These decadently delicious chocolate lava cookies use my soft, chewy, almond flour cookie dough and a flowy, chocolate ganache filling that oozes out when you break them in half! (gluten-free and soy-free with nut-free options)
It’s cookie season, and I wanted to make a decadent, chocolatey cookie. And what better idea than to convert molten lava cake into cookie form!
My motto is that baking should be super easy and flexible, so that even if you make a few measuring errors, things still turn out great. Nobody has time to whip up butter and sugar and all that, so I use my trusty almond flour cookie dough, which works every time.
To make this simple dough, you just add all the dry ingredients to a bowl, mix really well, add some melted coconut oil and maple syrup, mix again, and that’s it! You have a dough!
For this recipe, we’ll add cocoa powder to make a chocolate cookie dough. Then, we make a molten chocolate “lava bomb,” which is a melted chocolate ganache that goes inside the cookie. As the cookie bakes, it spreads and traps the chocolate ganache inside. When you break it open, it’s oozy, melty, and so delicious.
Caught between change and stability, many companies find themselves hesitating on how to square the two. The pace of change is increasing in the age of AI, and the weight of making inspired choices has only become more critical. GS Caltex, one of Korea’s leading refining companies, faced the same dilemma and recently embraced a new guiding principle of good risk taking — a phrase reportedly often heard in GS Caltex meetings, and initially proposed by company CEO Hur Sae-hong. “Once the word ‘good’ was added to ‘risk-taking,’ a culture began to spread where people are willing to attempt any challenge,” says CIO, CDO, and DX Center head Lee Eunjoo.
Amid growing uncertainties around crude oil prices and product demand, intensifying competition over production scale, and demographic decline, the value of good risk taking is pushing the company to pursue new opportunities and innovation. And a changing mindset is reshaping the organization from within.
The AI platform changing the enterprise
Even without any top-down mandate, it’s common at GS Caltex to see not just IT but LOB teams in production, sales, finance, legal, PR, and HR building and using AI agents in their day-to-day work. Finance, for instance, recently built an FAQ agent and asked Lee’s team to review it. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see employees actively using the new technologies provided by the DX Center.”
So far, they’ve created more than 50 agents, including ones that support pre-job safety briefings for partner company staff, review crude oil purchase contracts, automate a complex medical expense reimbursement process, and automatically classify and analyze gas station customer feedback.
All of these agents were developed on AiU, the company’s in-house gen AI service platform launched in June this year, which combines AI with yu, the Korean word for oil, and is also a play on “AI for you,” reflecting its role as AI tailored to each employee.
Lee says AiU is the clearest expression of the company’s approach to transformation. “It’s not just about DX anymore but DAX, combining digital with AI transformation,” she says. “From our production sites to headquarters, we’re rolling out initiatives that let every employee experience it all side by side. That’s how we’re reshaping ourselves into an energy company that uses AI broadly and with confidence.”
A secret to its rapid success is because no one feels pressured to build a perfect agent. “People are much more willing to try things and experiment,” says Lee. From the DX Center’s standpoint, that mindset has made it possible to support a growing number of AI projects with a relatively small team. “Plus, the AiU playground lets employees build and test agents themselves, which makes AI feel far more approachable and familiar in their day-to-day work,” she adds.
An AI agent platform might sound like something only developers can use, but AiU is designed so non-experts can easily work with it. The experience isn’t very different from ChatGPT as GS Caltex deliberately embedded AiU into the side of core business systems that employees check every day, so they’d naturally encounter and use AI in their daily workflows. Even if they don’t build agents themselves, employees can still ask the AI questions using internal company data, and search across both external information and internal systems at once.
It’s only been a few months since AiU officially launched, and around 85% of employees are now regular users, and nearly the entire workforce has tried it at least once. “Most of our production and technical staff work in a mobile-only environment without desktops,” Lee says. “The fact 95% of them have already used AiU shows just how fast the platform is spreading.”
Sowing seeds of success
AiU drew strong interest from employees even during its pilot stage. The DX Center began discussing AI service adoption in 2023, and in 2024, the team built a pilot service on AWS in just a few days. Although it was an early version with only basic UI, more than 300 employees participated and shared the features and requirements they needed. This underscored just how many people were eager to bring AI into their work.
Through this pilot, the DX Center was able to clearly identify what kinds of problems employees wanted to solve with AI, and which capabilities they needed most. The team then considered whether to adopt an external solution or develop one in house. In the end, they chose to build on MISO, the AI transformation platform developed by the GS Group, and add GS Caltex–specific capabilities on top. The entire development took about six months.
In designing AiU’s technical architecture, Lee focused most heavily on minimizing dependence on any single LLM. The platform supports multiple models that employees can choose from, including OpenAI and Anthropic.
“AI moves incredibly fast, so we built the system in a way that lets us easily plug in better technologies as they come along,” she says. “The AI layer will keep changing, but the internal data and applications underneath it will remain our core assets, which is why we’ve focused on strengthening the underlying infrastructure. That’s where our DAX philosophy — advancing digital and AI transformation together — comes into play.”
But AiU has done more than speed up AI adoption. It’s also put new life into existing systems. GS Caltex already had an internal enterprise search platform, but over time, its accuracy and usability declined, and usage dropped. AiU stepped in to augment that system with AI. Employees can now search M365 documents, work rules, and HR information in one go, and have the results summarized for them by the AI.
“All we really did was layer AI on top of what we already had to make it a little easier to use,” Lee says. “But in the end, that AI layer ended up reviving a service that was close to being forgotten.”
The growth engines behind the projects
Rolling out and scaling new IT technologies like AI across an entire organization isn’t easy. It’s common to see transformation stall at the slogan stage, held back by resistance to new tools or the simple reality that people are too busy to change how they work.
GS Caltex, however, has avoided treating DX as a one-off initiative. Instead, the company has built three pillars to sustain company-wide change over the long term: culture, performance management, and education.
The first step was to build a bottom-up DX culture. Traditional IT projects often begin with large-scale planning, writing RFPs, and selecting external vendors — a process so long that customer needs frequently change before anything goes live.
GS Caltex chose a different path: a fast-execution model focused on solving customer needs in real time. Even a small app or a single dashboard is recognized as DX, and each attempt is treated as valuable. One example is an app that automatically collects and organizes external news, built by a frontline business team not the IT department.
As these small wins accumulated, a voluntary culture of digital innovation took root. Since the establishment of the DX Center in 2019, GS Caltex has carried out hundreds of projects this way.
Behind this transformation is a high level of organizational acceptance. No matter how well something is built, if colleagues don’t respond favorably, it doesn’t advance. That hasn’t been a problem at GS Caltex, though, largely due to the embedded good risk taking philosophy.
“DX inevitably involves a certain level of risk,” says Lee. “For good risk taking to really work, you need to understand the level of risk and have leaders actively backing it. We have that kind of culture in place.”
After joining GS Caltex, Lee learned a new approach to positive communication. Rather than focusing on fixing problems, the company emphasizes recognizing small achievements, celebrating them together, and then building on that foundation to find areas to improve. “I’ve personally experienced the value of a positive feedback culture,” she says. “A culture that openly recognizes achievements has become a natural driving force encouraging frontline employees to participate in DX.”
