What are some unique things that only happen in Karnataka?

 Karnataka is unique in many things. I will share few points which I know. List would be definitely longer than this.

• Biggest Coffee producer in India

Coffee in India is grown mainly in South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu with Karnataka alone accounting for 70% of the total coffee production. It is grown in Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu districts.

Coffee estate

• Hub of Sandalwood

Karnataka has abundance of Sandalwood tress in India. It is for this reason Kannada film industry is also named as Sandalwood. Many sandal products are manufactured and exported all over the world like Sandal soap and oil.

• Highest producer of silk in India.

Karnataka produces 9,000 metric tons of mulberry silk of a total of 14,000 metric tons produced in the country, thus contributing to nearly 70% of the country's total mulberry silk. In Karnataka, silk is mainly grown in the Mysore district.

• The Oriental Research Institute

The oldest surviving manuscript of the Arthashastra is in the Oriental Research Institute, originally set up as the Mysore Oriental Library in 18th century.

It has around 50,000 palm leaf manuscripts.

• Highest number of Tigers in India

Karnataka has the highest number of tigers with more than 408. Other states with significant populations included Uttarakhand (340), Madhya Pradesh (308), Tamil Nadu (229), Maharashtra (190), Assam (167), Kerala (136) and Uttar Pradesh (117).

• Only state where election ink is manufactured.

Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited located in Mysore is the only authorised centres having rights to manufacture the indelible black ink used to cast vote during Elections in India. So when you vote next time and see the ink on your finger, remember Karnataka :P.

• Only state to have an official permission to manufacture and supply Indian flags.

Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukhta Sangha in Hubli is the only unit in India that has an official permission to manufacture and supply Indian flags. It is in Bengeri in Hubli, is the only unit in India that is authorised to manufacture and supply the Flag of India.

official flag manufacturer in India

• Only state which celebrates state formation day in a very grand manner.

Karnataka is the only state which celebrates it’s state formation day in a very grand manner compared to other states with official holiday and numerous cultural activities. It is also called as Karnataka Rajyotsava which literally means festival of state. It is celebrated on Nov 1st every year.

We can see Karnataka flags on almost every vehicle and so many activities.

Karnataka Rajyotsava - Wikipedia

• Only state where a state flag is used.

Karnataka has unofficial state flag and it is used and respected by all. It is very common to see the flag on vehicles, flag polls in many streets.

• Only state where state anthem has the word Bharata.

Karnataka is one of the few states in India to have it’s own state anthem and it is the only state anthem to have the word Bharata (India). The anthem invokes Mother India first and then invokes Mother Karnataka.

ಜಯ ಭಾರತ ಜನನಿಯ ತನುಜಾತೆ,
ಜಯ ಹೇ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಮಾತೆ!

Jaya bharata jananiya tanujate
Jai he Karnataka mate

Victory to you Mother Karnataka, the daughter of Mother India! is the meaning.

• Sanskrit speaking villages

There are two villages in Karnataka, Matturu and hosahalli, where Sanskrit is used for speaking.

• Sanskrit newspaper

Mysore in Karnataka is the only place in India where Sanskrit newspaper is published.

• Has the best quality buses run by the government.

KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) is the best when it comes to quality of buses in India. It is praised by non Karnataka people also. It has one of the best ticket booking websites.

• IT capital

Karnataka with Bangalore is the IT capital and has the maximum software exports.

• Rave Idli.

Karnataka is the only state where idly is made from both rice and rave. During the world war 2 when there was a lack of rice to prepare the idlis, MTR used Semolina(rave) instead of rice and in that experiment we got this delicious breakfast item called Rave Idli.

If you are from India, what are some unique or special foods from your hometown?

 I'm from a city named Dharwad. Its known as the Vidya Kashi as there are many universities, colleges and schools. It was center of education for the northern part of Karnataka for many decades.

Its famous for Dharwad Pedha.

A brief history:

Dharwad peda was originally started by the Thakur family who had migrated from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh to Dharwad after plague broke out in Unnao in early 19th Century. Ram Ratan Singh Thakur, a first generation confectioner, started producing and selling pedas locally. Dharwad peda was prepared from the milk of Dharwadi buffaloes which are raised by the Gavali community in and around Dharwad. His grandson Babu Singh Thakur helped grow the family business further in their Line Bazaar store and the peda came to also be called locally as the "Line Bazaar Peda". The family closely guards the recipe of the Peda as a trade secret which has been passing down the lineage. Babusingh Thakur's single outlet store that was running for a few decades expanded later in many other cities. In many other cities around India other confectioneries also sell Dharwad peda which is not connected to the Thakur family.

Use:

Its given in almost all the occasions.

Its given when someone scores well.

