A Quick Update on Ali, Shafiq and The Captain

Last night rocked my world!  Azhar Ali scored 90 yes 90 big, fat, juicy runs, Asad Shafiq scored a whopping 61 and Misbah ul-Haq, the Captain, still at bat, scored 77 runs of awesomeness.  About 64 more runs are needed to avoid the follow-on...so let's do it! 
I'll write more later on today.  It's going to be hot and the garden at my house needs a lot of work.  So keep your eyes open, and I'll write a theory lesson today about the use of chilies.  Here's something nice to look at in the meantime.

The Captain and Shafiq

Happy Cricket!

Excess Runs, Excess Goals, and Exquisite Aloo Ghobi

Ooooohhh.  I woke up today to a double whammy of doom.  South Africa scored an excessive 584 runs against Pakistan yesterday.  In hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks scored an excessive 7 goals against the Canucks.

Canucks Goalie Roberto Luongo, regretting eating a deep-fried stick of butter for his dinner earlier in the evening.

Vancouver coach Alain Vignault says that the Canucks basically embarrassed themselved on home ice, scoring only one measly goal.  Well, Mr. Big Coach, did you check to see what your fellows ate for dinner?  Healthy food = healthy hockey.  Obviously the Canucks were ill-fed!  Shameful!
Enough about hockey.  It's cricket time.  South Africa did indeed score too many runs, but let's remember that debutant Tanvir Ahmed took six SA scalps, three right at the start of the SA innings! 

Tanvir Ahmed, showing no mercy to the South Africans on Day 1

Good show, Tanvir.  But day two, the Pakistan side was looking pooped.  No wonder...it's hot in the UAE!  You try standing for 8+ hours in the sun for two days in a row and let's see how YOU bowl!  That's right...you'd be a buffet bowler...the opposition would help themselves to runs.  So for today, day 3 of the test match, let's hope our lovely lads are well fed and well rested and that they blast off some 600+ runs!  Let's go Pakistan!

So what is a good dish to ensure good form in the field, good form in batting and even good form on the ice?  Cricketers, chefs, and ice hockey players, I give you Aloo Ghobi.  This is a dish that will put some hair on your chest...girls included*!  As I always say, go macho or go home.

Aloo in urdu means potato.  Ghobi means cauliflower; hence, this is a potato and cauliflower dish done in a rich tomato gravy.  Now usually, as we've seen in the Basic Vegetable Salan post, veggie salans (curries) usually do not have spices except for red chili powder, garlic, and salt.  However, because ghobi (I'll use urdu from now on) is a very strongly flavoured vegetable, it is almost treated like a meat and the meat spices are used with it.  This dish is a classic and is excellent to include in your repetoire.  So get out your pot, stop fooling around and let's get to business.

Ingredients
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 8 pieces each
1 small head of cauliflower, broken up into small florets (the pieces that look like little trees)
1 big red tomato
1 onion, finely diced
7-8 cloves of garlic, crushed or very finely diced
3 cm piece of ginger, crushed or very finely diced
1 bay leaf
1 cinammon stick
1 star anise
5 black peppercorns
5 cloves
5 green cardamom pods
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4  teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon lal mirch (red chili powder)
chopped green chilies (or whole chilies) according to taste
kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) optional
chopped coriander (cilantro)
salt
oil for cooking
water

1.  Heat about 3 tablespoons of oil in a big pan and fry the diced onion till golden and slightly crispy.
2.  While the onion is frying, add bay leaf, cinammon stick, star anise, peppercorns, cloves, cardamom pods and cumin seeds.
3.  When onion is almost crispy, add the garlic and ginger, and fry a minute or two.  Don't burn the garlic!
4.  Add the turmeric and lal mirch.
5.  Add the chopped tomato and "bhunna" it:  ie frying it until it reduces and sticks to the pan, add about 1/3 cup water, reducing again, adding water again when it sticks.  Repeat this procedure 3 or 4 times, until the oil "leaks" from the mix and the mix looks like a thick paste.  Here's the link if you need a refresher on "bhunna" method:

http://kikiscookinforcricket.blogspot.com/2010/10/theory-and-practical-lesson-basic.html

6.  Add 3 or 4 cups of water, some salt, and bring to a boil.
7.  Add the cauliflower florets.  Cook for a few minutes.
8.  Add the potatoes and green chilies.
9.  Add some kasoori methi if you like, about a handful.
10. Simmer for around 30 or 40 minutes, until the cauliflower is very, very soft and almost all of the water has evaporated.  If the vegetables are still hard, add more water whenever needed.
11.  Double check to see if you need more salt.
12.  Garnish with chopped coriander, and serve with roti.  Here's the roti link if you don't remember how to make it:

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

And one quick note concerning kasoori methi:  the first time you eat it in your life, you're going to smell bad the next day.  But don't worry; the second time you eat it your body will be used to it and you'll smell absolutely normal the day after.  It only happens the very first time you eat it.  So don't go running a marathon the morning after eating kasoori methi if it's the first time you've eaten it!

