An Involuntary Cricket Lull and The Promised Frijoles de Olla and Refried Beans

Good mornin' all, I guess.  There was a very disappointing lull in cricket yesterday because none of the warm-up matches were telecast!

My house was a no-cricket zone last night, through no fault of my own.  Ugh!

 And I was really looking forward to seeing the lesser-known cricketing nations.  Boooooooooooooooooooo! No fair!  It almost feels like the broadcasters were personally out to get my goat!  Phooey!

Anyways, here are the results, thanks to cricinfo:

1.  South Africa gave a smack-down to Australia, winning by 7 wickets and 34 balls remaining (ouch on Australia).

2.  Sri Lanka showed some sugar by beating the Windies by 4 wickets...sweeeeeet!

3.  My lovely lads of Pakistan beat the pants off Bangladesh by 89 runs, with my fave Misbah ul-Haq scoring a whopping century and Ahmed Shehzad scoring even more!

4.  Ireland beat Zimbabwe by 4 wickets and 3 balls remaining.

5.  The Dutch beat Kenya by 2 wickets and 5 balls remaining.  ( The Dutch play cricket?  awesome!)

Dutch World Cup Kit. 

So, all of these great warm-up matches and I didn't get to watch.  Phooey!  Oh, so guess what we watched instead of great cricket:  we saw the next best thing.  Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.  What a shame he's not a cricket player.

Right.  About a week ago, I promised some Frijoles de Olla and Frijoles Refritos (stewed beans and refried beans) to accompany Manly Mohammed Hafeez' Chilaquiles.  I keep my promises, and I apologize for the delay.    Here's the link for chilaquiles:

http://kikiscookinforcricket.blogspot.com/2011/01/manly-mohammed-hafeez-chilaquiles.html

Ok.  Now I'm going to lecture you.  Stewed beans or refried beans are served as a side to many Mexican dishes.  The proteins from the frijoles, combined with the proteins from corn tortillas provide all of the necessary proteins for a healthy diet; they also give you a heckuva lot of energy.  Traditionally, the beans are made with lard; however, you will still get great-tasting beans without it.  The trick is to use milk at the end and add a teaspoonful of ghee or butter.  Delicious!  Right, it's time to make some Frijoles.

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried beans, either black, kidney or pinto beans
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 or 2 morita chilies if you want it a bit spicy
2.5 - 3 litres of water
salt to taste
milk
a bit of butter or ghee

Bring all  except salt, milk and butter to a boil on high heat.
Lower heat to medium.
Cook 2.5 to 3 hours.
Add more water if necessary
Add salt after beans have cooked
Add a bit of milk and a bit of butter to add some creaminess.

Serve with any Mexican dish and rice.

To make Frijoles Refritos (refried beans), use the left-over frijoles de olla. 

In a frying pan, on medium heat, mash the cooked beans with a potato masher or pastry cutter.
Add a bit of butter
Add milk to desired consistency, and bring to a boil.  Serve immediately. 

The refried beans also make a very good snack with home-made totopos (deep fried corn tortillas cut into triangles) or roti chips.

And there you go!  Have a good one, and try to keep your cool until the World Cup!

Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking!

Warm-ups, Islanders, and Team Green's Snackin' Salsa Verde

And a g'day to ya!  The ICC Cricket World Cup will start in just a few days time, and some of the warm-up matches are already under way.  Australia was looking good in their dry run against India, but ultimately India won the practice game by 34 runs.  Some of the aussie chaps got smashing haircuts, but in the end they failed to smash out enough runs for a victory.  No worries though, lads; it was just a mock game and it doesn't count! 

Ireland has their mock game with Zimbabwe today.  I haven't seen either team play before, so this should be interesting.  Come to think of it, I've never tried Irish or Zimbabwean cuisine, either.  Hmmm.  Let me do some research and some kitchen experimentation, and I'll give ya a couple of recipes to round-out your cooking repertoire if everything turns out.  Anyhoo, the cricket between the two nations should be entertaining!