Its given when someone gets admission.

Its given when someone gets a job.

Its given like in almost every happy occasions.

But still people are not tired of it. Share some good news and they ask “Pedha elle? Yaavag kodti?” (Where is Pedha? When will you give?)

Where to buy?

I would say, Babu Singh Thakur pedha is still the best. Mishra Pedha isn't bad either.

If you are from India, what are some unique or special foods from your hometown?

 Well my native is Tamil Nadu but settled in Bangalore…so the dishes we prepare in home are mixed with dishes of Tamil Nadu and Bangalore.

Masala Dosa-This world favourite dish originated in Southern India and especially this crisp form of Dosa is from the Udupi cuisine.

Bisibelebath

One of my favourite dishes from Bangalore cuisine,this dish should be eaten when it is hot along with Khara Boondi to make a perfect taste.

Mysore Pak -

This famous sweet of Karnataka will melt as soon as you take it in your mouth……Prepared from Chana Dhal, jaggery/sugar and ghee,the ghee will start flowing from its sides as soon as taste it.

Bussaru-

One of the favourite dishes of Bangalore to be eaten along with rice,its famously called as Kannada sambar by Tamils like us who have settled in Bangalore.

Neer Dosa-A dish from Mangalorean cuisine..

Pongal or Milagu Pongal-

Prepared on 4th day Pongal festival of Tamil Nadu,Venn Pongal as the name suggests resembles the same colour of butter.

Idlies- No dish can be as white as Idlies and its fluffyness which comes after steaming will make you to eat it again and again.

This dish when steamed on White cloth in a Idli Gunda by using wood will taste more than the steamed one using Stove.

Pongal Kootu or Ezharai Kootu

Pongal Kootu is one of the famous Kootu prepared on the day of Surya Pongal(A famous festival for us).The ingredients are prepared from 7 types of vegetables(Mainly creepers).

Paal Payasam-This sweet porridge is made during festivals and is offered to God.Made from milk,roasted semiya and fried cashews will make you to have again and again.

Pachai Payir Paniyaram-Grinded Bengal gram filled with Thengai pooranum(coconut and Jaggery),coated with Maida flour and fried in groundnut oil, this dish is prefect to eat as a evening snack .

Kozhukattai or Modakam-One of the favourite dishes prepared on Vinayagar Chaturthi and Karthigai Deepam,this dish is liked very much by Lord Ganesha and Lord Muruga(karthikeya).

Kevaru Puttu-Kevaru Puttu is a dish from my native made by steaming Kevaru(Ragi powder) with dessicated coconut and Pana Vellam(Jaggery from Palm tree).

Adai

Adai is a instant dish that resembles like Dosa but is made from soaked grams of various types.

This dish is prepared on the days of Pournami(full moon) and mainly on Thiruvadirai festival(the day on which universe was created).

Thenga Poli-

Introduced by Marathas during their rule in Tamil Nadu,this dish as become famous among us,mainly prepared on festival days,its shelf life is longer.

Paruppu Vadai

Every festival of Tamil Nadu has two dishes mainly- One is Payasam and the other is Paruppu Vadai.

Our banana leaf should compulsory have these two dishes.

Kuzhi Paniyaram

The vessel used to make this dish is very different as it has space for filling this rounds.

As the name indicates this Paniyaram uses Kuzhi shetty for its preparation.

Idiyappam- Idiyappam or Indian noodles is prepared from steamed rice flour.

Last but not least- My favourite dish from my native-The one and only Ambur Biriyani.

Eat it once and you will die for it.

This is the way we prepare the dishes and offer it to our God on festival days.

Ganesh Chaturthi at my home!

What are some unique facts about North Korea that are truly astonishing?

 Social Media is a dangerous tool. If not used properly, it can lead to blunders. North Korea is digitally disconnected from rest of the world. And it is often portrayed as a rogue state, a living hell on Earth where each and every activity of yours is being monitored and people there are suffering and waiting for the west to come and free them of their misery.

Whenever I browse through Quora or any other social media platform, I find only negativity about North Korea. Not even a single person mentions something positive about it. So, I thought that I should list some positive sides of North Korea.

• Cleanliness
  The first thing which comes to my mind, whenever I see images of North Korea is that, it is so clean! Most of the images we see online are mostly of Pyongyang. And there is no doubt that it is one of the cleanest cities ever. People pay special attention towards cleanliness of their surroundings. Compare that to India. People have a very lax attitude towards cleanliness. And this goes for several other developing countries. North Korea really stands apart in this regard.

