Smiles, Re-Hashed Scandals, and Bitter Melons

Instead of focusing on the negative, today I want to bring you a little treat, courtesy of Mohammed Yousef's amazing teeth.  Now we've all seen people commenting on how sauci-licious Shahid Afridi is, or how good-looking Wahab Riaz is, or how nobody approaches Imran Khan in the handsome devil department.   Well, here is someone who's been flying under the "handsome" radar, so to speak.

Mohammed Yousef is,what we North Americans call, a badass.  He looks mean when he's at the crease, like he's out to do some damage to the opposition.  Seriously, if he gave me that famous sneer of his, I'd burst into tears from fear and hurt feelings.  His nasty, grumpy glare has that effect on people.  Opposition bowlers must be quite apprehensive when bowling to him; they must be rather afraid. 

Mohammed Yousef, AKA "Grumplestiltskin"

But here's the awesome news:  Mohammed Yousef has the greatest smile in all of international cricket-dom.  Not only do the heavens smile down on him when he's at the crease, you can almost hear angels singing when he breaks into a smile.  This is no joke, people, just take a look, and you'll see what I mean:

Dental Perfection!  Beautiful, like art!

So look after your teeth, and you'll have a smile as beautiful as Mohammed Yousef's.  He really needs to smile more...the world demands it!  You don't hide teeth that exquisite behind a scowl.  Good on ya, Moyo!

And here's a bit of bad, re-hashed news.  Cric info reports that Mazhar Majid, the shady "agent" involved in the spot-fixing scandal, implicated a further four people in the whole mess.  This information comes from a News Of The World secret video which got leaked to the press, Geo TV in particular.  Well, we already knew that other guys were named, but they were investigated and cleared of wrong-doing.  What gets my goat about this situation is...how did this video get leaked to the press? 

My goat has been gotten.

Was it one of the defense lawyers?  If it was, then our lovely lads need new lawyers; they need good, solid, legal representation; not shenanigans like this!  My favourites deserve the best, and only the best!

And now to the cooking bit.  Yesterday we looked at a variation of a basic vegetable salan, called Bhindi.  Today, we're going to look at another variation of Qeema.  Instead of adding potatoes to the qeema, we're going to prepare and add a very traditional vegetable:  Karela or Bitter Melon.  So here we go with Bitter Melon Qeema.

First things first:  prepare qeema, no potatoes.  Here's the link if you've forgotten how to make it:

http://kikiscookinforcricket.blogspot.com/2010/11/queen-kamran-akmal-and-delicious-qeema.html

You can also use left-over queema.  No problems with that.

Now, you'll need about 7 or 8 karelas.  These things.


This veg takes a bit of time to prepare.  As the name implies, it is very bitter indeed.  We're going to take 98% of the bitterness away, leaving a slightly bitter, delicious veg which will add another layer of flavor to the queema.

With a sharp paring knife, scrape off the bumps on the karelas,or cut the skin off in strips, just getting the knife under the bumps.  Cut off the top bit.

Now slice the karela lengthwise, and remove all of the seeds.  You can scoop them out with a spoon.

Now rub the insides and outside of the karelas with enormous amounts of salt, like handfuls of it. This will suck out most of the bitterness. Leave the salt on, and set the karelas aside for at least an hour. 

After an hour, rinse the karela very well,getting all of the salt off.  Soak the karela for a while (1/2 hour)  in water to get the rest of the salt out and rinse again..  Some people are happy just rinsing the karelas, and don't bother soaking.  I find it's too salty without the extra soak session.

Cut in 1 cm slices, and then fry over medium heat in a little bit of oil, until it's lightly browned.

Add to the qeema, add some water, and cook several minutes over medium heat so that all the flavours can blend.

Eat with roti or pita bread, or, if you can find it, fresh naan from the tandoor bakery.

Tomorrow I'll show you another variation of Bitter Melon Qeema, so keep you little eyes open for that.

There's cricket on today, thank goodness!  So have a good one, don't let the re-hashed news of the "scandal" get you down, and keep smiling...just like our favourite smilin' handsome fella, Mohammed Yousef.

Happy Eating, Happy Cricket, and Happy Smiling!