Thomas A Johnson

Last week I made Tofu and Summer Vegetables in Coconut Milk (page 327) -- with one modification -- I added some grilled chicken breasts (grilled to carmelization) pulled into appropriately sized pieces (like "pulled pork"). My first time using dried shrimp paste, fresh turmeric, and fresh galangal. I used dried arbol chiles. For the carrots, I used those little carrots which come already peeled. I used extra firm tofu and, finally, a cabbage labeled where I bought it as "Chinese cabbage". I grilled the chicken in one of those pans with ribs -- on pretty high heat -- so that it left nice carmelized grill marks on the chicken. I made the soup with my friend Kara on Monday night; she loved it right away and the next day, as did I. But, when I finished it off on Thursday and Friday nights, it was transcendant -- stylish, exotic, and delicious. I previously made Javanese Chicken Curry (page 275) (the West Sumatran version from page 277, the spicy version). I liked it, but will not use bone in next time. I have a source for wonderful fresh boneless skinless breasts and that's what I will use next time. I hope the taste contribution of the bones is not critical. With the sauce being fluid, I find it hard to deal with the bones. The first thing I made from the book was Lemongrass-Scented Coconut Rice (page 176) -- about two months ago. I found it nice, but not exactly riveting. I'll try it again sometime, maybe with black rice. It's taken a while to gather all the ingredients necessary to get going in James's book, but it has been worth it and I anticipate many further adventures.