• Performance at International Mathematical Olympiad
  Well, say what you want about quality of education in North Korea, but these figures show a completely different story. North Koreans have a very good aptitude for Mathematics, which is the reason that almost every time they finished in top 20 at IMO. And their recent rankings have improved. Compare that to India. India’s rankings have slipped considerably and despite having a population several times larger than North Korea, we still haven’t managed to reach the top spot.
  Source: International Mathematical Olympiad
  North Korea’s Rankings

India’s rankings

• Football
  Despite facing a crushing defeat at the hands of Portugal in 2010 FIFA World Cup, the fact that North Korea’s football team is one of the strongest Asian teams, is completely irrefutable. Although their present FIFA ranking is 115 (India’s current ranking is 100. Proud Indian! :)), but still they have managed to qualify for the FIFA world cup, twice. The latest being in 2010. Their football team performed extremely well against Brazil, losing only by 2–1. But they badly lost the subsequent match to Portugal by 7–0, and third to Ivory Coast by 3–0. And the fact that North Koreans were given false news about them winning against Portugal was a hoax. The broadcast aired properly. In fact, many South Koreans also cheer for North Korea as well because according to them, their enemy is the Kim regime, and not its people.

In the end I would like to say that North Korea is a wonderful place having wonderful people, but it is plagued by a totalitarian fascist regime. This answer of mine is a tribute to the people of North Korea. I just wish, they all remain safe and may bring prosperity to their country. Also, a note for my fellow countrymen, please don’t get offended by my criticism of India. I am proud to be an Indian and we must work together make our country, the best in the world!

If you are from India, what are some unique or special foods from your hometown?

 I am from Chirala, Andhra Pradesh. It is very famous for handloom sarees and is called as Small Bombay or mini Mumbai for cloth merchants. In addition to that, we had a few good things about food. I will start with famous items first.

Sweet Samosa- He is the one who is making them from long years and they were limited. He usually sells them in the morning time and people would stand in queue like for a tatkal ticket. I am bringing his story for you.

Though the outer crust is made with regular all purpose flour, the filling is mixed with large chunks of cashew, grated cononut and other dry fruits. The deeply fried Samosa takes a lavish dip in the jaggery syrup to add to become juicy and rich in sweetness.

The Sweet Samosa of Chirala was conceptualised by Muneer. 70- year-old Shaik Muneer spent his young days in Ongole. He sold bananas and other seasonal fruits in Nellore Bus Stand center in the district capital for more than a decade. As his financial problems did not subside, he moved to Chirala and started the Samosa business.

He added a twist to the regular Samosa by replacing the onion, mashed potato with cashew and other dry fruits. Muneer explains, “After a lot of suffering with the fruits business in Ongole, I came to Chirala and started the Samosa business about three decades ago. At that time, there were no Samosa makers in the town and everything went well.

But after few days, I received competition from others and tried to do something different with the available resources. After a lot of trials the present combination of the Sweet Samosa was developed.” The unique formula of composition of ingredients made the Sweet Samosa a special sweet in the neighborhood.

Muneer and his wife prepares the snack in his house in the noon and shifts the readymade snacks on a pull cart near SBI ATM in Durbar Road by late afternoon. But he closes the business within just two to three hours of opening sales. Such is the demand for his Sweet Samosas.

Due to the secrecy in the composition of ingredients, no one is able to duplicate the Sweet Samosa of Muneer, which could be stored for more than one week without any added preservatives.

That’s one reason Muneer’s Sweet Samosa travelles the world and some foodies request their friends and family members from Chirala to deliver the snack for them while their trains halt in Chirala. The quality of the snack at all times is bringing Muneer repeated customers though the price of it increased from Rs. 7 to 25 in all these years.

Pulliah Bajji

Ravva Laddu

Tokkudu Laddu

Jeedipappu Pakam

Kova

Kajji Kayalu

Gavvalu

Tomato Rice- Every Mother’s fav dish.

Dappalam- it is a old recipe, it looks like sambar but no it is different. My grand mother always confuses me between sambhar and dappalam. It has many flavours Gummadikaya Dappalam, Aanapakaya Dappalam etc.

Kakarakaya Chips- not just chips, they make pulusu(curry), fry and pachadi (Pickle) with this.

Tomato Pacchadi

Beerakai Pacchadi(Ridge guard)

Gongura (Red Sorrel Leaves)

Gongura fish curry

Gongura Chicken curry

Gongura Mutton Curry

Gongura Pappu Curry- dal

Gongura Pulihora- tiger rice

Ponnaganti Kura Alternanthera Sessilis

Munagaaku Pappu- Drum Stick Leaves Dal

Menthukura Pappu- Methi Dal

Maamidikaya Pappu- Mango Dal

Miriyala Chaaru- Pepper Rasam

Majjiga chaaru with sonthi- Butter milk with dried ginger