And some other news:  Canada lost their warm-up match to Bangladesh.  Yes, you read that right; Canada has a cricket team in the World Cup, and their heavy-hitter batsman is John Davison, a native of Cambell River on Vancouver Island, BC.  Mr. Davison is also the oldest cricketer in the World Cup at 40 years of age.  Right on, John Davison...way to show people that we Islanders are made of tougher stuff! 

The Canadian Afridi, John Davison, in Fighting Form at 40.  YES!

So even though Pakistan is first in my cricketing heart, I must admit that I will be cheering on the Canadian lads in every match.  Let's go Canada, entertain the world and let's show them that there's more to our country than snow, bacon, maple syrup and hosers!

 No offense to the iconic hosers Bob and Doug McKenzie, you're the bestest hosers ever!

And now to Team Green, my favourites of all time, Pakistan.  My lovely lads have been training hard and working so beautifully together.  Hats off to Shahid Afridi and Misbah ul-Haq for bringing this squad together and improving morale.  After a year of total chaos on the team, these two have brought stability, pride and discipline.  Our lads can go into this World Cup with their heads held high!  LOVE you guys!!

In honour of the BEST TEAM OF ALL TIME, I'd like to present them with one of my BEST SNACKS OF ALL TIME...of ALL TIME!  Team Green, have some Salsa Verde, a green mexican chutney which goes very well with samosas or plain, deep fried roti chips or tortilla chips.  Green and Green!  A match made in heaven...Green Power!  Go Greens!

Salsa Verde for Team Verde

1 cup of chopped coriander (cilantro)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 dark green lettuce leaves
1 red tomato or several tomatillos (a small green tomato)
several chopped green chilies (adjust to taste)
3 cloves of garlic
juice of several limes
salt

Puree everything together until smooth.  Let sit for at least a half an hour so the flavours meld together.  Serve with home-made roti chips, or deep-fried corn tortillas which have been cut into triangles.

Great!  Nice and easy recipe, yet absolutely delicious and absolutely appropriate to show our Green Team spirit!   I'll show you some other things you can do with the salsa verde in the next couple of days.  I also promised you I'd show you how to make frijoles, ie refried beans.  Remember; even though I might be late, I keep my promises.
Stay Green!

Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking, and Happy Green!

And A Good Mornin' To Ya!

Good morning all!  I'm going to be taking a break for a few days in order to get ready for the ICC World Cup!  I've got lots of historical cricket gossip to learn and I've got lots of new dishes to learn too!  Keep your eyes open, I'll be back next week!

Pakistan Zindabad! 

Happy Cricket, and happy cooking!

Pakistan, Homesick French-Canadians, and Toor Daal

And thankfully, a big, dry g'day to ya!  The weather's gone beserkers in Australia; cyclones, floods, rain rain and more rain and some cold.  When's it going to stop?  I sincerely hope everyone up in the North is OK, and those of us who are in a position to help, should.  Floods totally bite the big one.  Let's hope we get some sun here down under and that we all get to dry out a bit.

Right.  Cricket.  My loveliest lad of all time, young pace bowler Mohammed Aamer, has been found guilty of spot-fixing and will be banned from cricket for 5 years.  Salman Butt has been banned for 10 years, and Mohammed Asif has been banned for 7, also for spot fixing.  It is a sad day not just for Pakistan fans, it's a sad day for cricketdom.

But moving on, Pakistan lost their final ODI in New Zealand on Saturday because they were experimenting with their line-up before the upcoming World Cup.  However, my lovely lads did win the series, and I am totally looking forward to their WC matches.  That's right, I'm looking forward to it...let's all support our wonderful chaps because
they've been playing so well even without their superstar bowlers Aamer and Asif.  You know what?  I think all of the chaps on the World Cup squad are superstars.  I love my lovely lads!  Let's go DOMINATE THE WORLD!!!

