Pakistan Rules! Shortbread Rules!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa! Pakistan totally devastated New Zealand last night in the third T20 match, and it was glorious to watch! What a magnificent way to end 2010, the year of emotional ups and downs!   Shahid Afridi bowled the fastest spin ever recorded; Tanvir Ahmed was the first international cricketer to ever take a wicket in his first over in both T20 and Test formats, and that's not all! 

Guptill and Friend, yesterday evening.

New Zealand got a massive amount of ducks (batsmen out for 0 runs) and got what must have been their lowest score ever in a T20!!!   Well Done my Lovely Lads!  You guys rule and I cannot wait for your test matches and ODI's...let's continue the Kiwi Krushing! Pakistan Zindabad...Pakistan Rules!  2011 is going to be fan-flipping-tastic!!! Yes Yes Yes!!!

Now as you may notice, my internet is still hobbled, so I have got to make this post short and sweet.  Therefore, like I promised a few days ago, we will be appropriately making sweet Scottish shortbread in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and we'll eat it with a nice cup of pakistani milk tea, in honour of the King of Umpires, Aleem Dar.   Right!  Go wash your hands and let's make something tasty!

Scottish Shortbread

500 grms (1 pound ) unsalted butter
1 cup (250 ml) caster sugar
4 to 5 cups plain all-purpose flour

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F or 180 C.
In a big bowl, use your hands to cream the butter, ie mash it until it's very soft.
Add the sugar, using your hands to mix it all in.
Add the flour gradually, again using your hands to blend it all together.
The dough should be very firm and stiff but not crumbling.
Press the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet or baking pan, make it about 1.5 or 2 centimetres thick. 
Bake at 180 for about twenty minutes or more; the colour should change lightly but do not let the shortbread turn brown.
Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, and cut into small squares.

Enjoy this with a lovely cup of milk tea or dhudhpatti.  If you've forgotten how to make it, here's the link:

http://kikiscookinforcricket.blogspot.com/2010/12/day-for-dhudhpatti-milk-tea.html

So have a good one today, and have a great New Year!  Let's go Pakistan!  Let's get things started off right and let's all make 2011 victorious n' glorious!

Happy Cricket!  Happy Eating!  Happy Pakistan!

Communication Issues, Ashes, Pakistan and the Queen

And a rushed Good Morning to you!  Hope you had a great Christmas.  I'm still having communication/internet issues and it's very difficult to post.  But I simply must give you some quick gossips.

1.  The Ashes.  Yes I went yesterday to the MCG and watched Australia get slaughtered by those English Roast Beefs!  All that booing you heard was for Ricky Ponting being a poor sport.  The booing was not for Aleem Dar, the umpire.  All of the australians in the audience supported Aleem Dar's decisions; they found Ponting's arguing with the umpire to be disgraceful, hence the booing.  My vote for man of the match is definetley Aleem Dar!   I took a whole bunch of photos, which I will be posting later when I get my normal internet connection speed!  However, if you're curious, I have posted some of the pics at SportPulse. 

http://www.sportpulse.net/

There are also the shots of all of the Australia Squad and England Squad which I took on Dec 23 at the Ashes Vodaphone Ashes Christmas Celebration.  Yes, I got to meet all of the players!  I'll gossip more about that in a later post.

2.  Pakistan lost the first T20 to New Zealand on the 26th.  The match was very enjoyable to watch, and you could tell that Pakistan was just warming up!  So that means the next T20 they'll do better!  YES!  YES!  I've missed my Pakistan and it's so good to see them in action again!  I'm looking forward to some Gullification later on today wooohoooooooooooooooooooo!

3.  My new sports hero is The Queen of England.  Yes, you read that right.  Queen Elizabeth, the modern day champion of sports, gave her annual Christmas speech on the 25th and spoke for quite a while about the importance of sport in everyday life and how sport is essential for bringing together people of different countries, religions, and beliefs.  The Queen is subtly protesting the sports funding cuts that the UK government has implemented in the last little while.  So sports fans and athletes, we have a wonderful patron and I say Good on ya, Queen Elizabeth!  You Rock and may you reign for another hundred years! 