This philosophy has been embedded into reward and performance management systems, including a performance innovation committee, which selects outstanding DX projects initiated by business teams and presents awards. And presentations are delivered not by team leaders but by the frontline employees who actually led the work. The monthly selected cases are then published on the company’s internal website, making sure their contributions are visibly acknowledged.
These practices give other employees confidence to do the same, and thus fuels wider voluntary participation. The committee also actively shares failure cases. By openly discussing what was attempted in each project and what could be improved, the company aims to turn failure into an opportunity for learning.
Lee says that GS Caltex only recognizes outcomes that can be proven in financial terms. Common IT metrics such as conversion rates or click-through rates, often used as proxy indicators, aren’t treated as final measures of success. Instead, the company tracks more meaningful indicators such as productivity gains that drive innovation, cost reductions, and improvements in customer satisfaction. These results are all centrally managed through the company-wide performance management system.
But it’s education that the DX Center prioritizes most. Rather than relying on a small group of experts, GS Caltex has chosen a strategy of cultivating hundreds of frontline DX specialists and sees strong results. The more business-side DX experts there are who can use digital tools to directly solve on-site problems, the faster digital adoption spreads. So once technology takes hold in the field, the DX organization provides the necessary development environment and additional support.
This training initiative, called the digital academy, runs as full-day programs ranging from a single day up to three months. It focuses on reskilling and deepening professional expertise to develop DX talent. The curriculum includes low-code developer tracks and in-house DX expert courses, enabling frontline employees to learn technologies themselves and apply them directly to their work. Topics include RPA, Tableau, Python, AI, and data science. Most notably in recent months, every executive has gone through gen AI training themselves, setting the tone from the top and actively championing a culture of continuous learning.
From IT support to proactive DX engine
Two years into her tenure, Lee is now reimagining how DX governance works. Historically, the DX organization operated in reactive mode, fielding requests from business units as they came in. Now, it’s flipping the script. That means taking the lead on company-wide DX priorities, vetting technologies for maturity and feasibility, and consolidating redundant projects.
One clear target is to streamline the system portfolio. Lee also plans to retire underutilized systems and those where operating costs outweigh the value they deliver, cutting waste while boosting efficiency.
At the same time, GS Caltex is leaning into global outsourcing. The company is building a distributed operations model, partnering with offshore teams not just for IT infrastructure, but for internal systems spanning HR, procurement, legal, and beyond. The savings are being funneled back into critical areas, like bolstering disaster recovery capabilities to strengthen business continuity, and reinforcing the DX foundation to deliver more reliable support across the organization.
AI, of course, remains a top priority, and internal demand is surging. “Employees, especially senior leaders, want services that pull together even more data,” Lee says. “Down the road, I’d like AiU to evolve to the point where you can ask what’s been happening with a particular customer lately, and instantly get a unified view of what division A is working on, what division B needs, and live customer inquiries all in one snapshot.”
Hydrofoils are perhaps best known for their application on boring ferries and scary boats that go too fast. However, as [RCLifeOn] demonstrates, you can also use them to build fun and quirky personal watercraft. Like a hydrofoil bike! Only, there are some challenges involved.
Hydrofoils work much like airfoils in air. The shape of the foil creates lift, raising the attached vehicle out of the water. This allows the creation of a craft that can travel more quickly because the majority of its body is not subject drag from the water. The key is to design the craft such that the hydrofoils remain at the right angle and depth to keep the craft lifted out of the water while remaining stable.
The hydrofoil bike is created out of a combination of plywood, foam, and 3D printed components. It uses a powerful brushless motor for propulsion, and that’s about it. Sadly, despite the simplicity, it wasn’t an instant success. As you might expect, balancing on the bike is quite difficult, particularly when trying to get it started—as the foils need some speed to actually start generating meaningful lift.
After further research into commercial hydrofoil bikes, [RCLifeOn] realized that the buoyancy of the bike made it too hard to straddle when starting out. Some of the 3D printed foils also proved more than a little fragile. It’s back to the drawing board for now—the power system is likely up to snuff, but the dynamics of the platform need work. It’s perhaps no surprise; we’ve covered the challenges of hydrofoil stability before. If you want to go fast on water, you could go the easier route and just build an electric surfboard. Video after the break.
You know those old cliche that the younger generations have begun to cynically despise: “follow your dreams!” “You can be anything you put your mind to!” — well, perhaps they are true on occasion. For instance when [rctestflight] had PCBs that dreamed of becoming a hydrofoil, he found a way to make that dream come true.
It’s kind of obvious in retrospect: printed circuit boards are made of FR4, which is a form of fiberglass, and you know what else is commonly made of fiberglass? Boats. So yes, the material is suited for this task. The fact that solder joints hold up to use in a little remote-control hydrofoil is less obvious, but good to know. It certainly makes for easier assembly for those of us who have developed an allergy to epoxy.
Ease of assembly wasn’t really the point here: the point was that by making the “mast” of the hydrofoil out of PCB– that’s the part that holds the underwater wing– [rctestflight] figured he could (shock!) print a circuit onto it. Specifically, a liquid-level sensor, and because microcontrollers are so cheap these days he went the “total overkill” route of embedding an ESP32 on each mast. He started with a resistive sensor, but since those self-corrode too quickly, the team switched to a capacitive sensor that doesn’t need to form a galvanic cell in salt water. Come to think of it, that might still be a problem with the solder joint between the PCBs. Good thing nobody will be riding this one.
Having such a sensor and brain close-coupled allows for a faster control loop than the sonar [rctestflight] had previously been using to control his hydrofoil’s altitude.. Pivoting each mast with its own servo made for a smooth flight over the water— well, once they got the PID tuning set, anyway. Check it out in the video embedded below.
The versatility of soup can be such a beautiful thing. It can be made with four ingredients or 40, completed in 15 minutes or simmered over several hours. In summertime soups are served deliciously chilled, like a supremely refreshing gazpacho — but most of the time they are steaming hot and soul satisfying, like this twice-medicated vegetable soup. With the addition of infused olive oil, this recipe is a keeper.
A hearty soup, a simple salad and some crusty bread make for a fabulous winter meal. Vegetable soup is as simple to make as it is delicious. Just fill a sauce pot with any combination of vegetables, some liquid to cover, a bunch of your favorite fresh herbs and spices, maybe a can of your favorite legume and simmer. Nine times out of 10, it’ll be tasty. And if it’s not, add some shredded cheese, some sour cream and maybe some sriracha.
To add some protein, consider adding firm tofu cubes, sliced cooked sausage, cooked chicken or bacon crisps.
Vegetable Soup / Serves 8-10
Ingredients
2-3 tablespoonscanna-olive oil 2 cups shredded cabbage 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1 large onion, sliced 1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut in pieces 1 cup grape tomatoes (cut in half if large) 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 5 ounces kale, rinsed, dried, stacked and sliced 1 cup corn, frozen ½ cup peas, frozen 2 quarts water 2 cans beans (1 can white northern, 1 can pinto) rinsed and drained
Medicated Garlic Croutons
Ingredients
2 tablespoonscanna-oil 1 cup bread cubes 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Directions
1. Heat the canna-olive oil in a large saucepan. Sauté the cabbage, carrots, onion, green beans, grape tomatoes, garlic and kale. Sauté for 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Add the corn and peas and stir. Add the water, followed by the rinsed beans. Allow to simmer for 35 to 40 minutes.
