Japanese Style Fried Chicken

On my first trip to Boston to visit a high school friend, her group of friends took us to a Chinese/Japanese restaurant and urged me to try the "aged dofu". Although they assumed that I would know what this was, I had no idea. My thoughts flitted to the infamous "stinky tofu" I had once heard of, a fermented soy dish rumored to meet its rather illustrious name with a vengeance. I was apprehensive, but they were getting one for the table and before I could say anything the orders were taken. Sticky, brown mystery cubes flew around in my thoughts.  I wasn't prepared for this malodorous dish to ruin my appetite for the night, but then again maybe it would be one of those things where I would get hooked. But when the dish came out, I saw (or rather smelled) that this seemed to be rather ordinary tofu, other than the fact it was deep fried. Confusion ensued. How was this tofu "aged"? Was it some kind of acquired taste that amateurs couldn't even detect?

A quick look at the menu cleared things up. This was not "aged" tofu but "age dofu", properly pronounced agé-dofu. It was a moment where I clearly saw something lost in translation in a fairly humorous manner. I tried to explain the humor of the situation to my hosts, but didn't quite succeed:
"You see, when you said 'aged', I thought you meant it was fermented and I was scared but then I realized that the word isn't 'age', it's the Japanese word 'agé' that means deep fried, so it's not actually aged at all..."

...I'd like to say that you had to be there, but unfortunately I just don't have what it takes to be funny.
However, this post isn't about age-dofu or stinky tofu or any tofu for that matter. It's about a delicious chicken salad on rice, marinated in soy sauce and ginger, and "agéd", or deep fried.

 

Fried Okra

Okra is my favorite vegetable. A lot of people are turned off by the slimy texture, but to me that's just one of its charms, along with its mild yet unique (and tasty!) flavor. I am lucky enough to have grown up eating okra, as it was usually the vegetable that was served in my elementary school cafeteria in Texas. Those of you who didn't grow up with it might find it sort of freaky.

Okra is a summer vegetable; I found a bunch of it at the market last weekend, which I bought without even thinking about what to do with it. I love it simply steamed with a little salt and pepper or lightly stir-fried; it's also a necessary ingredient in gumbo and is used to delicious effect in Indian cooking (where you'll find it under "bhindi"). This time, though, I figured I might as well try my hand at frying it Southern-style. I do live south of the Mason-Dixon Line, after all, and batter-fried was the first form in which I tried it.

If you're not used to okra, frying it this way is a great way to introduce yourself to it. If you can't love okra covered in cornmeal batter and deep-fried, there is something wrong with you!