And there you have it...exquisite Aloo Ghobi.  Look alive out in the field, batting and even on the ice and have a good one!

Happy eating, happy cricket, and for you Vancouver Canuck fans....uhmmmm...happy cricket, too!

*No, I don't have hair on my chest.  It's just an expression, people!

It's a Hot One and Here's Something Pretty

Hi...I'm going to be posting later on today.  It's going to be hot in Melbourne today and I've got lots of yardwork to do.  I want to get it done before the temperature goes up.   But here's something pretty to look at if you're bored.  Stay tuned for cricket, hockey and aloo ghobi.

Young Imran Khan

Happy Cricket, happy hot weather.

Hurt Feelings, Hockey, and Thai Chicken Wings

And a good day to you!  Not so good for me though; my feelings got hurt recently by a couple of Finnish gentlemen in Melbourne.  According to them, I am a "Bad Canadian" because I'm not an ice hockey fan and I only watch games because I sort of enjoy the fights that break out.  Well, Bad Canadian no more.  Today's post will be all about hockey.  That's right! It's our national sport and it's about time that I learned something about it.  So here we go with the basics!



Ice hockey is a very physical game where the players wear  skates and use special sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal.  It's usually played in cold countries where outdoor ice rinks (a playing field covered with several inches of smooth ice) are the norm.  However, the popularity of the sport has spread to warmer countries where indoor ice rinks are possible.

The National Hockey League is the highest level for men worldwide.  This is the league I will focus on as it is the most popular.   The NHL has 30 teams; 24 are in the United States and 6 are in Canada.  The league is then divided geographically into 2 conferences:  NHL Eastern and NHL Western.  The conferences are then also geographically divided into 3 divisions each.  These divisions are: Atlantic, Northeast, Southeast, and then Central, Northwest, and Pacific.

2 Canadian teams are doing well at the moment:  The Montreal Canadiens, the sentimental favourites, are #1 in their Northeast division, and the Vancouver Canucks are tops in their Northwest division.    Overall however, the NHL top standing team is the Washington Capitals from the US; The Habs (nickname for the Canadiens) come in at #4, and the Canucks come in at #7.    The Ottawa Senators come in at # 21 overall in the league, followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs at #23, the Calgary Flames at #27, and the Edmonton Oilers at #29. I have to say this last one surprised me a bit...aren't the Edmonton Oilers usually really good?  Well, it's still early in the season, we'll wait and see!

So the Canucks will be playing the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, November 20 in Vancouver at 7pm.  The Blackhawks are #2 in their Central division, so this really should be an interesting game.   Since I'm from Vancouver Island, I'll go with the Canucks on this one.  Go Canucks!  Canucks Zindabad!

Traditionally, Canadian men eat several different kinds of chicken wings and drink beer while watching a hockey game.  Therefore, I give you Hot Thai Chicken Wings.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 kilos of chicken wings, split

1 cup of chicken broth

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup fish sauce

lime juice

1/2 cup crushed garlic

crushed cilantro (coriander) STEMS

basil, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon crushed ginger

finely chopped green chilies to taste

2 tablespoons  cornstarch

Mix all of the ingredients together except the garlic, and pour over the wings to marinate them.  Let it sit for about an hour. 

Take the wings out of the marinade, and bake them on an oiled pan or grill for 45 minutes at 200C / 400F, turning once during baking.

Place the left-over marinade in a small pot, and add the crushed garlic.

Bring the sauce to a boil, and simmer several minutes.

Coat the the wings with the sauce, and enjoy!

The secret to really good thai wings is to crush the cilantro stems.  This releases the juice in the stem which is usually discarded, and it gives the wings a very deep, subtle flavour that you cannot get from cilantro leaves alone.

Have a great time watching the game, and I'll do my best to post regular hockey updates!

Happy Eating, and Happy Hockey!

