponsors, out ofwhich, 6 are top tier platinum sponsors. - Also as a major achievement of GAMAHighlights from the sponsorship team are as 2017, the web team is pleased tofollows: announce the introduction of the first version of GAMA mobile app to the - Introduction of well-laid out community, available to public in Jan contractual agreements outlining 2018. various benefits and packages and expectations for the sponsors. MOVIES - Free kids' educational events organized For the year 2017, we screened 10 movies, for the community at full sponsorship. sold more than 1000 tickets and offered volunteer discounts on movie tickets, - Roped in sponsors for GAMA sports including a discounted price for the movie events in 2017. screened during the 2017 GAMA anniversary month. We also introduced in-theater ticket purchase capabilities using Square. Thank you movie lovers for supporting us!

VENUES&NEWSLETTER the second edition of the Cricket tournament. Also organized Chess andThe team did an amazing job this year by caroms competitions as part of the Gamegiving a new magazine-like look to the Day.quarterly newsletter, with structured content.The venue selection for all the 2017 events GAMAYOUTHGROUP(GYG)has been excellent and we received severalpositive feedbacks regarding the same. The The youth wing is a forum for the children ofteam also worked on providing GAMA members in Middle & High Schools.comprehensive media coverage for all the The Board of directors actively manages andevents organized by GAMA during the year - mentors this group through their volunteerincluding Manorama Online, Mathrubhumi, journey. The 2017 GYG office bearers wereAustin South-Asian, Flowers TV USA and Kiran Chandrashekar (President), KalyaniKeral.tv (media partners for Onam). Valath (Vice President), and Vaishnav Bipin (Secretary). A big shout out to our youthMALAYALAMSCHOOL group for putting in a good amount of meaningful volunteer hours during theIn an ongoing effort to continue our rich GAMA events this year.heritage, we are trying to help our younggeneration learn and be fluent in our mother INVENTORYtongue, GAMA conducts Malayalam classesevery Saturday at Cedar Park Mathnasium. During 2017, GAMA added various reusableThe tutors follow the UT Austin syllabus and assets to our inventory such as banners,the academic year runs from August to May. buckets, tents, etc. With a growing inventoryThis is a three-year course to cover the entire of items, a 5 x 10 storage space was rentedsyllabus and will culminate with a graduation by GAMA and the appropriate inventoryceremony. Also students in Grade 9 and items were secured as necessary. GAMA alsoabove will qualify to attend a 3-months crash rents out all these inventory items to othercourse for UT credits. The team is currently associations/organizations on an as neededconducting a refresher course for UT credit basis.for school grads. GAMA continues to improve every year, withSPORTS tremendous support from volunteers and the community for every event we host.The Sports team organizes various sporting GAMA will continue to function as a socialevents for our community. We strive to outlet to our community and will facilitateprovide a competitive but fun & fair playing the safe and healthy cultural development ofenvironment, where players gather to have a our children.good time but also develop & showcase theirsporting skills. In the past year, the sports I thank you all for your support over the pastteam conducted the first ever Soccer 12 months.tournament, Women?s Throw balltournament, Volleyball tournament, TableTennis Tournament, Tennis Tournament and







GAMACHRISTMAS/ NEWYEAR 2017

GAMA jump-started the holiday season byorganizing a Christmas/New Year event onDecember 2 at Klett Center for the PerformingTITLEHEREArtsin Georgetown.GAMA Director Bijoy James welcomed theaudience, and Reverend Father PhilipposeSankarathil from St. Paul's Orthodox Church,Dallas, graciously inaugurated the event andrelayed the Christmas message. The eventfeatured a number of captivating performancesby children and adults alike, includingBollywood as well as semi-classical dances, skit,and group song. The highlight of the eveningwas when Santa made a special appearance tospread holiday cheer and greet the childrenwith a bag full of chocolates. GAMA DirectorJayaprakash Pattonakandi concluded the eventby thanking the chief guest, performers,audience and sponsors who made the eveningpossible.GAMA's Annual General Body Meeting was alsoconducted as part of the event. The directorswho served two years on GAMA Board -Shankar Ch an d r am oh an (Pr esid en t ),Sivaprasad Valappil (Vice President), LisaThomas (Secretary), Bipin Ravi (Treasurer), BijoyJames (Director), Jayaprakash Pattonakandi(Director) and Renju Raj (Director) - werepresented mementos for their outstandingservice to the Malayalee community of Austin.GAMA also elected new board members for theyears 2018-2019 - Geo Joseph, Jacob P. Thomas,Rakhesh Raveendran, Sajeev Sadasivan,Sandhya Nair, Shine Thankappan, SreejithNambiar and Uma Sitaraman.This year 's event attracted an unprecedentednumber of Austinites who were treated to anarray of scrumptious food catered by ChilliGardens.

