Plum Good Plum Ketchup

From kitchensidecar

I love when food begats food. One idea inspires another. Thus was the case with my plum ketchup -- eaten with ad hoc fried chicken.

I got this idea after making sweet and sour momos with plum achar. The momos had honey, pork, chiles and masala, so we needed a sweet plum chutney to balance the flavor. The achar was spiced with ginger and cumin and complemented the pork beautifully. Thus I made a lateral jump from chutney to ketchup, wiggle-shifting my flavor profiling from Nepal over to the Americas.

I used the same framework as I did with my , initially inspired by Brooklyn Farmhouse’s ketchup. I decreased the vinegar, and increased the sugars. Alone, this ketchup is good, not great. But together with some fried chicken and truffled honey, it is phenomenal.

Only in retrospect did I realize that when combining this sauce with fried chicken did I make an Americanized version of sweet and sour Chicken. Subconsciously, I was unable to shed those Asian roots. Damn Asian roots. Made for DELICIOUS plum ketchup fried chicken!

Plum Ketchup (Makes 1 cup) Total time 1.5 hours, Active Time .5 hours

Cook’s note: A blender is needed

- ¼ c boiling water
- ¼ c tamarind brick
- 10 oz black plums, chopped
- 1 T cider vinegar
- 2-3 T honey
- ¾ chopped red onion
- ½ clove garlic, sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick, 6-10 cloves, 6-10 allspice berries, 1 t mustard seeds

1.In a small bowl, combine water and tamarind. Allow to sit for 30 minutes. Mix intermittently to loosed the tamarind from the seeds. Push pulp through a strainer.

2.Combine tamarind pulp, plums, vinegar, honey, red onion, and garlic in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer.

3.Place the spices in a small tea strainer or sealed cheesecloth and nestle them into the plum mixture.

4.After 45 minutes to an hour of simmering, remove the spice bag and blend the plum mixture in a blender.

Enjoy on fried chicken with truffled honey!