No cooking for today, but as soon as I can, in honour of the Queen of Great Britain, I'll show you how to make good, old fashioned Scottish Shortbread which goes perfectly with pakistani dhudhpatti.  Have a good one!

Happy Cricket!  Happy Internet (yeah right!)

Christmas, Communication Issues, and Tablet for Spreading the Love

Good morning!  So yesterday I mentioned Christmas...it's coming up on the 25th, and I'm pretty happy about that!  Nowadays, Xmas is more of a secular winter holiday where people exchange gifts and have a fantastic meal.  However, originally it's a religious holiday for christians celebrating the birth of Jesus and the love we should all feel for mankind, regardless of race, religion or politics.

And that's the message I want to emphasize; Christmas is not the commercial broo-haha you might see on TV; it's not about giving or receiving bigger and better presents.  It's about reflecting on how awesome the human race is and how we should all love each other.  Christmas is all about the LOVE!

So no matter who you are, where you are, or what you do...I LOVE YOU because you're a part of humanity!  Spread the love!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

On a practical note, I might be incommunicado for the next few days; it looks like I've already used up my monthly allotment of broadband access.  Apparently my internet company doesn't love me enough to give me more than I pay for!  Boooooooooooo! 
I'll do my best to post updates on the Ashes and on the Pakistan T20 coming up...oh I'm so excited about that!  I love Christmas!  I love Cricket!  It's all about the love!!!

Now here's a nice little Christmas treat from Scotland:  it's a sweet called toffee or tablet.  It's almost like a hard fudge, but richer and it melts in your mouth.  Just the thing to go with your Christmas morning cup of coffee or tea!  So let's spread that Christmas love around and let's make some Tablet.

Sweet Scottish Tablet For Sweet Love

1 kg white granulated sugar
1 tin of sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand works best)
100 grams unsalted butter
about 1/2 cup fresh milk

In a big pot, add the sugar and pour in the fresh milk. Then add the butter and condensed milk.  Use medium-high heat.
Keep stirring until the mix comes to a boil, about 10 minutes.  If you see dark brown streaks, turn down the heat.
Once the mix boils, turn down the heat to low, and keep stirring so that it doesn't stick.  Be careful, the mix will bubble up quite a bit.  That's why you need a big pot.
Keep stirring.  The mix will change colour after 20 minutes.  If you want a stronger tasting tablet, keep cooking it for another few minutes.
Take the pan off the heat, and start stirring the mix like crazy!  This will change the texture of the mix.  Once it feels a bit "gritty", pour the mix into a flat, buttered pan and let it cool for at least a couple of hours.

Cut into small squares, and serve with tea and lovin'.

Merry Christmas!  Spread the love!  Make this the best time of year!

Love you ALL!

Happy Eating, Happy Cricket!

No Cricket, No Gossip, But Here's The Promised Paella Valenciana

So there isn't any cricket going on for a few days.  Bah.  Jacques Kallis of the South Africa side was in a car accident but thankfully he's ok.  Ricky Ponting will probably be recovered from his broken finger and will play in the Boxing Day Ashes Test.  ZZZZZZ It's so boring when there's no cricket! 

And at my house, I'm getting ready for the Pakistan/New Zealand T20, but my guests are getting ready for Christmas, a nice holiday where we exchange gifts and spend the day with family and lots of good food.  I've even started decorating...see?

So starting tomorrow, I'll show you how to make some good old fashioned Scottish sweets, and I'll tell you what the Christmas holiday is all about.  Keep your little eyes open for it!

But for today, I promised Paella Valenciana, and I shall fulfill that promise.  Most of the ingredients are the same, and as Spanish actor Antonio Banderas says, the trick is to cook the seafood in the same liquid that you'll be using to cook the rice.  So you can either steam the seafood ahead of time and use that liquid, or you can use my method of using fish broth and cooking the seafood in the rice.  I find that makes the paella even richer!  Ok!  Enough talk.  Time for business!