CHRISTMAS/ NEWYEAR2017

CHRISTMAS/ NEWYEAR2017

CHRISTMAS/ NEWYEAR2017

CHRISTMAS/ NEWYEAR2017

Jan e Joseph















\"Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The Little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay, The Little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay...\"

FROMTHECOOKBOOK PALAPPAMANDFISHMOLLY MINITHOMAS Christmas brings joy, peace and love in our lives and this is a great time for the families to unite together. The spirit of Christmas is the same in Kerala too. Christmas brings family members together and we celebrate Christmas with lights, stars, music, gifts and food. Christmas family meal is traditionally an important part of the holiday celebration, and the food that is served varies greatly from country to country. Kerala Christians celebrate with variety of foods and the breakfast is an important meal for them. One of the most common breakfasts served at Christian houses on Christmas day is, Palappam with chicken stew, mutton stew or egg curry. But my most favorite to go with Appam is none of these, but Fish Molly. Here is the recipe for my own style of Palappam and Fish Molly.

PALAPPAMAppams are circular soft centered, lacy pancakes made of fine ground raw rice flour andcoconut, fermented with a small amount of fresh ?kallu?or toddy. Since it is difficult to get freshtoddy, many use yeast.INGREDIENTS3 cups of white rice (I usually use Idly Rice)2 fistful of cooked rice2 cups grated coconut or 1.5 cup of thick coconut milk¾ tsp of dry active yeast3 table spoon sugar1 beaten eggSalt and water as requiredOil as requiredMETHODRinse the rice a couple of timesand soak it in water for 4 to 5 hrs.Once the rice is soft, grind it to a fine consistency.Add the grated coconut and cooked rice and grind again.Pour the batter to a large bowl or a pan.Soak the yeast in a little warm water with sugar for about a minute.Add sugar, beaten egg and yeast mixture to this batter.Add the required amount of water and mix well.Keep the batter aside for 4 to 5 hours for fermentation. The batter will rise and increase involu m e.Heat the kadai or appam pan with handle. Smear some oil to the heated kadai. If using anonstick pan, skip the oil.Spread a ladle full of batter, turn and tilt the pan to spread the batter. Cover the pan with a lidand let the appam cook until the base is light golden in color.

FISHMOLLYFish Mollly is one of my favorite fish dishes. The word molly means stew. People use severaltypes of fish such as king fish, pomfret, Kerala?s own karimeen and tilapia. My favorite fish forfish molly is karimeen. Since fresh karimeen is hard to find in U.S, I usually use Tilapia fillets.INGREDIENTSFish Steaks ? medium sized pieces (1/2 kg)Cinnamon ? 2 piecesCloves ? 3Cardamom ? 6Peppercorn ? 1 teaspoonCoriander powder ? ½ table spoonTurmeric powder ? ¼ teaspoonGreen chili ? 4Ginger ? 1 inch piece

INGREDIENTS(CONTD.)Garlic ? 2 clovesShallots ? 10Tomato ? 1 small sizeCoconut milk (thin) ? 1.5 cupCoconut milk (thick) ? 1 cupVinegar ? 2 table spoonCurry Leaves ? 1 sprigCoconut oil ? 4 table spoonsSalt ? to tasteMETHODCrush the peppercorn.Marinate the fish with turmeric powder, salt and half of the crushed peppercorn.Finely chop the ginger, garlic, green chili and shallots.Slice the onion and tomatoes.Crush the cardamom.Heat 3 table spoons of coconut oil in a pan and shallow fry the marinated fish for 2 minutes oneach side and keep it aside.Add one more table spoon of cooking oil to the left over oil in the same cooking pan. Addcinnamon, cardamom and cloves. and stir it for a few seconds.Reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped garlic, ginger and green chili.When this turns golden brown, reduce the heat to low and add coriander powder and turmericpowder and stir for a few seconds.Add the thin coconut milk to this mixture and allow it to boil.Add the fried fish into this gravy. Reduce the heat to medium and cover the dish. Do not stir.Once the fish is cooked, add sliced tomatoes, crushed peppercorn and vinegar.After a minute, add the thick coconut milk and stir by rotating the pan.Remove from heat when the curry starts boiling.Transfer the fish molly in to a serving dish and sprinkle the curry leaves on top. You also cangarnish the dish with fried nuts like, cashews and raisins.Enjoy with the freshly made palappam.