And the second part of my post.  I'm so freakin' homesick.  I love Melbourne, but I miss Vancouver Island, I miss speaking french at home,

Cathedral Grove, close to Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island

I miss the woods, I miss the beach.


The last access, Judges' Row, Qualicum Beach

Thank goodness I've got the Pakistan Cricket Team to keep my mind off of my homesickness!  And thank goodness that I have an old-fashioned pakistani recipe which is a spiced-up, even more delicious version of that french-canadian classic, pea soup.  So if you're a homesick french-canadian like me, and really want a bit of home while you're in a different country, but can't find the necessary salted pork to make pea soup, try this instead.  It's slightly different, but has the same soul-soothing effect of split peas and you'll find you're ready to face the day no matter where you find yourself in the world.  C'est bien!  C'est l'heure du biznez culinaire!

Toor Daal (Pakistani-style French Canadian Soupe aux Pois)

3/4 cup Toor daal (yellow split peas)
3 cm piece of ginger, crushed
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
1 onion, very finely chopped
2 roma tomatoes or 1 gourmet tomato
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed powder
green chilies, chopped
5 or 6 curry leaves
chopped coriander for garnish
salt
about 5 cups of water
oil for cooking

Boil the daal, ginger and tumeric on high heat, the turn the heat to low and cover.  Make sure it doesn't boil over.
Simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

While the daal is simmering, in a separate frying pan heat some oil.
Add the mustard seeds to the hot oil.
When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the curry leaves and the onions.
Fry the onions till golden.
Add the tomatoes, cumin powder and coriander seed powder and salt.
Fry until the mix is reduced to a paste, add water if necessary to prevent the mix from burning.

Add this tomato gravy to the simmered daal, adjust the amount of salt if necessary, and bring to a boil for a few minutes.

If you're going to serve this with rice, make it a little watery, if you're going to serve this with naan or chappatis, let it reduce so it becomes thicker.

If you're a really homesick "pea souper" ( a slightly derogatory name for french-canadians) like me, you can eat this like a nice thick soupe aux pois with a good thick slice of toasted white bread.   You'll be transported back home in a jiffy AND you'll also have a little taste of Pakistan while you're at it.  The best of both worlds!

Right!  I'm off to learn about classic World Cup cricket matches at sportpulse.net.  Why don't you do the same?  Visit the other lovely lads, the authors at SportPulse!

Happy Cricket, Happy Toor Daal!

The Thunderbirds of Pakistan, Victorious after the Chaos

And it is rainin' cats and dogs in Melbourne this fine morning, and I say fine morning because last night my lovely lads on the Pakistan Cricket Team played one cracker of a match against New Zealand.  Not only did they win the match, Pakistan won the series!  It is the first series they've won in New Zealand in ages, and I am still buzzing from the victory.  When the squad started chanting Pakistan Zindabad, I started chanting it too!

Right on Chaps!  Way to show the world you can bounce back from anything! It's so good to see you emerging victorious from the chaos of 2010 like the Thunderbird (phoenix) rising from the flames.  Good on ya, and I can't wait for tomorrow's match.

Artist Bill Reid's Thunderbird, like Pakistan, emerging victoriously from the Flames of Chaos

What a great game; Shehzad got his maiden century, the bowling was tidy, the teamwork was splendid and there were lots of great camera shots of Wahab Riaz!  YES!   The lads looked like they were having a grand old time out there, working as a unit and making all of us proud.  Shabash!

No cooking for today because I'm experimenting.  That's right, the World Cup is coming up and I'm learning some more dishes to celebrate this international event.  But have no fear, tomorrow I'll post another traditional daal dish which is just the thing for homesick french-canadians.  Intrigued?  You should be!

Have a good one, I'm going to be smiling all day long today.  You should too!  Congrats lads, you certainly put in the hard work for your victory.  Hope you're all swimming in happiness!

Happy Cricket!  Happy Pakistan!

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!

