eat this now: geeta's mango chutney and ning chi chili with garlic

i always seem to do my best cooking for myself, and cousin brian now that he lives with me. i think it is because i feel more comfortable just throwing a bunch of shit together and seeing how it comes out without worrying if it will be good. that usually leads to something really interesting and delicious. if i know i am cooking for other people, i tend to be less creative because i am concerned that things won't work and they will not enjoy their meal.

when i went to jungle jim's with my mom last month, i picked up lots of different delicious ingredients which i have been throwing into all kinds of dishes. today i had some leftover rotisserie chicken and wanted some curry chicken salad.

do not try to live one more minute without these condiments

let me just stop and talk about rotisserie chicken for a second because i have some strong opinions on the issue. first of all the only place in my opinion in cincinnati to buy rotisserie chickens is the fresh market. yes i know it is expensive to shop there but this is one thing that is worth buying there. their rotisserie chickens are usually $7-8 and i can get at least four meals out of them. unlike pretty much every rotisserie chicken i have had, which starts out tasting ok but gets a weird flavor and texture after being in the fridge, their rotisserie chickens still taste like normal chicken a few days later. also they are just more delicious from the start, and the skin is not all gooey and weird.

anyway so i had some leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge. i was poking around and found geeta's mango chutney which i thought would be perfect with the curry. i am a big fan of mango chutney of any type but geeta's is just the shit. the flavors are bold and the spices in it are whole and potent. big chunks of mango and you can taste everything separately (the flavors do not all just blend together like other jarred chutneys). it is spicy and sweet and salty. so good.

i also wanted a little kick so i pulled out the ning chi chili with garlic. i have been absolutely obsessed with this condiment since opening it last week. i already liked the various chili with garlic variants that you can get (all those little plastic bottles with green lids and roosters on them or whatever) but this is just a completely different thing. first of all it has no vinegar or preservatives. it is literally just big ass chunks of garlic and super spicy chilis in oil with a little salt and sugar. it is so absurdly garlicky that really no one should ever eat it if they are going to be around other people but i do it all the time and make people suffer and it is so worth it.

here is my damn good curry chicken salad

anyway so i threw these in with the chicken and some madras curry and then some mayo and colman's mustard, and some chopped up pecans and dried apricots and shredded carrots. then i stirred it all up and put it on bread and it was delicious.