3. Heat the remaining canna-olive oil in a small sauté pan. Cook the bread cubes until golden brown.
4. Divide the soup into bowls, top with croutons and shave the Parmesan over the bowls of soup.
DEEP DIVE – By any traditional definition, the city of Ryazan doesn’t belong on a list of battlegrounds in the Ukraine war. There are no Ukrainian soldiers or tanks deployed there, and it’s in western Russia, roughly 600 miles from the active front lines of Pokrovsk or Kupiansk.
But residents and officials in Ryazan – population 550,000 – wouldn’t be surprised to find their city on such a list. Ukraine has attacked Ryazan at least a half dozen times, as part of an escalating drone-and-missile campaign against Russia’s oil sector. Most recently, an oil refinery in Ryazan – Russia’s fourth-largest – was forced to shut down after an Oct. 23 attack by Ukrainian drones.
Ryazan is hardly alone.
Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, said last week that Ukraine has carried out more than 160 successful attacks on Russian refineries and other energy targets this year; an Open Source Centre investigation identified more than 90 strikes between Aug. 2 and Oct. 14. In the last week alone, Ukraine has struck an oil terminal and tanker in Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse; energy facilities in Russia's Oryol, Vladimir, and Yaroslavl regions; and the Koltsevoy, or “ring,” pipeline, which links refineries in Moscow, Ryazan, and Nizhny Novgorod, and supplies fuel to the Russian military. Earlier strikes damaged one of Russia's biggest oil refineries near St. Petersburg, and perhaps most impressive – from the Ukrainian point of view – the campaign has reached as far as the Siberian city of Tyumen, some 1200 miles east of Moscow.
Stretching the conventional notion of front lines is clearly part of the Ukrainian strategy; the strikes have forced the Kremlin to worry about drone and missile attacks across a broad swath of Russian territory. But the main aim is to hurt the Russian oil sector – the country’s richest revenue source, and a key reason why the Kremlin has been able to maintain the funding of its war machine.
“Ukraine’s theory of victory now includes destroying Russia’s energy sector,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Forces in Europe, told The Cipher Brief. “They’ve developed capabilities that can reach great distances with precision, exposing Russia’s vulnerability – its inability to protect critical infrastructure across its vast landscape.”
Last week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to intensify the pace and scope of the campaign. “We must work every day to weaken the Russians. Their money for the war comes from oil refining,” Zelensky said in an Oct. 27 address to the nation. “The most effective sanctions - the ones that work the fastest - are the fires at Russia’s oil refineries, its terminals, oil depots.”
Zelensky also noted that 90 percent of the strikes have been carried out by Ukrainian-made drones and missiles – a not-so-subtle message to Europe and the U.S.: get us more of your long-range weapons, and we can help bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
“It’s very impressive,” said Balazs Jarabik, a former European Union diplomat and analyst for RPolitik, said of Ukraine’s campaign against the Russian energy sector. In an interview with The Cipher Brief, Jarabik said the attacks have“had an impact in terms of getting headlines, making the Russian war effort more expensive, and creating shortages so the Russian people feel the pain of the war.”
That’s also the aim of the recent U.S. sanctions against energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, the first American economic penalties imposed on Russia since Donald Trump returned to office. The Treasury Department said the sanctions would “increase pressure on Russia’s energy sector and degrade the Kremlin’s ability to raise revenue for its war machine.”
While Ukrainian officials have welcomed the sanctions, they have also said that their drone and missile attacks pack a more powerful punch.
“Our strikes have already had more impact than sanctions,” Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s head of Military Intelligence, said on Telegram following last week’s spate of attacks.
For their part, Putin and other Russian officials have downplayed the impact of the strikes while at the same time warning that they are dangerously escalatory. The Kremlin has also said that neither the attacks nor the sanctions will move them to change course in the war.
Experts say both sides may be right – that in the short term, the Kremlin can probably ride out the impact of the Ukrainian campaign, but that Russia may feel significant pain if the sanctions are enforced and the oil sector strikes continue.
“Russia’s oil refineries are a bit like a man who is being repeatedly punched,” Sergey Vakulenko, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote in a recent assessment for Carnegie Politika. “He will not die from one punch, or even half a dozen punches. But it becomes harder and harder for him to recover after each subsequent blow. Although no single punch is fatal, he could end up being beaten to death.”
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Assessing the damage
To date, the Ukrainian strikes have hit 21 of Russia's 38 large oil refineries, according to the BBC, and several have been struck more than once. Roughly 20% of the nation’s refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed, and last month the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that Russia's revenues from crude oil and refined products had fallen to their lowest level in a decade – excluding the period immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Persistent attacks on Russian energy infrastructure have cut Russian crude processing by an estimated 500,000 barrels per day, resulting in domestic fuel shortages and lower product exports," the IEA said. In an accompanying forecast, the agency said that if the sanctions remain in place and the attacks continue – even without Zelensky’s promised scaling-up of their cadence – the impact to Russia’s refining would stretch to at least mid-2026.
Beyond the macroeconomic impact, the Ukrainian campaign has also been felt by Russian citizens, in the form of higher fuel prices and – in some regions – shortages and long lines for gas.
“The economic impact of strikes against Russian energy infrastructure is beginning to be felt outside of Moscow, as Russia diverts available energy from the regions to keep Moscow supplied,” Rob Dannenberg, a former chief of the CIA’s Central Eurasia Division, wrote last week in The Cipher Brief. “There are shortages and energy price hikes that the Kremlin can no longer conceal.”
And in a broader reflection of Russia’s economic woes, this week the central bank downgraded the country’s growth forecast. Experts say the sanctions and Ukrainian strikes are a big part of the problem for Moscow.
“Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are strategically meaningful and increasingly so,” Jacek Siewiera, a former head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, told The Cipher Brief. He said the strikes are serving three strategic functions: forcing Russia to divert efforts to rear-area defense; raising the overall cost of war by creating new logistical costs inside Russia; and a less tangible, more symbolic impact.
“These attacks send a message to Moscow and its economy that Ukraine – and its backers – can reach deep,” Siewiera said. “That has symbolic as well as material value.”
What comes next
Might the Ukrainian campaign alter the course of the war? Experts are divided on the question.
On the one hand, dozens of Russian oil sector targets are now within reach of Ukrainian missiles and drones – and it’s clear that Zelensky’s vow to expand and intensify the campaign is underway. An already-bruised industry in Russia is surely girding for more punishment.
But several experts said that in order to sustain the tempo and volume of the attacks, Ukraine will need help from the West or a significant boost to its own capabilities.
“Ukraine has made impressive inroads but it’s not yet clear whether the strikes will fundamentally degrade Russia’s war-fighting capacity,” Siewiera said. He and others echoed Zelensky’s point – that the West should support Ukraine’s deep-strike capabilities to boost the impact of the current attacks, and improve the odds that they will effect change in Moscow. Until then, Siewiera said, it’s unlikely that the campaign can deliver “a knockout blow.”