The Queen, Kamran Akmal, and Delicious Qeema

Hey, hey, hey!  Big news for Queen Elizabeth and the Commonwealth, so let's start with that today.  Prince William is getting married to Kate Middleton, and the Queen is delighted.

Excellent!  She is very fond of her future granddaughter-in-law and is very happy for William.  Congrats to everyone!  I personally am fond of the royal family, and I wish the Queen another 50 years of her reign, and I wish William and Kate a happy life together.    William is second in line to the throne, which means he will most likely be Canada's head of state in the future.  I think he'll do a wonderful job.   Good on all of ya, and good on all of us!

Ok, that didn't have much to do with cricket, but the next gossip does.  Kamran Akmal, the drop-tastic regular wicket-keeper for the Pakistan team, was being investigated for match-fixing.

 It looked like he would not be allowed to participate in the 2011 World Cup, but he has been cleared by the ICC.  However, Mohammed Amir, the 18 year old whiz kid bowler is still suspended pending investigation.  Man, that kind of makes my blood boil.  Hurry up with Mohammed Amir's investigation and get him cleared for the World Cup.  Take longer to investigate Kamran Dropmal Akmal.
There are other wicket-keepers available.  So, unless KA improves his attitude and shows me he can play better, I'll continue being a bit of a Sour Sally towards him.  Smarten up!

On a side note; whenever I see the World Cup abbreviated to WC, I giggle.  Please write "World Cup" in full.  No need to abbreviate. 

Right then!  Now's here's the cooking I've been promising you.  Today's dish is Qeema, a salan made with ground beef.  Think of it as a delicious pakistani version of chili con carne.  For those of you from Qualicum Beach, this sure beats any chili you get at the Fire and Ice Festival!

Make sure you use an extra lean ground beef because it gets cooked in the tomato gravy, not fried first and then drained.   Ask a butcher to make you the ground beef from an extra lean cut like rump if it's available.  You can also skim off any possible fat near the end of cooking if you're concerned about fat intake.    So, take out your knives and let's get to business!
Qeema
ingredients
1 kilo extra lean ground beef
3 potatoes, cut into 8 pieces each (potatoes optional)
1. 5 tomatoes, very finely chopped
4 big tablespoons yoghurt
1 onion, finely diced
7-8 cloves garlic, very finely diced or crushed
3 cm piece of ginger, very finely diced or crushed
1 bay leaf
1 stick of cinammon
1 star anise
5 cloves
5 black peppercorns
5 green cardamom pods
1 teaspoon cuminseeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon lal mirch (red chili powder)
1/2 cup of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
chopped coriander (cilantro)
chopped green chilies to taste
salt to taste
oil for cooking
water

1.  Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a big pan and fry the onions til golden and slightly crispy.
2.  While the onion's frying, add bay leaf, cinammon, star anise, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom pods and cuminseeds.
3.  When the onion is golden and slightly crispy, add the garlic and ginger, fry for a minute being careful not to burn the garlic.
4.  Add the turmeric and lal mirch.
5.  Add the chopped tomatoes and yogurt.  Stir and "bhunna", like you did for Aloo gosht, basic vegetable salan and qorma.  That means:  fry until the tomato/yoghurt mix sticks to the pan, add a bit of water to "lift" and incorporate what's stuck to the bottom into the gravy.  Repeat this 4 or 5 times, until the tomato/yoghurt mix is a deep reddish colour and has a uniform paste consistency.  The oil should start to separate or "leak" from the mix. If you need a reminder, here's the link:

http://kikiscookinforcricket.blogspot.com/2010/10/theory-and-practical-lesson-basic.html

6.  Now add about 4 cups of water, and bring everything to a rolling boil for a minute or two.
7.  Add salt, but not too much, because the liquid will evaporate!
8.  Add the ground beef, and simmer.  Let all of the water evaporate, until everything is dry.  Fry the evaporated mix for a minute or two, again, until it sticks, then add more water.  Add the potatoes now if you wish to have potatoes.
9.  Add the kasoori methi and green chilies at this point
10. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked, or until the queema reaches your desired consistency.  Add more salt if desired.

Traditionally, qeema is eaten with roti, so it's cooked until it's quite "dry".  However, feel free to add more water to make it saucier and have it on basmati rice.

Have an excellent day today.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow's test match, and I'm hoping you'll be there with me in spirit to cheer on my favourite team!  Whaddya say?  Pakistan Zindabad!

Happy eating, and Happy Cricket!

