A Recipe for Curry Sauce

Since my blog is, after all, entitled "Curry Sauce and Mango Juice," I thought it would be fitting to post a recipe for curry sauce. Being the "coconut" (a brown-skinned Indian on the outside, but a white American on the inside) I am, I did not know this recipe off the top of my head. So I turned to cooking.com, my personal Sous Chef.

I typed the words "curry sauce" into the search bar, and was presented with a number of options. There were curry sauces, curry pastes, curry with honey sauce, cream curry sauce and a host of other varieties. Then, of course, came the geographical variations: East-Indian Curry Sauce, West-Indian Oxtail Sauce, Thai Curry-Paste and the very relevant Indian Melon Salad.

Instinct told me to click on recipes with the word "Indian" in them, since that is generally what curry is associated with. Even narrowing down my choices like this, however, left me with a multitude of choices. If I were to post a West-Indian recipe on my blog, would that make me seem sophisticated, because it would appear that I could distinguish West-Indian curry from East-Indian curry, or would it simply make me look idiotic, because there really is no difference between the two curries?

Logic told me to combine the two recipes, and simply post it as a "Multicultural Indian Curry," but the perfectionist within me refused to comply. Perhaps some of the ingredients in the West-Indian Curry would clash terribly with those from the East-Indian curry. How should I know which ingredients go together if I cannot even pronounce the vast majority of them?

With combination out, I was brought back to my intial Rebecca Black-style decision: which curry do I choose? I, for one, chose to be unlike Rebecca Black and did not enter the car driven by a thirteen-year-old. I went with the safest recipe of them all: The Indian Melon Salad. I recommend serving it with a tall glass of mango juice.


INDIAN MELON SALAD

2 c. chicken breasts, poached and cut into 1/2 x 1/2 inch pieces
1 c. canned water chestnuts, cut into pieces
1 1/2 c. fresh green grapes, halved
1/2 c. celery, diced
1/2 c. (7 oz.) slivered almonds, toasted
4 honeydew melon "rings"

1. Place chicken breasts, a couple slices of onion, a carrot and a stalk of celery in a fry pan barely covered with cold water. Cover with a lid and simmer very slowly until tender. Drain, discard vegetables and cut up chicken and chill.
2. Toast almonds by putting in a single layer on a pan and putting them under the broiler until lightly toasted (golden brown). Cool.
3. For melon rings: cut about 2 inches off the end of the melon. Scoop out the seeds. Cut four, 1 inch slices into "rings"; cut off rind with a sharp knife. Chill.
4. Cut up the water chestnuts, grapes and celery and combine with the chicken. Add almonds just before serving.
5. Toss with a dressing of:
2/3 c. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. salt

To assemble: put a melon ring on each plate and fill the center of the rings with the chicken mixture. Garnish with a cluster of grapes dipped in sugar.

Serve with hot rolls, iced tea and lemon sherbet with tea cookies for dessert.