Paella Valenciana

About 1 cup of sliced chorizo sausage (you can use spicy halal sausage if you like)
1 onion, finely diced
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, very finely diced or crushed to a paste
1/2 tomato, very finely diced
1/2 cup of shelled peas
1 juliened green pepper (capsicum)
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
a little bit of lal mirch (red chili powder) if desired
3 cups of rice*
(I use basmati rice, but traditionally arborio rice is used.  If you use arborio, check the package to see what the water:rice ratio is.)
4.5 cups of fish broth
about 10 strands of saffron (do not use more or your dish will taste like bleach)
salt to taste
regular olive oil for cooking*  (Do not use extra virgin olive oil, it will burn)

some clams
some mussels
some firm white fish, cut into cubes and no bones
some squid (calamari), cut into rings
some shrimp or prawns
some scallops
some lobster tails if you want to be really fancy

First, make your fish broth.   If you don't have home-made broth, you can use store-bought broth if you like, or you can use the Knorr instant broth. 
Soak the saffron strands in the broth.  This will make the broth a yellowish/orange colour and will also gives the paella its' traditional earthy flavour.
Let the broth and saffron stand while you prepare everything else.

Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat, and brown the  sausage.
Remove the sausage from the pan, and if there's a lot of oil and red coloured grease from the sausage left in the pan, remove most of it but leave some as this adds alot of flavour.
Fry the onion in the same pan with a bit of the leftover oil from the sausages.  Once it's browned, add the garlic, and fry for a minute or so.
Add the tomato, turmeric and lal mirch, and fry until reduced.
Add the juliened green capsicum and peas, fry a few seconds.
Add the rice, and fry for about two or three minutes, being careful not to burn the rice.
Add the broth.
Add the sausage.
Stir for a few seconds to make sure everything is evenly distributed.  Add salt at this point if it's necessary; but keep in mind that the liquid will reduce and concentrate the flavours.
Add your seafood at this point, except for the shrimp and lobster, because you don't want them to overcook.
Let the paella come to a boil, and let some of the liquid evaporate.  Turn heat to very low and add the shrimp and lobster at this point.   Continue cooking on very low heat until the rice is cooked through, about 20 or 25 minutes.

Before serving, fluff up the rice and arrange the lobster tails on the top so it looks really nice.    Enjoy with your friends, and if you're a drinker of wine, a nice spanish rose from Catalunia will go particularily well with this dish.

Right!  Have a good one, and I hope the cooking will keep you from getting bored while waiting for the cricket!

Happy Eating!  Happy Cricket!  Happy Happy!

Competition Zindabad! Pakistan Zindabad! Good Paella Zindabad!

Good morning.  Still a bit chilly here in Melbourne, but the sun is out so that's good enough.  Speaking of good enough, India sure wasn't in their match against South Africa!  They lost by an entire innings and just got pounded into mush by the Saffies. 

Do you know what this means?

It means that my #1 all-time favourites, my lovely lads of Pakistan are indeed a deliciously good team because they managed to draw two of their test matches against South Africa.  The balance of power in international cricketdom is changing; no longer is one team totally dominating.  This is good!  I love competition, it brings the sport to a higher level, and we, the fans, benefit.  Every test match will be a nail-biter and we'll love every minute of it!  Competition Zindabad!  Pakistan Zindabad!  Good Food Zindabad!

That's right...good food Zindabad (forever)!  Without good food, sports suffer.  Without good food, everyone suffers.  It would be a bland world of boiled potatoes, plain pasta, and only hot water to drink.  Imagine that.  You would have no energy and no passion.  Yikes!  Good eating with good family and good friends is one of life's greatest pleasures.  So let's not waste any more time; live life to the fullest.  Get back in the kitchen and let's make life worth living.  Let's make Paella.

Misbah ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq on hearing Paella will be served at Tea-time.