Calm, Silly Predictions and Joshanda

All right, so today is a bit of a slow day; the calm before the storm.  The next Pakistan/South Africa test match is coming up in a couple of days, and pretty soon all we'll hear about will be the Ashes, the famous grudge series between Australia and England. 

My predictions:  Pakistan will win the next test because Gulzilla will eat up the South African batsman,  and Graham Swann will single-handedly win the Ashes for England with his groove-tastic spin.

Look out South Africa cuz Gulzilla's HONGRAYYYY for WICKETS

I've got a sore throat today, so no cooking.  But I'm going to tell you something.  I'm going to have some Joshanda.

Joshanda is an old pakistani herbal remedy for colds, flu and general malaise. Also, it is very good for jet-lag.   Nowadays, it comes in a powdered format which you can add to a cup of hot black tea, or plain hot water.  This stuff works.  In fact, why don't you have a quick look of my before Joshanda and after Joshanda pics.  Scientific evidence for all you doubters out there.



Me, feeling quite bad with a sore throat this morning.




After Joshanda, fit as a fiddle


Right!  Ok, enough of the Godzilla and Keith Richards jokes.    Joshanda does work, drink it with hot water, or black tea, or even milk tea and sugar.  In Canada it's available at the New Gulberg Market in Surrey or in Pakistani-run grocery shops.  You'll have to ask for it because it's kept behind the counter.   I haven't found it in Australia yet, but I'll tell you all about it when I do.

Have a good one today, and tomorrow I'll post about Qeema, Kamran Akmal and the Queen. 
Happy Joshanda, and Happy Cricket!  cough cough cough cough cough

Eid, Younis Khan,The Captain, and Cake

It's a great, fabulous day today!  It's Eid, the test match between Pakistan and South Africa was a draw due to the magnificence of the most excellent Younis Khan and Misbah ul-Haq, and finally, I'm going to show you how to make cake.  It's a trinity of great things today:  Holiday, draw, dessert.  It  does not get better than this!

First things first;  today is an Islamic holiday.  It's Eid al Adha, or Greater Eid; and it commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, but was able to sacrifice a ram instead by God's command.  So, today, to celebrate, traditional muslims will be slaughtering a sheep, a goat or a cow, and distributing the meat in three ways:  1/3 for the immediate family, 1/3 for relatives, and 1/3 for the poor.  Children are also given small gifts, and families spend the day together.  And of course, there is lots of good eating due to the abundance of meat!  So, to everyone, Eid Mubarak (Happy Eid)!

Secondly: Younis Khan and the captain of the Pakistan test squad, Misbah ul-Haq, blew those South Africans out of the water with their all-day batting session yesterday!  It was crazy!  It was pandemonium!  Day 4 looked like it was curtains for Pakistan because South Africa were scoring run after run after run.  They declared before they were all out because they thought their bowlers would annihilate our lovely lads!  Wrong!  On Days 4 and 5, Azhar Ali scored 63 runs, the captain of my sports heart Younis Khan scored a whopping 131,


Younis Khan in all of his magnificence

and Misbah ul-Haq, captain of the team scored a glorious 76.  I was afraid my lungs collapsed I cheered so hard!  My lungs are in fact, just fine, but my goodness, what an innings from Pakistan!  Younis Khan...you are great!  Misbah ul-Haq...great leadership and showing the young'uns how it's done.

Misbah ul-Haq showing us how it's done

Rock on, Pakistan!  All of that hard work deserves something special, like cake!  Here's a little recipe which I always use.  It looks a little plain, but it's delicious, goes well with tea, and with a little bit of cooked fruit on top, makes a lovely treat for a special occasion.

Plain Cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1.5 cups of white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

optional fruit topping:
about 1 cup of chopped fruit (mango, blackberries, cherries, blueberries, etc)
1/4 cup sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350 F or 177 C.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until creamy.
Blend in the milk.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add flour mixture to the batter, and stir until everything is just moistened.
Pour into a non-greased pan.
Bake at 350 F or 177 C for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool, and if you're going to add the fruit topping, poke holes in the top of the cake with a fork.

Fruit topping
In a pan, combine the fruit and sugar.
Cook on low heat until the sugar is melted.
Pour and spread on top of cake.



You mean I get cake if I score 100?  BONUS!!!

There are several variations to this cake; you can add a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter if you wish, or you can add some grated lemon rind to the flour mix and that will make a lemon cake.  If you want a zestier fruit topping, just add the lemon juice to the sugar and fruit.
Have a Happy Eid, Happy Cricket, and Happy Cake!