Jarabik agreed, noting that Ukrainian drones typically carry payloads of only 50-60 kilograms (roughly 110-130 pounds); long-range missile systems can inflict far greater damage. He and others said that much will depend on the success of the Ukrainian-made Flamingo missile – which has been touted as a homegrown alternative to western long-range weapons. Officials say the Flamingo is now operational, and that it can carry more than 1,000 kilos (2000+ pounds), with a range of roughly 1800 miles.
“I think we are going to see the Ukrainian strikes increasing,” Jarabik said. “The big question here is whether Ukrainians are going to have the missile capabilities to scale the attack.” At the current rate, he said, Ukraine cannot compel the Kremlin to alter its approach. “So far, neither the sanctions nor this (campaign of strikes) is actually enough to bring the end of the war. Russia has the means to continue.”
All those interviewed for this piece agreed that the success of the Ukrainian campaign will depend on whether Ukraine can hit more targets, more frequently, and with heavier payloads.
“As Ukraine continues to improve its long-range precision strike capability – and if the West adds its own weapons to Ukraine’s arsenal – the impact is going to increase significantly,” Lt. Gen. Hodges said. And that, he said, “could lead to a successful outcome for Ukraine.”
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Most people are familiar with the industrial and commercial usefulness of hemp for making clothing, paper, plastic, fuel and even hempcrete, which can be used to build homes and other structures. Hemp’s ability to enrich the soil that it’s grown in with nitrogen and other nutrients, as well as the fact that it grows quicker than trees and produces recyclable and biodegradable products, also makes it an environmentally friendly crop.
This fibrous plant produces edible seeds — sometimes referred to as hemp hearts — which are a great source of vegan, plant-based protein. They can be eaten or pressed into a deeply nourishing oil for use in all kinds of skincare staples like cleansers, lotions, face masks, eye cream and makeup products from mascara to lip gloss.
The nutritional properties of this wondrous oil read like a grocery list of all the best things to put on your skin. It’s rich in protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, insoluble fiber, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, calcium and phosphorus. All of these nutrients are good for you inside and out and can make a major impact on the overall appearance of your skin whether you consume hemp seeds or apply hempseed oil topically in a product. Hempseed oil’s balanced ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids improves cardiovascular function, supports the immune system and promotes healthy flow in the intestines.
Unlike other medicated, cannabis-infused topicals that lots of people use to help reduce pain, aching muscles and tension throughout the body, hempseed oil products contain almost no traces of THC, which make them completely legal and easily accessible to anyone in any state, regardless of the legislation surrounding cannabis use.
If you have skin issues that you’re looking for some assistance with, check out all the ways hempseed oil can make a difference and consider adding it to your daily skincare routine.
Moisturize Your Skin
Hemp oil is a humectant that not only draws moisture to the skin, but also helps the skin retain and preserve moisture, reducing dryness overtime. It’s easily absorbed by the skin and can penetrate the epidermis and subdermal layers for deep relief that can stop itching and skin irritations like eczema, which can leave your skin looking and feeling very parched.
Reduce Wrinkles and Fine Lines
Hempseed oil contains all 21 known amino acids that play a role in helping your skin stay plump, firm and looking youthful. Most importantly, hempseed oil has oleic acid that can help to reduce atopic dermatitis and it contains linoleic acid, which can slow down signs of aging. Regular use can regenerate and energize the skin’s natural protective layer that can become dull, porous or rough over time.
Benefit All Skin Types
Because hempseed oil has a composition that’s incredibly similar to lipids produced by the skin’s epidermal cells, it’s suitable for all skin types whether your skin is dry, oily, combination or sensitive. It’s also non-comedogenic, meaning that it softens and smooths skin without the risk of clogging pores, which can cause unsightly blackheads due to excess oil on the surface.
Fight Acne and Skin Irritation
This powerful anti-inflammatory also has antioxidant properties that can balance the skin’s natural sebum production and even-out skin tone. When combined with a good cleanser, hempseed oil can reduce and prevent acne caused by dead skin cells, dirt buildup or hormonal changes.
A cozy, hands-off, no sauté mushroom potato casserole that needs just 1 pan. Layers of rich mushroom gravy with beans and veggies, layered with crisp garlic herb potatoes that take only minutes to put together as the oven does all the work. (gluten-free with soy-free and nut-free options)
It’s fall, and it’s time for some comfort food. And what’s more comforting than this casserole, which has a stewy mushroom gravy with beans and veggies, topped with potatoes smothered in garlic butter? There are lots of fall herbs, like fresh thyme and sage, and it all comes together really quickly.
This is a super easy one-pan casserole. No need to sauté or stand around the kitchen for long periods of time cooking the onions and mushrooms. Everything goes right into the baking dish, and the oven does all the work.
Once the mushroom and onions are cooked, add the beans, herbs and stew ingredients and top them with some sliced potato and bake, and thats it. You get all the fall flavors and a dish that reminds of mashed potatoes and mushroom bourguignon w/o all the work.
It’s comforting, stewy, and perfect for a fall dinner with your family, served with a side salad, garlicky dinner rolls, or some crusty bakery bread. Or serve it however else you like!
Why You’ll Love Mushroom Potato Casserole
cozy, hearty, stewy beans and veggies in a rich, mushroom gravy
1-pan oven recipe, no standing at the stove!
very little active cooking time
No cooking the aromatics and potato separately
naturally nut-free with easy gluten-free and soy-free options
Want to help your garden rest well this winter? Winter mulching is a great way to prolong harvests, improve soil quality, and protect overwintering plants by insulating soil with organic materials. Learn how to use mulch to better support perennials and annual crops this winter. Read more now.
This air fryer sesame chicken has been a life changing discovery! Being an avid fan of Asian chicken recipes, I was badly missing them as they are mostly all deep-fried which I am avoiding due to my fatloss targets; but not any more thanks to this incredible air fryer sesame chicken recipe!
The air fryer sesame chicken is a simple & quick high-protein yet low-calorie recipe which can be relished as a fulfilling meal with rice or as a quick snack on its own while you reminisce the festive memories!
What is air fryer sesame chicken?
Sesame chicken is an Asian-cuisine-inspired recipe that was invented in North America and has become super popular thanks to its flavor, taste and ease of prep!
Now like any other Asian stir fried recipe, a typical sesame chicken is also fried in a generous amount of oil before being tossed in the flavorful sauce.
The sauce! Yes, that’s the USP of this classic sesame chicken!
To recreate that same incredibly mouthwatering saucy sesame chicken dish without the load of oil, I have this air fryer sesame chicken for you today!
About 4 to 5 servings of chicken is air fried in just a couple of tablespoons of oil which means you can enjoy this restaurant style air fryer sesame chicken at home absolutely guilt-free!
One small tweak I did in my sesame chicken sauce is that I have reduced the sweet element in it. Many sesame chicken recipes have a generous amount of honey in it which I have completely omitted.
During my short stay in the US a few years ago, I realized that the Asian/Chinese dishes are more on the sweeter side there which is not what I am very fond of and neither is my better half.
So I just used a small amount of brown sugar for just that subtle hint of sweetness which complements the savoriness and tartness beautifully.