Pakistan's Victory, Gossip, and Daal Makhani

And what a good morning it is!  The Pakistan/New Zealand ODI yesterday was an absolute screamer of a match with both teams playing superbly!  How I enjoyed it!    Pakistan won by the skin of their teeth by an absolute batting surprise:

That was some hot stuff yesterday! Nice batting, kiddo!

Sohail Tanvir!  He perfectly complimented Misbah ul-Haq's calm and collected 93 runs by scoring 3 boundaries and 2 more runs in the second to last over!  I had no idea ST had it in him, I just thought he was a bowler, but what a beautiful knock under extreme pressure.  Misbah ul-Haq was deservedly named Man of the Match.  I really liked how he gave a shout out to captain Shahid Afridi...these two guys working together are making my team the bestest out there, keep it up chaps!

Just one quick non sequitor :  some of the lads had new haircuts and blond highlights put in their hair.  Lookin' good, boys, lookin' good!

Once again my lovely lads used terrific teamwork to ensure victory.  But let's not forget the Kiwis!  They put up a very good fight yesterday, and for quite a while I thought it was curtains for the PCT!  The kiwi bowling was good, the fielding was good, and Dan the Man Vettori did a good job of captaining.  So kudos all around.  Pakistan won the match, but I must say that we the viewers were the real winners!  Great match, guys, and good on all of ya!!!!

And here's the gossip part:  Facebook deleted the Pakistan Cricket Team page saying something about copyright infringement.  Give me a break; the page always said it was an unofficial fan page.  This nonsense really gets my goat; the PCT page was always promoting writers, giving people their start in their career, and provided the lastest info on our lovely lads.  The PCT has furthermore given me an incredible amount of support for my blog.  So, if you were a PCT fan page member, email the FB people and ask that the page be re-instated.  Support the chaps at the PCT facebook page!

And finally the cooking.  Yesterday, I promised a series on the different kinds of daal; today we're going to start with Daal Makhani, a nice slow cooked daal with a rich tomato gravy that even the strictest non-vegetarian will enjoy. This is a recipe I've already published in Sport Pulse, and now you get to read it here.  Lucky Ducky!  This dish is ideal when you need some extra energy and it's also an excellent comfort food when you're feeling a bit down.  And have no fear, this dish is ultra-good for you!  Go get a pot!  What are you waiting for?

Daal Makhani for Continued Sports Excellence and Emotional Balance

Now you may notice that I do not use cream my version of daal makhani.  I prefer to use yoghurt, which gives the daal a very nice tang and it’s a bit healthier as well. All right, here we go!

Ingredients

1 cup whole urad, soaked overnight

2 tablespoons of rajma (red kidney beans) also soaked overnight

1 teaspoon cuminseeds

2 green chilies, split lengthwise

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

3 green cardamom pods

2 cm piece of ginger, crushed to a paste

¼  teaspoon  turmeric powder

1 teaspoon  lal mirch

2 large tomatoes, very finely chopped

About 4 tablespoons of yoghurt

1 tablespoon of butter

Salt to taste

oil

First, drain the daals, then cook them with about 2 cups of water or more until they’re overcooked and splitting apart.

Second,  whip or stir the daals until they appear to be mashed.

Heat the oil in a pan and add fry the cuminseeds until they pop.

Add the green chilies, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.

Add the turmeric, lal mirch, tomatoes and yoghurt.  Fry it until it is reduced like a paste, let it stick to the bottom a bit, then add a little water to lift what’s stuck to the bottom.  Repeat this 2 or 3 times to make a nice rich gravy (the bhunna method!)

Add the daal to the gravy, and add about a cup of water.

Add salt, let simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat.

Add  about a tablespoon of butter now to give it a nice, rich taste.

Garnish with some chopped coriander and green chilies, and you can drizzle some fresh yoghurt over it, as well.  Eat with homemade roti, pita bread, or fresh naan from a tandoor bakery.


And there's your victory, your gossip and your dinner.  I don't want any complaints, I've given you everything you need today!  I'll see all of you at the next Pakistan/New Zealand match!


Happy Cricket, Happy Cooking!