"Ethnic" Food for thought....

So if you were like me growing up in the Tri-Cities, eating ethnic food meant once a year you got to go to Chinese Gardens for Almond Chicken and Pork Fried rice.  As I got older, my taste buds developed, and the Tri-Cities started growing into something almost resembling a real town, we got more cuisines from lands I'll probably never get to visit.

    Indian food has always intrigued me because of the colors and spices they used.  So one day my wife and I went to India Palace around 3:00 pm.  The place was empty except for 2 of the oldest Indian people I have ever laid eyes on.  After sitting down, the old lady comes up to me and hands me a cordless phone.  Now at this point I am mildly confused and a little amused.  I say "Hello?"  wondering who may be on the other end.  Another Indian voice says "You want the lunch special?"  Looking over at the lunch buffet and realizing that it was about 2 hours past its prime we got up and left.  Then about 3 months later I went with some co-workers  and tried again, this time, it was an utter disappointment and I think 2 of them got food poisoning.

If any of you know me you know I wasn't about to give up on an entire countries cuisine due to 2 bad experiences.  So I decided to make Tandoori Chicken myself.  And I needed an ingredient called garam masala.  And if you know anything about Tri-Cities Grocery stores, this turned into a wild goose chase.  I finally decided to try the asian market/pho restaurant in the Richland Uptown next to the Octopus Gardens.

We walk in and its like every bodega you've seen in every movie.  Sparse merchandise, weird stuff from far away lands.  And then out from behind the curtain comes an old Vietnamese guy with one of those weird stump arms, you know the one where it ends at the elbow but not rounded off.  So now I feel guilty for interrupting whatever secret business he had going on behind the mysterious curtain so I buy a packet to make Chicken Sattay. A packet that I threw in my cupboard until this morning when I decided to make it.  So I pull the packet out turn it over to read the directions and find this:

Now my Vietnamese being a little rusty I figured I could wing it, I mean how complicated could this be.  I open the package, and out falls Packet A and Packet B.  Son of a Biscuit eating Bulldog....  So I open both and sniff, guessing the first one is a marinade of some kind and the second being a peanut sauce of the gravy variety.   SOOOOOOOO  to make a long story short(ish)  Dinner wasn't a grand success but did turn out eatable.  Here's a pic of the final product with some fried rice and naan (indian flat bread).

If you REALLY want the recipe, leave a comment below and I will post it.  Other wise I will posting actual recipes sooner or later here. 


And if there is any recipe you'd like me to make and post here, just let me know and I'll do my best to make it.

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times.....  Who would want more?