DEEP DIVE – Looking at the recent headlines from Russia, this much seems clear: the West’s sanctions against the country are finally working.
Oil revenues have fallen dramatically. Growth is anemic – official forecasts for this year have dropped from 2.5% to 1%. The budget released this week cuts military spending for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and while Vladimir Putin had promised no tax increases, the Kremlin now plans to raise the value-added tax to a staggering 22% and boost levies on businesses as well. Meanwhile, Russia has drained its rainy-day National Welfare Fund; the fund’s liquid assets have dipped by two-thirds since the war began.
President Donald Trump’s claim last week that Russia was in “big financial trouble” looks only slightly hyperbolic – and it also looks like evidence that after more than three and a half years of war, the sanctions are punishing Russia’s economy and the Kremlin’s war coffers.
But then there is the other news.
In the past week, Moscow has won fresh pledges from India and China to keep buying Russian oil and other sanctioned goods; China actually vowed to “elevate” its energy cooperation with Russia. A September report found that Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers has proved a highly effective sanctions workaround. And for all of Trump’s threats of fresh sanctions, his administration has yet to pull the trigger.
For its part, Moscow says no sanctions will alter the course of its war against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month that sanctions had been “absolutely useless” in changing Russia’s stance.
So which is it? Are sanctions having the desired effect? Or are they a fundamentally weak lever unlikely to change Russian behavior?
“The question is, what did you want sanctions to do?” Thomas Graham, a long-time Russia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Cipher Brief. “If the goal was to cause Russia to rethink what it's doing in Ukraine to pull back from its aggression, the short answer is no… That said, it's also clear that the sanctions have raised the cost (for Russia) of continuing the conflict.”
“Sanctions are a slow-burn tool,” Gonzalo Saiz, a Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told The Cipher Brief. “They aren’t bringing about the collapse of the Kremlin or the Russian economy, but Russia is suffering quite significantly.”
What 6,000+ sanctions have accomplished
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was met with an early beating on the battlefield and a raft of economic penalties from a surprisingly unified group of western nations. As early as the summer of 2022, experts were forecasting a Russian economic meltdown.
The U.S. alone sanctioned some 6,000 individuals and companies with links to the war effort. The European Union has implemented 18 sanctions packages; last week it proposed a 19th round. The measures have targeted Russia’s financial, military and energy sectors.
Some of the impact is clear and quantifiable. Since the February 2022 invasion, more than 1,300 international companies have scaled back operations in Russia and some 500 have left entirely, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. The firms that left represented about $109 billion in annual revenue. Several Russian banks were barred from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the interbank messaging service that processes international payments.
“The investment community has outright abandoned Russian assets, and foreign capital investment is essentially gone at this point,” Daniel Tannebaum, a former U.S. Treasury official who leads anti-financial crime efforts at Oliver Wyman, told The Cipher Brief. “20 years ago, Russia was growing its economy, becoming more of a global player – that day really is done.”
The U.S. and Europe also went after Russia’s energy sector – a source of at least $240 billion in revenues in the year before the invasion. The EU imposed an embargo on most Russian crude oil, and the U.S. and its G-7 allies capped the price other countries could pay for Russian crude oil. Earlier this year, the EU pledged to fully end its imports of Russian gas.
While Russia has found several workarounds, its oil revenues have fallen. The latest forecast for this year is $200 billion.
The oil sector has also been hurt by the war itself. Last month, as Ukraine stepped up drone attacks against Russian energy infrastructure, Reuters reported that the damage had cut Russian oil refining by almost a fifth, and reduced shipments from key ports. The Kremlin has responded by banning some diesel fuel exports and extending a gasoline export ban through the end of 2025. Sanctions have also cut Russian access to advanced drilling tools and other oil industry technology – all part of what the Wall Street Journal referred to as “The Slow Demise of Russian Oil.”
Beyond the oil sector, the Russian economy is showing across-the-board weakness, with implications for the war as well.
“Russia has been heavily reliant on North Korea for almost a year for military support, both in the form of munitions and soldiers,” Tannebaum said. “That doesn't strike me as a signal of anything that's going so well.”
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The Kremlin workarounds
Taken together, the pileup of economic danger signs would seem to
support Trump’s statement that Moscow is in “big financial trouble”. Last month Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went further, suggesting that a new round of sanctions would bring the “full collapse” of Russia’s economy.
But it’s not clear that those new sanctions are coming. And for a variety of reasons, experts see neither an imminent collapse nor any likelihood that Putin will soon slow his war effort.
“The fact that Putin continues his war despite 19 rounds of EU sanctions, and after more than three years, is a clear sign of policy failure,” Clayton Siegle, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told The Cipher Brief. “President Trump’s August ultimatum for Putin to end the war or face severe consequences changed nothing.”
Experts say that “failure” has many roots. For one, Putin prepared the Russian economy for the sanctions. Prior to the 2022 invasion, Russia spent years stashing away more than $600 billion in central bank reserves, only half of which are now subject to Western sanctions. Less than a month before he ordered his troops into Ukraine, he cemented a new partnership with China – which has proved to be a critical customer for Russian oil and other items on the sanction lists.
“We have to remember, this was one of the largest economies in the world up until three years ago,” Tannebaum said. “This wasn't Iran, this wasn't a hermit kingdom like North Korea. To truly atrophy this economy was always going to take time. It was always like a vice grip where you just keep tightening the pressure. Unfortunately, we haven't tightened it enough.”
After Russia’s early setbacks in Ukraine, Putin put his country on a war footing that included a military-spending-induced boom in 2023-24. That gave the economy an artificial but powerful jolt – Russia’s economy grew by more than 4% in that period, a higher rate than the U.S.
“From a macroeconomic standpoint, (Russia) was actually in very good shape for this massive invasion of Ukraine,” Graham said, adding that the wartime boost raised wages and stimulated poorer regions of the country.
“You put all of this together and you still have a Kremlin that is able to maintain the necessary level of public support, and raise the money that it needs to continue this conflict.”
Russia has also benefited from lax enforcement of the sanctions, and clever workarounds of its own.
TheNew York Timesreportedrecently that several global financial institutions, particularly in China and the UAE, have faced no consequences for facilitating Russian transactions. The reason? A concern that sanctioning these banks – China’s in particular – would cripple international trade and damage global supply chains.
And while the oil sector has taken a big hit, the revenues keep coming.
In 2023, China imported record amounts of Russian energy, and India, Turkey, and some members of the EU have also continued to purchase Russian oil and LNG. Europe still imports nearly a fifth of its gas from Russia – that plan to wean the continent off Russian fossil fuels won’t come to fruition until 2027.
Sanction-busters: 1,000 aging tankers
Russia has also made extensive and profitable use of the so-called “shadow fleet,” vessels carrying illegal Russian oil exports via a complex web of transshipments. These ships are typically older, with questionable ownership, flying third-country flags and often sending false location information – all meant to hide their connections to Russia. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the shadow fleet now numbers nearly 1,000 vessels and accounts for about 17 percent of oil tankers sailing today.
In a September report, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said that governance of the shadow fleet must be "radically improved." Saiz, a co-author of the report, said the fleet remained “a vital lifeline” for Russia.
