Rain, Cricket, Culture and Moong Daal

Right on, people!  We have got two ODI matches coming up today:  Sri Lanka / West Indies at Columbo and New Zealand/Pakistan at Hamilton.  Bonus!  Both of these matches are going to be interesting.  First of all, will the Rain continue its winning streak in the SL/Windies series?

Rain in its heyday, circa 1984.  Not cool for cricket.

Hopefully they'll have clear skies for this one.  I personally like Sri Lanka, but today I'm going to be cheering for the sun! Let's go sunshine!  Show that rain who's boss and let the game go on!

Second of all, Pakistan is on a winning streak too, and we, the fans, could not be happier.  Actually, we could be happier ... Pakistan could win again today!  Woo hoo!  Let's go Gulzilla!  Eat up those wickets!  Let's go Misbah ul-Haq! 

Now, New Zealand is dealing with a couple of injuries; Dan the Man and Big Fella Jesse Ryder may both be out with an injuries.  Hopefully both of these guys will be feeling better by the time the match starts today, they are excellent cricketers and are enjoyable to watch.

And lastly, haven't my lovely lads on the Pakistan squad been playing beautifully lately?  Good on them, showing us their resilience, patience and maturity.  I am very proud to be a Pakistan supporter! 

Now here's the culture part I've promised you:  If you're not from Pakistan, this is something you need to learn.  Since yesterday and for the next few days I'm showing you how to make some different daal (lentil) dishes; but neglected to tell you something very important.  In Pakistan, daal dishes are for eating at home with immediate family only.  If you have guests, you do not serve them daal; you serve them meat dishes.  The reason behind this is that lentils are very cheap, and by serving them to guests you are showing your guests that they aren't worth the cost of meat!  So no matter how good your lentils are, don't serve them at a party unless you are entertaining vegetarians!
The good side of this is that lentils are therefore the perfect comfort food to be enjoyed with your closest family or your best friend.  Right!  Let's get on with the cooking.

Moong Daal for Physical and Emotional Healing

Moong Daal is a split yellow lentil which has had its dark outer skin removed, which makes the lentil very easy to digest.  This is an appropriate dish for people who are recovering from an illness, convalescing, or recovering emotionally from some sort of heartbreak.  If you've been ill or sad, this is just the perfect dish to get you back on your feet and feeling all happy. 

(You may remember that I posted this recipe previously at http://sportpulse.net/ ; remember Marcos Maidana?  Yeah, the guy that Amir Khan punched the beejeebus out of.  Well, I hope he got this recipe and I hope his guts are feeling much better!)

Ingredients

2 cups of split moong daal, rinsed

4  cloves of garlic, very finely chopped or crushed

3.5 cm piece of ginger, very finely chopped or crushed

2 roma tomatoes or small tomatoes, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon or lime

½ teaspoon turmeric

Salt

Tarka ingredients

1 teaspoon mustard seeds (use less if desired)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds (again use less if desired)

4 or 5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

5 or 6 nice fresh curry leaves

Chopped green chilies

Oil for cooking

A handful of chopped coriander

Daal:

Boil the moong daal in about 4 cups of water, add the crushed garlic, ginger, turmeric and tomatoes. 

Reduce the heat and let the daal simmer about 10 minutes, then add the lemon juice and salt, and let it cook until it’s almost all mushy.

Tarka:

Heat some oil in a separate pan on medium high heat and add the mustard seeds, fry for about a minute, then add the cumin seeds.

Add the green chilies and the curry leaves, fry about 1 minute.

Add the finely sliced garlic, and continue frying until golden.  Don’t burn it or it will taste bad!

Add this tarka to the cooked moong dal, and stir it in evenly.  

Garnish with the chopped coriander.

Serve with basmati rice or with roti.  Just be careful with the whole wheat when making the roti; whole wheat can sometimes irritate the stomach, especially when recovering from an injury or illness!  A mix of half whole wheat flour and white flour works well for roti.  If you've forgotten how to make it, here's the link:

http://kikiscookinforcricket.blogspot.com/2010/11/zulqarnain-empire-of-akmal-and-roti.html

Ok.  Hopefully all that rain that's pestered the Sri Lanka/Windies series will go away for a while and the guys can actually play some cricket!  Right, I'm off to get my chores done; my lovely lads are playing in a few hours and I want no distractions!  Pakistan Zindabad!

Happy Cricket, Happy Culture, and Happy Cooking!