So even though the rain interefered with play and shortened the match to 38 overs per side, it was a fun match to watch. Abdur Razzaq used some of his razzle-dazzle bowling to hypnotize the Zimbabwe side and scalped Brendan Taylor in the very first over, and soon after the bowling master known as The Gul took 3 Zimbabwe wigs for 36 and was named Man of the Match. Right on, Gul!
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| Some say he dreams of wickets, some say he dines on them. All we know is ...he is The Gul. |
Another absolute awesome delight was Asad Shafiq, who scored a whopping 78 runs not out. Love this kid! He should be playing all the time. Triple "A" quality from this young'un. Well, to be honest, I love all the lads on the team today, even Kamran Akmal who managed to catch something other than a cold! Good on ya today Kamran, keep it up and maybe one day I'll get off your case!!
Anyhoo, today's victory recipe is something I'm going to post on http://sportpulse.net/, so keep your little eyes open for that. Here, however, I promised you a veggie rice pilaf and tsatsiki to go with yesterday's greek-style roasted chicken, and I keep my promises. Go put on an apron and a hair net, gentlemen; let's get busy in the kitchen.
The Rice Pilaf Of Gul-icious Glory
Ingredients
2 cups of basmati rice
3 cups of water
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, diced
1 or 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
5 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
1 small zucchini, diced
juice of 2 lemons
some fresh dill, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
about 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, or 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
freshly chopped parsley
some olive oil for cooking
Heat a bit of olive oil in a pot on medium heat and sautee the diced onions, celery and carrots for a couple of minutes.
Add the zucchini and garlic, sautee a minute or two.
Add the rice, and sautee until it slightly starts to change colour.
Add the water and the rest of the ingredients except for the chopped parsley. Give a quick stir.
Bring everything to a boil on high heat, uncovered.
As soon as the rice comes to a rolling boil, turn the heat to very low and cover the pot.
Continue cooking on very low heat for about 20 minutes until the rice is tender and fluffy. Add a bit more water if necessary.
Once the rice is cooked, fluff it up with a fork and serve with the roasted chicken. Now some people prefer to make this rice with chicken broth instead of plain water; if that's something that floats your culinary boat, then go ahead. Furthermore, you can add more chopped vegetables to this rice if you wish to do so. Just always keep the carrot, celery and onion combo at the beginning because that is what gives the dish a good punch of flavour.
Right, now let's get on with the Tsatsiki of Victory. Tsatsiki is a greek version of raita made with dill, cucumber and garlic and tastes great with naan or or rice or on meat dishes. It's lovely mmm mm mm.
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (full fat works best, but low fat works, too)
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh, very finely chopped dill
a four inch piece of cucumber (peeled if it is the thick-skinned variety), very finely diced
salt to taste
Combine all ingredients and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Some recipes call for a squeeze of lemon, but that might make it a bit too sour.
There you go my lovely kitchen people. Go out there and rock the food world the way my lovely lads rock International Cricketdom. Go Pakistan! Yee-ha!
Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking!
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