“The ease with which vessels can obtain flags without scrutiny, avoid ownership transparency and escape enforcement actions has created the conditions for an entire parallel shipping ecosystem,” the report said.
The EU’s most recent sanctions package includes a new effort to target the shadow fleet, identifying more than 500 vessels and adding them to its sanction lists. This would presumably make ports less willing to work with them. But Saiz and other experts say Russia continues to add vessels to take the place of ships on the lists.
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New and improved sanctions?
Certainly the sanctions haven’t succeeded in making Putin a global pariah. Last month, the Russian leader hosted representatives from more than 70 countries at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. That same week, Putin traveled to Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war. Putin stood alongside Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi, and announced that China and Russia had agreed to build a pipeline that would send Russian gas from Siberia to China.
For now, the U.S. intelligence community’s threat assessment – issued in March – looks accurate. “Russia has proven adaptable and resilient, in part because of the expanded backing of China, Iran, and North Korea,” the report said. “Russia has shown it can navigate substantial economic challenges resulting from the ongoing drains of the war, Western cost imposition, and high inflation and interest rates, for at least the near term by using financial and import substitution workarounds.”
Might a new round of sanctions change things?
Trump has continued to threaten new penalties against Russia, and Bessent’s “full collapse” remark came with a claim that the economic troubles would force Putin to negotiate.
“A lot of that is just rhetoric from Secretary Bessent,” Tannebaum said. “Let's be very clear, this administration has not imposed a single sanction on anyone related to the war in Ukraine…We're long past time for words on this.”
“It's hard for me to imagine a set of sanctions that would lead to the collapse of the Russian economy,” Graham said of Bessent’s claim, and he added a cautionary note. “That begs the question: are we really interested in the collapse of the Russian economy? Chaos in Russia, from the standpoint of US national interest, is really not a good thing.”
Graham, who served in the early 2000s as Senior Director for Russia at the National Security Council, noted that Russia still has 5-6,000 nuclear warheads, and recalled that as the Soviet Union was unraveling, the U.S. was worried about a resulting economic calamity.
“We want Russia to be weaker,” he said. “We want it not to be able to prosecute this war at the intensity it has up to this point, but crippling or crashing the Russian economy has first- and second-order consequences that are actually quite negative from the standpoint of U.S. national interests.”
“Sanctions have hurt the Russian economy,” Gen. Phillip Breedlove, a former Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, toldThe Cipher Brief, “but they have never changed Russian actions on the battlefield… There's a whole host of things we could do that would truly bring Russia to their knees and we haven't done it.”
Experts agree on a short list of measures that might move the needle when it comes to Russia’s prosecution of the war: imposing secondary sanctions aggressively against buyers of Russian oil – as Tannebaum said, “really forcing third countries to make a choice between Russia and a decent swath of humanity”; boosting enforcement for the financial-sector sanctions; better policing of the “shadow fleet” traffic in Russian oil; and – an idea that has been discussed for years – seizing the roughly $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets frozen in the West.
The latter is controversial; it has never been done, and opponents argue that it would violate a long-standing principle of global finance.
“There is absolutely a precedent of not trying to cross that line of seizing a sovereign's assets,” Tannebaum said, but then he added: “You also don't see a sovereign invade another sovereign in the 21st century.”
Siegle has argued that in addition to the secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, a surcharge should be imposed on every barrel of imported Russian oil, in return for the waiving of those tariffs.
“Russia is still making enough from oil sales, those sold on the G-7-compliant market and those via the shadow fleet,” Siegle said. “This new surcharge would crush Moscow’s oil revenues and provide a new cash flow that could be used to confront Putin and defend Ukraine.”
Graham says that no economic sanctions will match the power of effective military aid to Ukraine.
“It's the battlefield that's critical here, not sanctions, particularly if we're looking at the near term,” Graham said. “If Russia is not making progress in the actual battle, that is something that is going to lead to reconsideration in the Kremlin of whether it makes sense to continue this horrific loss.”
Sanctions busting 101
Russia has one more answer to the West’s sanctions, and it comes from an unlikely place: the university campus.
Russia’s elite Higher School of Economics has created a master’s program focused on sanctions evasion. The two-year course, taught in Russian and English, trains students to navigate Western sanctions and untangle compliance issues for Russian firms. Annual tuition: $6,260.
Igor Lipsits, a former professor at the university, told Russian media that “there’s a recognition that sanctions are here to stay. People are expected to learn how to work around them.”
Tannebaum said the degree program was one more piece of evidence to suggest that sanctions were hurting the country. “If they're not hurting them, why are you teaching people how to evade sanctions?”
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A one-pot soup meal made with leftovers and greens, this is great for a working day dinner or when you’ve got surprise guests
Part two of the Lettuce Series as I’ve dubbed it was about throwing things into a large pot to put together a soup – the kind that makes life a whole lot better (read: bearable) when your home has been invaded by painters and you are sneezing your head off courtesy allergies. The Chicken Lettuce Soup isn’t a planned recipe but it’s the kind that, after you’ve sampled, you realise needs to be shared with the world. Or the little pockets of the world this blog reaches.
The best thing about this soup is that the mothership liked it and trust me when I say, her liking food that has chicken (she’s developing a dislike for chicken and meat) and lettuce (read part one of the Lettuce Series) made me feel like a parent whose child has accomplished something major in life!
Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it
For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.
Chicken Lettuce Soup
A one-pot soup meal made with leftovers and greens, this is great for a working day dinner
250 grams Smoked chicken (shredded/boneless)
200 grams Lettuce
1 Carrot
1 cup Cooked noodles/spaghetti (optional)
1 Onion
1/2 inch Ginger (grated)
6 cloves Garlic
3 tablespoon Olive Oil
3 Chicken stock cubes
Salt (as required)
Black pepper powder (as required)
1 litre Water
Peel and mince the onion and garlic cloves.
Peel and cut the carrot into cubes
In a large pot, heat olive oil.
Add onion, garlic, ginger and sauté till the onion is slightly translucent.
Throw in the carrots.
Pour in the water, add the chicken stock cubes, cover and simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently to ensure there are no stock cube lumps.
Cube or tear the cooked chicken and add to the simmering pot of soup.
Wash the lettuce well, tear and add to the soup.
Add the cooked noodles/spaghetti if using.
Check the seasoning and add salt and/or pepper if required.
Adjust the consistency of the soup with water if required.
A spicy, robust pickle made with garlic and potent red chilli from Nagaland, this pickle will add the good kind of heat to your palate
As an introvert, I tend to avoid stepping into spaces that are traditionally marked as belonging to the ‘family’ – for example the kitchen, the dining area, the family room, etc. But all of that respect for space went flying out of the window in the face of the Khonoma’s bone-numbing cold that had my teeth clattering out unheard of tunes. A and I shuffled into the kitchen looking for something warm to ensure we stayed alive until dinner… and the taste of this garlic chilli pickle made me sit up, quite literally!
Offered rather tentatively by the homestay owner – she was probably afraid to let us face the wrath of the local red chilli that Nagaland is famous for – the sharp, spicy and robust taste opened up the sinuses and had my blood rushing to all those cold-number places.