Paella is a Spanish dish made with rice, and it's similar to pilao, but uses a different set of spices.  Almost every family has its' own recipe and cooking method.  There are two main types of paella:  one made with chicken and chorizo sausage, and one made with seafood and chorizo sausage.  Today I'll show you how to make the simpler chicken and sausage version so that you can get the spice and flavour balance to your liking without breaking the budget, and tomorrow I'll show you how to make the spectacular seafood version, also known as Paella Valenciana.  Right!  Enough talking from me.  Let's do this.

Paella
6 or 8 chicken drumsticks, skinned
about 1 cup of sliced chorizo sausage (you can use spicy halal sausage if you like)
1 onion, finely diced
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, very finely diced or crushed to a paste
1/2 tomato, very finely diced
1/2 cup of shelled peas
1 juliened green pepper (capsicum)
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
a little bit of lal mirch (red chili powder) if desired
3 cups of rice*
(I use basmati rice, but traditionally arborio rice is used.  If you use arborio, check the package to see what the water:rice ratio is.)
4.5 cups of chicken broth
about 10 strands of saffron (do not use more or your dish will taste like bleach)
salt to taste
regular olive oil for cooking*  (Do not use extra virgen olive oil, it will burn)

First, make your chicken broth.   If you don't have home-made broth, you can use store-bought broth if you like, or you can use the Knorr instant broth. 
Soak the saffron strands in the broth.  This will make the broth a yellowish/orange colour and will also gives the paella its' traditional earthy flavour.
Let the broth and saffron stand while you prepare everything else.

Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat, and brown the chicken drumsticks and the sausage.
Remove the chicken and sausage from the pan, and if there's a lot of oil and red coloured grease from the sausage left in the pan, remove most of it but leave some as this adds alot of flavour.
Fry the onion in the same pan with a bit of the leftover oil from the sausages.  Once it's browned, add the garlic, and fry for a minute or so.
Add the tomato, turmeric and lal mirch, and fry until reduced.
Add the juliened green capsicum and peas, fry a few seconds.
Add the rice, and fry for about two or three minutes, being careful not to burn the rice.
Add the broth.
Add the chicken and sausage.
Stir for a few seconds to make sure everything is evenly distributed.  Add salt at this point if it's necessary; but keep in mind that the liquid will reduce and concentrate the flavours.
Let the paella come to a boil, and let some of the liquid evaporate.  Turn heat to very low and cover.  Continue cooking on very low heat until the rice is cooked through, about 20 or 25 minutes.

This dish is served as a meal in itself; no side dishes or garnishes are required.

Good Paella Zindabad!  Have a try with this one, and once you've mastered it, try tomorrow's version.  Your dinner guests will be blown away by your kitchen expertise!  Have a good one, and let's enjoy all of the excellent competition we're seeing nowadays in international cricket.

Happy Eating!  Happy Cricket!

It's Cold But Who Cares!!! Ashes, Centuries and Chana Daal Gosht!

It's cold and raining again in Melbourne but who cares??? It's a great day for me and Australia!  Our own lovely lads beat England by a crushing 267 runs thanks to the work of Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson!  And then Ryan Harris finished off the English by taking six yes that's 6 scalps for 47 runs!  Well done, chaps!  It looks like Australia's been eating some great pakistani food and is now back in the cricket business!  And that's how things should be!  Right on!

And in the South Africa/India test that's going on at Centurion, the Indians have clawed their way back into the game by scoring a great big 454 runs in their second innings.  They've got 2 wickets left in hand, and lag behind the South Africans by 30 runs now.  But before you get all excited, you must remember that the Saffies still have another innings to play!   However, this has been a most exciting test:  Sachin Tendulkar, the Little Master, scored his 50th Test Century yesterday.  Good on ya, Sachin!  Dhoni, the India captain, scored a fabulous 90 runs as well.  Rain forced the end of play yesterday, but day 5 is going to be interesting.  Man, I LOVE TEST CRICKET!!!  You never know what's going to happen! 

