Tuesday, January 18, 2011

don't judge a plate by its contents

My fridge is getting fuller, my appetite is continuously changing, and I'm running out of room on my "things to cook" sticky (Oh the horror!) So while there is still an empty corner of my fridge 5 x 5 inches big, I sought to fill yet another Tupperware with some ethnically salivating dish.

I had a vision. A vision of roasted skewers of chicken satay. I was browsing the recipes and and was turned off by the thought of "fish sauce" (What the heck kind of fish is it made out of? How does it get to its present slick form on the back shelf of a forgotten grocery aisle with all of the miscellaneous goods one needs once in a lifetime?) So I decided to improvise.

Ingredients: peanut butter (yes- Skippy from my roommate's shelf- thanks Ian!), small onion, clove of garlic, tumeric, curry powder, kosher salt, pepper, water, chicken, rice.

Saving grace: honey (credit to my best friend and her superwoman like abilities to save my dish- Galee)

The "how to": Put on white rice to cook, blanch chicken in olive oil on high heat. Take chicken out. Sauté sliced onion (small onion) in olive oil in same pot (if you have use pressure cooker- makes the most tender chicken you've ever tasted and in only 10 minutes!) until brown on low heat. Add garlic (1 clove) and olive oil as needed. Add (approximate amounts) 1 tsp. of tumeric and 1 tsp. of curry powder, ¼ tsp. salt, dash of pepper, 2-3 tbsp of peanut butter, 1/5 cup water added sporadically to mix ingredients. 1 tbsp. honey. On low heat mix until satisfied with taste. Add blanched chicken and flip. Cover (make sure it locks) and raise to medium heat until top rises, then lower heat and time 8 minutes then shut off. Let top down and press if need be.

Disclaimer: All was going swell; the scent of aromatic onions filled the air coupled with the fragrant spices, and then...I added too much salt! (NOTE: always start with a little and work your way up!!!) To make up for this mistake I started diluting it with water and Galee (god bless her soul) advised me to add honey which was the perfect counterpart for the saltiness. Unfortunately this happened once i had about an inch of liquid in the pressure cooker. This would have been fine in a normal pot, but since it was in the pressure cooker, the moisture was multiplied by two and I ended up with a soupy mixture of peanut butter and spices. Because of this I lost much of the ethnic flare, but the strong onion flavor still resonated throughout. Despite these issues, it turned out delicious and perfectly cooked. (Just wish the sauce was a bit thicker and more of the peanut butter and spice flavor had stayed)

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Dig in!


P.S.
Listened to band "Horse Feathers" while cooking. wonderfully peaceful music.

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