I am a garlic girl through and through so of course I loved it a lot but oh my my…
Understanding the recipe was a bit of a struggle as the homestay owner grappled with words and terms to explain the process, until we resorted to hand actions. Made with pantry essentials and ingredients that are available in most Indian (and non-Indian) kitchens, the Garlic & Naga Red Chilli Pickle makes for a deliciously fiery achaar to your dal chawal, the drizzle to your sad sabji, the exquisite touch to your sourdough cheese grilled sandwich and more.
I’ve used the local garlic I bought in Khonoma village along with the red chilli powder I picked up from a farmers’ market outside Kigwema village. The mustard seeds, mustard oil and tomato are from the provision store and vegetable vendor a few steps from my home.
And obviously, you won’t have the Naga garlic and chilli so feel free to use whatever you have… I’m sure it’ll taste brilliant!
Things to remember
Roughly chop the garlic cloves but don’t mince; we want the garlic pieces to roll on your tongue when you eat the pickle
Be patient with the ‘let it sit’ portion of the recipe; the more you let the pickle sit, the more it’ll develop flavours and potency
Be sure to store in a clean, dry glass jar.
Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it
For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.
Garlic & Naga Red Chilli Pickle
A spicy, robust pickle made with garlic and potent red chilli from Nagaland
1/2 cup Nagaland Garlic
6 tablespoon Vinegar
1 inch Ginger
1 Tomato (small)
1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds
2 tablespoon Mustard oil
1/2 teaspoon Nagaland Red Chilli Powder
Salt a pinch
Day 1
Peel, wash and roughly chop the garlic cloves.
Soak the chopped garlic in vinegar, ensuring all of the garlic is submerged in the vinegar, cover and let it rest overnight.
Day 2
Blanch and peel the tomato. Chop it in a mush.
Grate the ginger into the vinegar-soaked garlic.
In a pan, heat mustard oil.
Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.
Pour in the garlic ginger vinegar solution to the oil and cover immediately to stop the splutter and trap the fragrance (as my mother says).
Once the situation inside the pan is a little calm, uncover, add the tomato mush and give it a good stir.
Add the Nagaland Red Chilli Powder and a pinch of salt.
Give it a good stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
Let it cool completely before storing it in a glass jar.
Pumpkin & potato are tempered with nigella seeds and slow-cooked in mustard oil for a dish that heroes the pumpkin’s sweetness.
Calling all home cooks looking for quick and healthy weekday/weeknight meal ideas – add this pumpkin & potato in mustard oil dish to your repertoire! It’s the kind that comes together in a jiffy, requires just one spice (coz salt and turmeric powder are MUSTS and don’t count) and pairs well with rice or Indian bread of choice.
The Pumpkin & Potato in Mustard Oil is a version of the Kumdo’r Chechki, a traditional Bengali side dish wherein the pumpkin is grated or (extremely) thinly sliced and slowly cooked in its own juices. It’s the kind of dish that celebrates the natural flavours of the vegetable. If you’d like to try a traditional chechki, head over to the recipe for Mulo Chechki (provided radishes are in season).
Tips to remember for the Pumpkin & Potato in Mustard Oil
Julienne the vegetables and try to maintain consistency in size; this helps all the food cook evenly.
Remember to add the pumpkin later, as it cooks faster than potatoes.
You can make this without the potato; just increase the amount of pumpkin.
Always use double the amount of pumpkin as it reduces when cooked.
Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it
For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.
Pumpkin & Potato in Mustard Oil
Pumpkin & potato are tempered with nigella seeds and slow-cooked in mustard oil for a dish that heroes the pumpkin’s sweetness.
200 grams Pumpkin
100 grams Potato
1 medium Onion
1 Green chilli
1 tablespoon Mustard oil
¼ teaspoon Nigella seeds
Salt (to taste)
¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
Peel and slice/julienne the pumpkin, potato and onion; keep them in separate bowls/plates.
In a kadhai/deep pan, heat mustard oil.
Once the oil is hot, add nigella seeds and green chilli.
Let the nigella seeds splutter.
Add the onion and potato; cover and cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes.
Add the pumpkin, turmeric powder and salt to taste.
Cover with a tight lid and let the vegetables cook in steam and moisture until the potato is cooked.
Stir frequently to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the vessel.
Serve hot with roti/paratha or as a side dish with rice and dal.
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OPINION — Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Vladimir Putin expected a swift victory from his “special military operation.” Instead, it is Kyiv now conducting special air campaigns against Russia’s oil and gas industry. Ordinary Russians are beginning to feel the war’s costs more directly and the pressure on the Kremlin is growing.
Since late 2023, Ukraine has unleashed a drone offensive, targeting Russian oil refineries. By 2024, the Biden administration was upset at the impact Ukraine was beginning to have, as the US was sensitive to changes in oil prices.
But for Russia, oil and gas revenues help fund its ongoing war against Ukraine. Russia’s reliance on massive recruitment bonuses to sustain its war effort in Ukraine is straining its economy, driving up wages and inflation as the military competes with civilian industries for labor. According to a June survey by the independent Russian pollster Levada Center, 58% of Russians named rising prices as their top concern.
Drones have formed the backbone of Ukraine's defense, but now, they are increasingly used on the offensive against Russia. Over time, drone strikes became more effective. By 2025, Ukraine had built an extensive fleet of long-range drones and put them to use, targeting Russian oil, hitting Moscow where it hurts most. Kyiv believes these to be “kinetic sanctions,” since the West has been hesitant to target Russian oil for years. And for Putin, fuel prices are politically dangerous.
Since early August, Ukraine has carried out more than a dozen strikes on Russian oil refineries, knocking out as much as 20% of refining capacity – over 1 million barrels a day. According to The Economist, the attacks have forced rationing, sent wholesale petrol prices up by more than 50%, and pushed Russia to suspend gasoline exports. The attacks have continued into September.
The result is that Russians are stuck in long lines waiting for fuel. Some cities reportedly don’t have any fuel supplies left. Local government budgets are in freefall. All of Russia’s major oil companies have reported profit declines in 2025, with industry-wide earnings cut in half.
The shortages now dominate the headlines of Russian newspapers. By early September, Putin himself was forced to admit that Russia is facing a gas shortage. The result is growing social pressure within the country. One Russian war blogger wrote, “We've been half-dead here for months, digging mud in the trenches, under drones every day, counting bullets, while back home, oil refineries are burning down in batches.”
The Kremlin’s official narrative has been that damage to refineries came from falling debris after drones were shot down. Yet at the same time, Russian authorities broadcast loudspeaker warnings urging citizens not to record footage of Ukrainian drones – an implicit admission that direct hits were occurring and to not broadcast the success of Kyiv’s efforts.
Things will continue to get worse for Russia. Ukrainian defense company Fire Point has recently unveiled two new ballistic missiles, the FP-7 and FP-9, with ranges of 200 km and 855 km respectively, as part of Kyiv’s push to strike deeper into Russian territory. Kyiv has also been deploying AI drone swarms. With time, this technology will be extended to long-range drones.
While these strikes alone may not determine the outcome of the war, they are shaping its trajectory. Ukraine has shown it can bring the fight deep into Russia’s economic heartland, weakening the very revenues that sustain Moscow’s military machine.
