Birth Name :
Barack Hussein Obama Jr.

Nickname :
Barry, Bama, Rock, The One

Height :
6' 1½" (1.87 m)

Spouse :
Michelle Obama (3 October 1992 - present) 2 children

Mini Biography :
Barack Obama was born to a white American mother, Ann Dunham, and a black Kenyan father, Barack Obama, Sr., who were both young college students at the University of Hawaii. When his father left for Harvard, she and Barack stayed behind, and his father ultimately returned alone to Kenya, where he worked as a government economist. Barack's mother remarried an Indonesian oil manager and moved to Jakarta when Barack was six. He later recounted Indonesia as simultaneously lush and a harrowing exposure to tropical poverty. He returned to Hawaii, where he was brought up largely by his grandparents. The family lived in a small apartment - his grandfather was a furniture salesman and an unsuccessful insurance agent and his grandmother worked in a bank - but Barack managed to get into Punahou School, Hawaii's top prep academy. His father wrote to him regularly but, though he traveled around the world on official business for Kenya, he visited only once, when Barack was ten.

Obama attended Columbia University, but found New York's racial tension inescapable. He became a community organizer for a small Chicago church-based group for three years, helping poor South Side residents cope with a wave of plant closings. He then attended Harvard Law School, and in 1990 became the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. He turned down a prestigious judicial clerkship, choosing instead to practice civil-rights law back in Chicago, representing victims of housing and employment discrimination and working on voting-rights legislation. He also began teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. Eventually he ran as a Democrat for the state senate seat from his district, which included both Hyde Park and some of the poorest ghettos on the South Side, and won.

In 2004 Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat, representing Illinois, and gained national attention by giving a rousing and well-received keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. In 2008 he ran for president as a democrat and won. He is set to become the 44th president of the Unites States and the first African-American ever elected to that position.

THAI DISHES

GREEN CHICKEN CURRY

"A fragrant creamy curry which is always popular."

Ingredients
½ cup             Coconut cream
3 tbsps            Green curry paste (see recipe below)
400 gm            Chicken breast, sliced
1 ½ cups         Thin coconut milk
2                     Lime leaves
1 tbsps             Fish sauce
1 tsp                Sugar
150 gm            Aubergine, cut into bite-sized pieces
¼  cup             Basil leaves
2-3 red chilies,  Cut in lengthwise strips


Method
Heat coconut cream until it begins to have an oily sheen, then add the curry paste and stir well. Add chicken and cook until it changes color.

Add coconut milk, lime leaves, fish sauce and sugar. Bring to the boil than add the aubergine. Simmer until the chicken is cooked, then add the basil and chillies. Remove from the heat and serve.

**This dish can be prepared in advance by cooking it until the chicken is tender. Add the basil and chillies when re-heating the dish just before serving.

GREEN CURRY PASTE

Ingredients
1 tbsp             Coriander seeds
1 tsp               Cumin seeds
15                   Green bird's eye chillies
3 tbsp              Finely chopped shallots
1 tbsp              Finely chopped garlic
1 tsp                Finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp              Finely sliced lemon grass 12 teaspoon finely chopped lime rind
1 tsp                Finely chopped coriander root 5 black peppercorns
1 tsp                Salt
1 tsp                Shrimp paste

Method
Dry fry the coriander and cumin seeds in a wok over low heat for about 5 minutes, then grind into a powder. Put the rest of the ingredients except the shrimp paste into a blender and blend to mix well. Add the spice seed mixture and shrimp paste and blend to obtain 12 cup of fine-textured paste.

MUSSAMAN BEEF CURRY

Ingredients
3 tbsps            Mussaman curry paste (see recipe below)
½ cup             Coconut cream
500 gm            Beef sirloin or stewing beef
2 cups             Thin coconut milk
5                     Cardamom seeds, roasted until fragrant
1                     Cinnamon stick, about 8 cm in length
200 gm            Potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1                     Heaped tablespoon unsalted peanuts, chopped
10                   Shallots
3                     Bay leaves
3 tbsp              Chopped palm sugar
2 tbsp              Fish sauce
3 tbsp              Tamarind juice

Method
Cook the curry paste and coconut cream together for five minutes, then add the beef and fry for 8 – 10 minutes. Add the rest of the coconut milk, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Add all the remaining ingredients and cook until the potatoes and meat are tender


**The potatoes provide a contrast in texture and a bland counterpoint to the spicy gravy.

MUSSAMAN CURRY PASTE

Ingredients
3 tbsps               Finely chopped shallots
1 tbsps               Finely chopped garlic
1 tsp                  Finely chopped ginger
1                       Heaped tablespoon finely sliced lemon grass
2                       Cloves
I tbsp                 Coriander seeds
I tsp                   Cumin seeds
5                        Black peppercorns
3                        Dried chillies, cut, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and de-seeded

1 tbsp                 Salt
1 tsp                   Shrimp paste

Method
Dry fry the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, cloves, coriander and cumin seeds in a wok over low heat for about 5 minutes, then grind into a powder. Add the rest of the ingredients except the shrimp paste and blend to mix well. Combine the blended mixture and the shrimp paste and blend again to obtain ~ cup of fine-textured paste.