January 24,
2013 Lunch – Azuma, Dinner - Chicken Curry, Rice and Salad
What a great
day of shopping at Pro’s Ranch Market.
Lots of things were cheap. When I
went I had an idea to slow cook pork chops or a pork tender with apples and
onions in the Spanish tapa manner of José Andres with julienned squash and tricolored
peppers but I ended up adding two additional recipes when I saw that there was
a sale on 10 pound bags of chicken leg quarters for $.59/lb.; chicken curry and
chicken enchiladas when I saw that asadero cheese was $1.99/lb., sweet potatoes
at $.50/b. for the curry and roasted
green chili was $.99/lb..
I bought 15 small
avocados at 5 for $.99, 2 lb. of Mexican Squash for $.99, a 6.6 lb. log of
asadero cheese for $1.99/lb., Roma tomatoes for $.50/lb., milk for $2.50/gallon,
my favorite LaLa Mango yogurt was on sale for $2.59 per 32 oz. container, the
10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters for $.59/lb., 2lbs. of roasted green chili
for $.99/lb., a package of smoked Hormel pork chops for $3.99/lb. (so Suzette
can make her artichoke heart, peas, ham and pepper tapa), and lemons for 3 lb.
for $.99. The only thing not on sale was
onions, so I bought a 3 lb. bag of small onions for $1.69.
After an
hour of happy shopping and waiting in line for a couple of ladies with two
baskets of food totaling $360 to check out, I drove happily home. Willy helped me unload and after he took a
shower, we went to Azuma for a lunch.
Willy could not decide what to order and finally chose his favorite,
Sukiyaki steak with fried rice made on a teppan grill (11.95). I also chose my favorite lunch, Chirachi Donburi
($13.95), which is 12 pieces of sashimi cut fish in a box with a layer of sushi
rice on the bottom garnished with two slices of omelet and two slices of daikon
pickle, a decoratively cut shrimp and some fresh shredded daikon. I positioned us in a booth directly across
from the sushi bar, so when our waitress was explaining my order to the sushi
chef, I got up and went to the sushi slicing and eating counter and explained
my order. The chef spoke perfect English
and said, “I understand. I will take care
of you.” What comforting words.
He did take
care of me. I had ordered chirachi from this
chef before and I knew he tends to cut shorter, thicker slices rather than longer
thinner slices, which is okay with me, because I cut each slice into four bite
size segments with a knife anyway. Even
with Willy eating several pieces of my raw fish, it took me about an hour to
eat the rice and all the fish and trimmings. I am convinced that Azuma provides the best
value in sushi when one considers the totality of freshness, excellent quality
of fish, and price. I have discovered
over the years that the sushi chefs and owners’ highest motivation is for you
to have a pleasant meal and they do not care what fish you want to select in an
assortment. I prefer the richer, softer
fish, such as yellowtail and super white tuna and do not like red snapper and
mahi mahi and Azuma always will honor one’s preferences, if asked. They want to serve you what you want, so you will
be satisfied and return. Of course, it
can take a while eating sushi before you discover what you like. For example I have a friend who loves sea urchin
roe and the Japanese Kitchen serves that on its $28.00 dinner chirachi, so
whenever we go for sushi, we always go to Japanese Kitchen and order the dinner
chirachi.
Yesterday
when Mike Verhagen and I went to La Salita for lunch, I invited him for dinner
on Thursday. After lunch I confirmed the
invitation and offered him the choice of the three dishes and he said he did
not care. So I went for an 18 mile ride on my bike where I met and rode with
Barry on the way back home. Before I had
left to ride at 3:45 Suzette arrived and I asked her what she wanted and she
said chicken curry, so I asked her to start boiling the chicken. When I arrived home late at 5:30 because I
had a flat, a large pot of chicken quarters was boiling on the stove. Suzette said she was hungry and asked what
she could do, so I said we need to chop up sweet potato, onions and apples. Suzette immediately peeled the sweet potatoes
and I fetched the apples and onions and then chopped up the sweet potatoes,
onions and apples as she got out a large pot and heated butter in it and as I
finished chopping each ingredient she
added it to the pot and sautéed it. Then
we stopped cooking the chicken and she added enough of the chicken stock to
cover the ingredients and I added some curry powder given to us in October by Luke
and we started simmering the curry.
While I was chopping Mike arrived with a large bag of salad ingredients
from Whole Foods and a bottle of Justin 2009 Syrah. Mike made salad, Willy made rice, I chopped
up the rest of the apples and helped Suzette pluck the meat from the bones of
the chicken after it cooled. Then we
threw the chicken into the curry and added salt and some Sun Brand curry powder,
because Suzette said, “It tastes like it is missing something. I could not think of what that ingredient was
at the time but I now realize that it was raisins. After adding more curry powder, I fetched coconut
flakes and three types of pickle (an onion, a lime and a 5 ingredient pickle
with mango, lime, lotus root stem and carrots) and we roasted some peanuts in a
400˚ oven to golden brown and Willy put out glasses of water and Suzette sett
the table.
When the
rice was cooked and Mike had finished making the salad, I made a simple vinaigrette
with two crushed cloves of garlic, Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar, 1 tsp. Dijon
mustard a dash of dried thyme and tarragon and olive oil and Mike dressed and
tossed the salad and we poured glasses of the Justin 2009 Syrah that Mike had
brought and sat down and enjoyed his salad with two types of lettuce, carrots,
green onions, and celery. Then Willy and
I went into the kitchen and we first added two Tbsp. of flour to the curry and after
that was stirred that in, we added about ¼ cup of heavy cream to lighten and
smooth out the curry. After another
minute or two of cooking Suzette came in and said she were ready to eat, so we
took the peanuts out of the oven and we
plated pasta bowls with rice and curry and I put a bottle of Major Grey’s mango
chutney and the three pickle bottles, the coconut and the peanuts on the table. It immediately became apparent to Suzette and
me that the peanuts were rancid and should not be eaten, so everyone pushed
their peanuts aside and we finished our meal by putting small piles of chutney
and pickle on the side of our plates and mixing our curry with them as we
wished.
The sourness
and spiciness of different pickles is an interesting juxtaposition to the
creamy sweetness of the curry.
Per Wikipedia:
South Asian
pickles (Hindi: आचार, Urdu:
اچار) are made
from certain individual varieties of vegetables and fruits that are chopped into small
pieces and cooked in edible oils like sesame oil or brine
with many different Indian spices
like asafoetida, red chili powder, turmeric, fenugreek, and plenty of salt. Some regions also
specialize in pickling meats and fish. Vegetables can also be combined in
pickles to make mixed vegetable pickle. Some varieties of fruits and vegetables
[edit] Recipe
South Asian
mixed pickle, containing lotus root, lemon, carrot, green mango, green chilis,
and other ingredients
The most common
South Asian-style pickles are made from mango
and lime. Others include cauliflower, carrot, radish, tomato, onion, pumpkin, palm heart, lotus stem, rose petals, ginger, Indian gooseberry,[1] garlic, green or red chili peppers, kohlrabi, gunda (cordia), kerda, zimikand (purple yam), karonda, karela (bitter melon), jackfruit, mushroom, eggplant, cucumber, and turnip.
Bon Appétit
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