Wine:
Domaine Gauby 2004 Vieilles Vignes
Samsara Wine 2004 Pinot Noir
Robert Sinskey Vin Gris 2005
There was a recipe in the New York Times for an Indian Dish:
Stir-Fried Chicken with Ketchup. It turns out that it tastes Chinese! It was great and easy to make. It is by the author of one of our favorite Indian Cookbooks: Indian Home Cooking.
We decided to make a dish from that cookbook to go with the Chicken: Stuffed Bell Peppers. The peppers were very good but we only had large peppers and they were huge.
We went to The Cheese Store of Silverlake and saw they were selling Hot Dogs! We knew if they had them, there must be something really special about them. So, we bought them and put them on the Egg. They are exceptional! Like no other Hot Dog we have ever eaten. You can read about them here: Lets Be Frank.
Bea joined us and brought some wonderful wine!
May 12, 2004 The New York Times
THE MINIMALIST; A Condiment Gets to Shine
By MARK BITTMAN
THIS is a perfectly contemporary dish: Manchurian in origin, inspired by an Indian chef who lives in New York and based on an ingredient that is in almost every refrigerator.
It's stir-fried chicken with ketchup, and before you turn your nose up, think of hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, salsa and all the other condiments that somehow are often considered inferior in haute cuisine circles.
Then think how good ketchup can taste.
I learned about the genesis of this dish from Suvir Saran, an Indian chef in New York. In the version he cooked for me, Mr. Saran tossed cauliflower in a slurry of cornstarch and egg, then deep-fried it. The crust was exquisite, and the cauliflower perfectly cooked. But it was what happened next that really got my attention: He finished the cauliflower in a sauce, made in about three minutes, containing nothing more than ketchup, garlic and cayenne pepper.
The garlic and cayenne gave the ketchup a significant leg up, and the brief cooking time caramelized the sugars. In all, the ordinary ingredient we all grew up with was transformed into a glistening, almost exotic sauce, one that latched on to that cauliflower as if the molecules had fused.
''This recipe is one of many dishes created by Chinese immigrants who now live in India,'' Mr. Saran said. ''You see it in Calcutta's Chinatown, where it's sold on the street, to be eaten off toothpicks.''
I tried making the dish with cauliflower that I didn't deep-fry; it wasn't the same. But when I floured some chicken and seared it in oil until it was quite crisp, then turned that in the sauce, I knew I had hit it: Manchurian-style chicken. (And, yes, you can eat it with toothpicks if you like.)
If you take to this dish, you might start to play with it: cook some peanuts with the chicken, toss some slivered scallions or cilantro in at the end (the color is brilliant, as you can imagine), substitute soy sauce for the salt, or start with squid or shrimp. It's all pretty flexible, and just think, you already have the main ingredient.
STIR-FRIED CHICKEN WITH KETCHUP
Time: 20 minutes
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken, preferably dark meat, in 1/2- to 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup flour, more as needed
4 tablespoons neutral oil, like corn or canola
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons slivered garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 cup ketchup.
1. Toss chicken with flour so that it is lightly dusted. Put 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, and turn heat to high. When oil smokes, add chicken in one layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. When chicken browns on one side, toss it and cook until just about done: smaller pieces will take 5 minutes total, larger pieces about 10. Remove to a plate. Turn off heat and let pan cool for a moment.
3. Add remaining oil to pan and turn heat to medium high. Add garlic and cayenne pepper and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add ketchup and stir; cook until ketchup bubbles, then darkens slightly. Return chicken to pan and stir to coat with sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning, then serve.
Yield: 4 servings
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