BEEFANDKAYAULARTHIYATHU VANISUSEELINGREDIENTSBeef - ½ kgKaya (raw banana) - 2 medium-bigFor M ar in at ion : Chilly powder - ½ tbsp Pepper powder - ½ tsp Coriander powder - ¾tbsp Ginger & garlic - 1 tbsp, crushed Vinegar - 2 tsp (optional. Vinegar acts as a meat tenderizer and you can omit it if you wish. The curry tastes better the next day or keep at least a few hours before serving.) Salt Curry leaves

INGREDIENTS(CONTD.)For M asala: Small onion (kunjulli) - ¾ cup, sliced finely Ginger & garlic - 1 tbsp, crushed Chilli powder - ½ tbsp Coriander powder - ¾ tbsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tbsp Water - ¾ cup Mustard seeds - ¼ tsp Curry leaves Coconut oilMETHODClean the beef and cut into bite size pieces.Marinate the beef with chilli powder, pepper powder, coriander powder, crushed ginger andgarlic, vinegar, salt and curry leaves (ingredients listed under marination). Keep aside for 10m in u t es.Add ¾ cup of water to the marinated beef and cook well. Drain the cooked pieces and keep thestock aside.Cut the raw banana in cubes and cook with salt & water. Drain the water and keep aside thecooked banana.Heat oil in a pan & splutter the mustard seeds.Add finely sliced small onions, crushed ginger & garlic & curry leaves. Cook for a few minutes.Add the chilly powder, coriander power, turmeric powder and fry till the oil starts appearing.Add the cooked beef and banana to this. Mix well.Add the stock of the beef and mix well. Add more salt if necessary.Cover & cook till the beef pieces & banana cubes are coated well with the gravy. Remove fromthe stove.Delicious beef and kaya ularthiyathu is ready!

GINGERBREADLOAFWITHLEMONGLAZE BETTINAS.JOHNGINGERBREAD 1 tablespoon orange zest ½-¾ cup chopped crystallized gingerIn gr edien t s: (optional, but is a nice surprise) 2 cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat 1/2 cup olive oil or melted butter (8 pastry flour tablespoon/1 stick) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 1 tablespoon ground ginger 1 cup buttermilk 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Met hod: Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Brush the paper and the sides of the pan with oil. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, spices and orange zest) in a bowl. Add in the crystallized ginger and mix thoroughly. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the oil/butter with molasses. Beat until the mixture is not very thick. Beat in the eggs and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Do not over mix. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. This will take about 50-55 minutes. Start checking if the loaf is done before 50 minutes. Once outside the oven, let the cake cool in the pan for about 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.LEMONGLAZEIn gr edien t s: ½ cup confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon cream or half and halfMet hod:Combine the confectioners sugar with lemon juice and add cream till the mixture is thick butcan be drizzled. Add more cream to thin out the glaze.Let the loaf cool completely and then drizzle the glaze on top of the gingerbread. Thegingerbread is not very sweet, so you can double the glaze if you like it to be sweet. Thegingerbread flavors take time to develop. The loaf is best made a day ahead.Not es:If you do not have buttermilk on hand, add 1 tablespoon vinegar/lemon juice to a cup of milk,stir and let it sit for 5-10 minutes till the mixture becomes curdled. Once curdled, this can beadded to the batter instead of the buttermilk.I used a whisk to mix the ingredients. You don?t need a hand mixer or stand mixer if you do nothave one. It will certainly make the job easier if you use a hand mixer.Fans of caramel sauce can use that instead of the lemon glaze. I highly recommend some kindof glaze or sauce if you like the loaf to be sweet.Recipe adapted from the blog She wears many hats https://shewearsmanyhats.com/homemade-gingerbread-loaf-recipe/

KIDS' CORNER WINTERSRUTIRAMACHANDRAN,AGE14 ?It?s Winter!?, the children cry, As white tipped ashes fall from the sky, Coating everything with a cover of snow, Leaving no trace of fall to show. The winter wind blows with might, Illuminated by the cold blue ice, Sparkling off the winter snow, Blowing leaves off their perch. The world is lit up with light, Crystalline and pure, paradise. And all of the people rejoice, For winter is a time of joy. Yet winter is not all nice, Brought with vigor, wrought with vice,As the trees wither away into their hollow shells, The forest is silent, for all to tell. But in the distance can be heard, The joyful voices of the carolers, The church bells ringing, And the children playing.

KIDS' CORNER ROSEGOWRIMENON,AGE11

KIDS' CORNER TWILIGHTSRUTIRAMACHANDRAN,AGE14