Putin would be wise to remember the lessons of Tsar Nicholas II during World War I: when the frontlines dragged on and domestic shortages mounted, social pressure at home proved as dangerous as the enemy abroad.
The Cipher Brief is committed to publishing a range of perspectives on national security issues submitted by deeply experienced national security professionals.
Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of The Cipher Brief.
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Naga chicken curry is a naga traditional chicken recipe which is zero oil and prepared with a handful of ingredients with few simple cooking steps. In simple words it is a boil chicken recipe. The chicken is cooked with fermented bamboo shoot which is the key ingredient of the curry which makes the curry authentic and traditional. The ingredients used to make this naga style chicken curry are chicken, fermented bamboo shoot, potato (optional), green chillies, ginger, garlic, salt, water and local sichuan peppercorns ( a variety of sichuan peppercorn).
Naga chicken curry is yet another simple and classic dish from the Naga cuisine. Naga style chicken curry is a zero oil dish which means not a single amount of oil is used in cooking this chicken curry and that’s how we cook our dishes. Very tasty, flavorful, exotic and healthier as well. It is a simple and easy recipe with simple cooking process.
Chicken curry with fermented bamboo shoot is a common Naga speciality dish which is very famous and one of the most popular dish in Naga Cuisine. It is a traditional and authentic naga chicken recipe. This dish is savored in almost all Naga household.
Naga chicken curry is an absolutely favourite of the nagas. Infact it is loved by many north easterners. It is a very simple and super easy recipe. You have the ingredients in hand and you’ll master it in jiffy. It is a perfect curry with lovely flavors to have with piping hot steam rice. The unique and amazing aroma coming out of the fermented bamboo shoot and the magical sichuan peppercorns is just divine and to die for.
Naga cuisine uses bamboo shoot as a key ingredient in dishes cooked with fish, chicken, pork, beef or other meats and even in vegetarian dishes. Bamboo shoot enhances and intensifies the flavour of the dishes.
Traditional Naga Chicken Curry
Here I have used the pounded fermented bamboo shoot. You can use the whole fermented bamboo shoot which has can be shredded with hand into long thin strips. This is a naga special fermented bamboo shoot. You can also use the bamboo shoot extract in this recipe. There is also a traditional recipe of chicken with dry bamboo shoot which is a perfect side dish to have with your piping hot steam rice.
Fermented bamboo shoot is a traditional Naga delicacy and a key ingredient in many naga dishes. Infact bamboo shoot is a delicacy for many North East states. It is adored by almost all north easterners. Most Naga dishes are cooked with bamboo shoot (fresh, fermented, extract or dried) as a souring agent to the dishes; be it vegetarian or non-vegetarian dishes.
Fermented food plays a crucial part in Naga Cuisine. Some of the fermented food are fermented bamboo shoot, fermented dry fish, fermented crab meat, fermented soya bean (axone), fermented mustard leaves, zutho (rice beer) etc.
If you think that Indian cuisine is all about spicy and oily food, then you are missing out some information. Indian cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisine. Nagaland, one of the northeastern state of India, is known for simplicity and variety of food from different tribes of the state. Naga food is considered to be healthy as most of the food are either boiled or steamed. The use of oil is very minimum. We usually dont use the Indian spices in our kitchen. Infact fresh herbs are used in our daily cooking.
It’s a known fact that Nagas love their food spicy and its true that most people find their food bland. This juxtaposition is often tackled by throwing in 1 or 2 raja mircha ka naga king chilly in any bland stew. The naga king chilly adds that extra zing in any dishes like meat, vegetables and chutneys. Though it is hot beyond words, raja mircha remains that one ingredient Nagas can’t do without.
Zero Oil Chicken Curry
INGREDIENTS FOR NAGA STYLE CHICKEN CURRY
● Chicken – I have used broiler chicken. Local/country chicken is best for this recipe. It takes the curry to another level and more healthier. ● Fermented bamboo Shoot – You can use shredded bamboo shoot or bamboo shoot extract/juice. ● Potato – You can add other vegetables like beans, carrot, cabbage or leafy vegetables. Again this may be optional ● Green chilly – Raja mircha ( naga king chilly) fans can add king chilly for the extra zing and hotness. ● Ginger ● Garlic ● Local sichuan peppercorns ● Salt ● Water
VARIATION OF NAGA CHICKEN CURRY
● You can totally skip the potato and sichuan peppercorns. ● You can add on others vegetables to the curry to make it more hearty and healthier. Mostly commonly used are squash (chow chow/chayote), beans, carrots, cabbage etc ● You can add green leafy vegetables like lai pata ( mustard greens), Mongmong tü (sichuan leaves) etc ● You can add coriander leaves, burmese coriander or fresh ginger leaves to the curry which enhances the flavor of the curry. ● Use fermented bamboo shoot for authentic taste but if you can’t source it, you can use canned bamboo shoot or even tomatoes. Taste and flavor will differ but those are the substitute ingredients.
If you’re fond of naga food, then this is surely the one to go for! It is lip-smacking good. I hope you’ll try this simple and easy naga style chicken recipe and if you do, please do share your thoughts about the recipe with me here.
Chicken Curry With Bamboo Shoot
I made a simple recipe video of this hearty naga chicken curry recipe for my readers which I have shared below. Please do watch and SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t yet. It will mean a lot to me and motivate me to come up with more videos for my readers. As always looking forward to your feedbacks!
500 gms chicken 2 tbsps fermented bamboo shoot 2 potatoes cubed 6-7 green chillies 2 inches ginger 8-10 garlic 1 tbsp local sichuan peppercorns roasted Salt as per taste Water as required
Step by step pictorial instructions to make naga chicken curry:
In a mortar pestle coarsely pound the green chillies. Remove and keep aside.
In the same mortar pestle coarsely pound the ginger & garlic and keep aside for later use.
Add the chicken in a pot. Add the pounded green chilly, fermented bamboo shoot and salt to taste. Add water immersing the chicken well. Turn on the flame. Cover the pot with lid and cook the chicken for about 10 minutes.
Add the potato chunks and continue to cook until the chicken and the potatoes are cooked completely approximately 15 minutes. Cooking time will differ depending on the variety of chicken used.
Adjust the curry consistency as per your requirement.
Add the pounded ginger garlic and dry roasted and crushed sichuan peppercorns. Mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes and take off the flame.
NOTES:
● This dish taste best with country chicken/local chicken. ● Use chicken with bone. ● Raja Mircha fans can add 1 or 2 raja mircha or as per your heat preference level. ● You can totally skip the potato and sichuan peppercorns. ● You can add on others vegetables to the curry to make it more hearty and healthier. Mostly commonly used are squash (chow chow/chayote), beans, carrots, cabbage etc ● You can add green leafy vegetables like lai pata ( mustard greens), Mongmong tü (sichuan leaves) etc ● You can add coriander leaves, burmese coriander or fresh ginger leaves to the curry which enhances the flavor of the curry. ● Do not over cook the chicken.
Well, if you make this naga chicken curry, please do leave a feedback in the comments box below or snap a photo and tag Akum Raj Jamir on Facebook and akumrajjamir on Instagram with hashtag #atmykitchen. I would love to see your creations.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you liked the recipe. Your valuable feedbacks are always welcome, I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you.
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