Japanese Sundae
1. Chow mein noodles
2. White rice, steamed and fluffed
3. Chicken, cooked and diced
4. Cream of chicken soup, heated
5. White onion, chopped
6. Red tomato, chopped
7. Celery, diced
8. Cheddar cheese, shredded
9. Cream of chicken, again
10. Pineapple tidbits, drained
11. Almonds, slivered and toasted
12. Coconut, shredded
13. Maraschino cherries, chopped
Place each item in a separate bowl and arrange bowls in a line in order listed. To create the sundae, start at first bowl, with chow mein noodles, and spread a thin layer on your plate. Do the same with the next bowl o' ingredient, and so on. Be careful: a little bit of each can result in a huge pile by the end. You are welcome to skip any ingredients that don't really move you (I skip the coconut) but you are encouraged to use as many as possible in order to enjoy the full experience of color, flavor, and texture. And it can't be a sundae if you don't put cherries on top so, actually, they are mandatory.
This is a fun dish for the hot afternoons of summer, and not coincidentally, this happens to be my preferred dinner on my birthday, which always falls on some hot day in July. A vegetarian version is easy: replace the diced chicken with frozen fake-chicken patties that are heated and cut into cubes, and use cream of celery soup instead of cream of chicken (THAT one took some experimentation).
I agree that this looks like utter craziness. I swear to the baby Jesus and all the unicorns above that this is actually delicious! In fact, I may have a dinner party and force you all to eat it. It's good for parties, because you can mysteriously ask each invitee to bring a big bowl of a single ingredient, and when everyone arrives you can throw it all together and the mystery is solved. That's how it got started in my family: my mom was asked to bring a bunch of pineapple tidbits to her Bible study one day, and twelve years later we are still celebrating the glory that is Japanese Sundae.
About quantities: my mom has the original recipe written down, with quantities and all, but really, it calls for enough food to feed eighteen soccer teams, so I urge you to use your judgment. It's a great thing to keep in the fridge for later but it does require 12 separate containers for storage. Bear that in mind. Go nuts!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'm usually pretty adventurous with trying new things, but cherries, coconut, and cream of chicken soup mixed go WAY beyond my comfort zone. I may be missing something great, but I'm just not that brave!
:-)
raynor: the word "perpetrate" is so apt. And if anyone else bellyaches about it, I will say it was your idea.
Post a Comment