I also want to add that Hashim Amla on the Saffy-side had some great catches yesterday.  He's insanely well-coordinated and a great fielder.  You can call him a match-winner just by his fielding!  Good on ya!

Now let's get to the food.  This is a dish I've already shown in my column at SportPulse, but I thought i'd publish it here as well. Chana Daal Gosht is a rich yet well balanced chickpea and meat salaan which provides energy due to the protein and carbohydrates.   Goat meat does tend to work best in this dish; it's milder in flavour than lamb, is easier to digest than beef, and has fewer calories than chicken.  In Canada, you can find goat meat in the frozen section at Superstore or at a Halal butcher.
 Give this dish a go, and you'll see how right I am when I say that pakistani food is the best food to get you back into business...no matter what your business is!   Now let's go teach that kitchen a lesson and let's get busy.

Chana Daal Gosht

Ingredients

1 kg of lamb, beef or goat, cut into 3cm cubes

500 gr chana daal (chickpeas, use whole or split)

2 large, finely sliced onions

5-7 cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste

3 cm piece of ginger, crushed to a paste

1 cinnamon stick

3 black cardamom pods

5 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon or more lal mirch

Sliced green chilies

Salt

Wash and soak the chana daal in some cold water for at least 1 hour.  Drain.

Heat a little oil in a pan, and fry the onions until they’re brown and a little crispy.

Add the garlic and ginger, and stir-fry a couple of minutes.  Careful not to burn the garlic!

Stir in the meat, add the cinnamon, black cardamom pods, cloves and bay leaves.

Now you’ll “bhunna” the mix: when the meat mixture starts to stick to the bottom of the pan and turns brown, sprinkle water on it and stirfry to avoid burning.  Remember, this procedure lifts all of that flavour from the bottom of the pan and incorporates it into the gravy. 

When the meat mixture sticks again, add water and stirfry again.  Repeat this step about 3 or 4 times, until the meat is well browned and fragrant.  You’ll notice that the onions and spices have changed texture and have now formed a lovely dark gravy.

Add the chana daal and stir on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Add the cuminseeds, turmeric, lal mirch and salt.

Add water, cover and simmer for around 30 minutes.  Give in an occasional stir so it doesn’t stick.

Garnish with chilies.

So that's the way you get back into business, just like the Australians!  Let's hope they continue with their brilliance and give us a great show at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26!  Have a good one today.

Happy Eating, and Happy Cricket!

a quick note:  What was the deal with Paul Harris and his ugly sausage tongue?  He had his tongue out for about two flipping hours !and the camera-man kept on doing close-ups.  Keep it in your head, dude!

Hussey, Watson, Johnson...and Saffies!

Isn't Australia making a handsome come-back?  Applause is required for Mike Hussey, who once again scored over a hundred runs and brought the home side back into the competition.  Mike Hussey is the Good Man!  People in the know are saying he's never batted better, and here's even more good news:  Shane Watson!  Yes, I've never mentioned him before, but lately he deserves a shout out.  He scored 95 smokin' runs
which is certainly helping Australia get their good cricketing reputation back.  Again, that's Shane Watson!

So, at stumps yesterday, the score is England 187 and 5/81, Australia 268 and 309.  Yes!  Today is going to be riveting.  Let's show those English who's boss!!! YEAH!

A little bit of bad news;  Ricky Ponting broke his finger yesterday.  He'll be out for a while and people are wondering who should be the captain while he's recuperating.  Most are saying Clarke, or even Haddin.  Me, I have no idea who should captain.  Maybe Mitchell Johnson?  He's been quite smart...let's see what he can do!

And in other cricketing news, South Africa is continuing their demolition and dismantlement of the India team.  How's this for a ridiculous score:  Saffies 640/4 d.  With a score like that, it doesn't matter what India gets.  Maybe I'll need to scold India captain Dhoni.  What gives? 

No cooking for today, I'm eating left-overs because I'm watching day 4 of the Ashes.  Have a good one, and see you later!

Happy Left-overs, Happy Cricket!  Happy Saffy!