Fried Chicken With Green Curry Sauce

Asian fusion is not distinctive, in fact it is so ordinary in the Bay Area that the fact that it is not distinctive makes it distinctive to everywhere else. You don't have to drive more than a city block anywhere around here to find a restaurant that considers its heritage some version of The Orient that caters to white people, and that is what makes "fusion" food so popular. There is an emotion that is connected to a food you remember, in this case fried chicken, and there is a certain excitement in tasting a flavor that is unique to the pallet, usually a combination of sweet and spicy.

This food is so easy to come by, and cheaply I may add, that it is hardly worth learning how to cook yourself. For six to ten dollars you can walk a block in any direction and get some protein served over rice that will make you feel good enough to come back. You usually do not know exactly what you have eaten, or even what flavors you tasted, but it is comfortable, and comfort is good.

I engaged in this weeks project with great anticipation strictly for that reason, I love Asian food. Let me be more honest, I love what I think of as Asian food. I like thick, syrupy sauces on dark chicken meat. I like pepper mixed with sweet sauces... and I LOVE rice. That's right, rice with whatever sauce is left over, and that includes everything edible, becomes my favorite part of every dish. So I figured all I had to do is make a good enough sauce, cook the chicken all the way through, and I would be satisfied with the dish, as long as there was enough left over sauce to put on my rice. I was right in so many ways.

The chicken was good. I do not have anything to deep fry the chicken in so I did a quick pan fry. Uncle Doug was over so he helped me prep the meat. He pounded the chicken, (we used chicken thighs), to about a quarter of an inch and then dipped them in eggs and Panko bread crumbs. We put the chicken in Vegetable Oil for about three minutes on each side and let them sit for a few minutes on napkins to cool down. I do think that the dish would have been a little better if I had the ability to deep fry the chicken, but I didn't so I am happy with what we got.

The Green Curry sauce had more ingredients but was just as easy. Lemongrass, ginger, scallions, garlic, jalapenos, fresh cilantro and basil, cumin, fish sauce, brown sugar, coconut milk and I am sure a couple ingredients I can't remember right now and I was done. Stick them all in a blender and push a button. It was so easy my two year old niece could do it. (Literally, she wanted to help so I let her push the button). The sauce turned out great. Everyone at the table liked it. I put an extra jalapeno in to "kick up" the heat and could hardly taste it. If I do this again, and I will, I would add more spice. Unfortunately I did not have anymore jalapenos in the kitchen, and after my second glass of wine, I can only cook with what is in the kitchen. Anyways, back to the curry, I liked it, and couldn't believe how easy it was.

This is a dish that I think I will make again. It was easy, good and quite frankly... affordable. Although it is easier to walk down the street for a quick dinner, it is impossible to recreate the atmosphere and conversation that comes with a kitchen being used. I'll chalk this one up as a success, come back next week... NEXT ROUND'S ON ME.