The story you’re about to hear is true. (To quote the old TV show “Dragnet.”)
When I visited my sister and her family in Decorah, ten days ago, she served a meal that absolutely knocked my socks off. It was cubed chicken in a delicious sauce, served over rice like I have never seen or tasted before. It was so wonderful that I decided then and there that I had to try and make it at home for Kathy. . .and if it went well, I would make it in turn for some of our more adventurous friends who would enjoy partaking of an exceptionally interesting and delicious dish.
The rice – a rich purple-black rice – is called Forbidden Rice because in Ancient China it was regarded as the very finest of all grains, which meant that only the Emperor and his family were typically allowed to eat it. (I think it’s also known as Imperial Rice, but doesn’t Forbidden Rice sound more mysterious and exciting?) One of the reasons my sister (who’s an M.D.) likes to serve it is that it’s probably the healthiest rice you can eat, especially because it’s so rich in antioxidants and other nutrients.
As for the chicken, it was served in a delectable sauce which came straight out of jar . . . which is great because otherwise I would never have even thought about trying to make this myself. The brand name is Tiger Tiger, and this was their Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce – to which my sister likes to add a little bit of cream or milk to make it a little less lumpy.
Once I was back home, it was a matter of tracking down these two items. The simmer sauce I found at Sendak’s (what a fabulous store!) and bought both jars that were on the shelf. As for the Forbidden Rice, I posed a question on Facebook about where to find it and among the suggestions was a place not too far from the Milwaukee Airport- The Outpost. I’d been in its parking lot but never inside the place, so Kathy and I paid it a visit yesterday afternoon. And although the first clerk I asked had never heard of Forbidden Rice, the manager knew all about it and took me back to the bulk department where it was sold. By the way, after Kathy and I had made our purchase and were walking out the door, I heard the manager and two clerks talking amongst themselves about what Forbidden Rice was and if any of them had ever had it. None of them had! So I found myself walking to my car with a little extra spring in my step. (I had to resist the urge to turn around and sing to them in a mocking tone “I know something you don’t know!” That would not have been a cool thing to do during my very first visit to The Outpost.)
I was really excited to be in the kitchen late this afternoon, preparing supper all by myself. (Kathy repeatedly offered to help, but I wanted to do this by myself – a crazy idea for someone for whom cooking a meal typically involves nothing more complicated than a can opener and one pot.) One thing that boosted my confidence a bit was a quick phone call to my sister, who answered a couple of my last minute nervous nelly questions. That made me feel a little less like I was flirting with disaster.
I think one thing that kept me settled and sober in the kitchen – when otherwise I would have been a nervous wreck – was the fact that playing in the background was the ongoing news out of Milwaukee of the mass shooting at the Sikh Temple in Oak Park earlier in the day, in which seven people were killed. (Kathy pointed out that we had driven right through that neighborhood on our way to The Outpost yesterday afternoon. That was disconcerting to think about.) When such life & death events are playing out, the possibility of burned rice or lumpy sauce doesn’t seem to matter quite so much.
As it turns out, everything turned out amazingly well – and Kathy, who is not particularly into exotic foods, really liked it. But what really made the meal extra special was when Dawn Hoffman Price sent Kathy a facebook note saying that Butter Chicken originated in the Punjab region of India, which is also thought to be where the Sikh religion was born.
So without any conscious intention of doing so, Kathy and I were sitting down to a meal that – on this particular day – was our way of remembering the Sikh community in Milwaukee in what has to be a terribly painful time.
pictured above: The butter chicken and forbidden rice which we enjoyed tonight. By the way, you have to take my word for it (and Kathy’s word for it) that the rice tastes much better than it looks. You just have to get plain old Minute Rice out of your head and open yourself to this amazing variant.