A lot has happened since the end of August. We moved (end result=bigger kitchen - hooray!), and then I lost the cable that connects my camera to my computer. Not that that's a sufficient excuse for not posting this recipe until now, since I took the pictures back in... July? Whenever plums are in season. Anyway, here's to more frequent posting.
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I have come into a million plums from someone at work who has a plum tree and keeps bringing them in. I think I will have to eat several for breakfast, then make a couple of pans of crisp when I get home, just to make sure I use them all. It's great! And these plums are gorgeous (see below).
Last night, I made a plum cake (which is now gone). Tonight, I thought I'd try to use them in a savory context. Our produce drawer is running low on veggies at the moment, but the plums at least get us in the same general section of the nutrition pyramid - right??
Yeah, I think so. Anyway, here's what I used:- 2-3T oil (enough to cover part of the bottom of a medium-large non-stick skillet
- 1/4 small onion, halved and sliced into thin strips (if you magically have shallot on hand, that would probably be cooler)
- 1 boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (freezing it for 10-20 minutes makes it easier to cut, IMHO)
- 2 carrots, sliced diagonally
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- handful chopped red cabbage
- 3 plums (I used the little Italian ones), sliced into eighths
- enough cooked dried udon noodles (fresh are even more delicious, though!) to serve 2-3. I had planned on this being only enough for dinner, but as it turned out I had leftovers for lunch the next day.
- 2 T soy sauce
- splash of sherry, if you have it
- 1 T brown sugar
- 1 T roasted red chili paste (I use the "Taste of Thai" stuff)
- lime wedges for garnish (you could splash a little vinegar in at the end, instead)
2) Reduce heat to medium, add chicken to skillet, and cook until no longer pink. Add garlic slices and cook for 30 seconds or so.
3) Add soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, and roasted red chili paste. If everything is way too smoking hot, you can add some water too, to buy you some time. Cook for a couple of minutes or until it's all melted into a kind of sauce.
4) Add carrots and stir-fry for a minute or so (depending on how thinly they are sliced). Add plums and red cabbage and stir-fry briefly just to coat them with the sauce, and to warm them. Don't let the plums get too mushy.
5) Stir the reserved cooked onions back into the pan. Add the cooked udon noodles to the pan, and stir to combine.
6) Serve with lime wedges, if you have them. If not, put a little splash of vinegar (rice vinegar would be good) in the dish before serving.
