Hot Udon Peanut Noodles

You know how it is when someone talks about a particular recipe and from that point on you can't stop thinking about it?  Well that happened to me yesterday.  My sister was talking to me about how she made peanut noodles the night before and after that I had such a taste for them!  I felt like taking a little spin on my usual recipe. So this was a variation I threw together last night mixing up a little Pad Thai and the Cold Udon Noodle Salad I generally turn to.  It was delicious, satisfying and made for wonderful leftover today at lunch.

Hot Udon Peanut Noodles

For the Thai Peanut Sauce:
1 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 tablespoons warm water
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1-3 tablespoon hot chili sauce, like Sriracha
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped OR 1/8 teaspoon dry ground ginger
chili flakes to taste

In a bowl, whisk all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

For the Noodles:

1 10 oz package of Udon Noodles (spaghetti or linguine would also work just fine)
3 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil

1/2 English Cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks (about 1 cup)

1 cup carrots, cut into thin matchsticks

1/2 onion, diced

2 eggs, beaten

1 large chicken breast, cooked and cut into thin strips

1 cup bean sprouts

1/2 cup shelled peanuts, chopped

In a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, cook the udon noodles for about 5-7 minutes or until tender. Drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water. Set aside.

In a wok or large saute pan over high heat, add just one tablespoon of the oil. When the oil is very hot, add the beaten eggs and swirl gently while it sets. Use your spatula to scramble the eggs and then remove from the wok.

Wipe down wok with a paper towel, return to high heat add the remaining oil, chicken, noodles and Thai Peanut sauce into the wok and stir continuously. Add bean sprouts and onions into the wok, stir for 1 minute.  Cover and let simmer about 1-2 minutes. Check at the 1 minute mark and if the noodles are still a bit stiff, cover and cook another minute. Add the carrots, cucumber, and the eggs back into the wok and toss.

Dish out, sprinkle some peanuts on top and serve with a wedge of lime and additional Sriracha for those who like to add a little extra heat.

I linked up my recipe here

 

Fragrant Chicken Curry

The flavors of this Thai dish are so lovely.  There is a perfect sweetness from the coconut and the touch of apricot jam but also a spicy finish coming from the curry paste.  Allowing the sauce to simmer for 30 minutes concentrates the flavors while blending them creates a silky, velvety smooth texture.  Served along side fragrant basmanti or jasmine rice, you have a beautiful yet simple dinner, special enough for entertaining.   The curry paste can be quite spicy.  If this is a new ingredient for you, you may wish to use a little at a time, tasting to get the right amount of heat for your pallet.  This dish was too spicy for my son as is.  Next time I will set aside a bit of sauce without the curry paste so he can enjoy it as well.  Minus the heat, this is a very, very kid friendly meal!

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Fragrant Chicken Curry
recipe from The Ultimate Thai and Asian Cookbook by Deh-Hsiung, Becky Johnson and Sallie Morris

3 tablespoons oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste (easily found in the asian aisle of your grocery store)
4 cups coconut milk (lite is fine)
2 lemon grass stalks, coarsely chopped
6 kaffir lime leaves, chopped (I omitted these because I couldn't find them at my grocer.  If you know where to get them, let me know!)
2/3 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons apricot jam
1 3-31/2 lb cooked chicken (a prepared rotisserie chicken works great here, I just boiled my chicken so I could have chicken broth for later in the week)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
kaffir lime leaves, fresh cilantro and toasted, shredded coconut**, to garnish
cooked rice, to serve

Heat the oil in a large pan.  Add the garlic and onion and cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes until soft. Turn your heat up to medium and stir in the red curry paste.  Cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the coconut milk, then add the lemon grass, lime leaves, yogurt and apricot jam.  Stir well.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cook slightly.  Transfer the sauce to a food processor or blender and process to a smooth consistency.  I used my blender on "liquify" for about 4-5 minutes to get velvety smooth.  Pour the sauce back into the pan and set aside while you prepare your chicken.

If using a whole chicken, remove the skin and slice the meat off the bones, cutting it into bite sized pieces. Add the chicken to the sauce.  Bring the sauce back up to a simmer.  Stir in the fresh cilantro and season with salt and pepper.  Garnish with extra lime leaves, shredded coconut and chopped cilantro.  Serve with rice.

**To Toast Coconut
Arrange shredded, sweetened coconut (found in the baking aisle) in a single layer of a baking sheet.  Bake, keeping a close eye, at 350 degrees for about 4-5 minutes. Coconut can go from perfectly toasted to burnt very quickly so don't walk away from the oven!  Allow to cool.  This adds a nice little crunch and the right amount of sweetness, balancing the spiciness of the curry paste.

Spiced Coconut Mushrooms

I discovered a new recipe for mushrooms.  Oh boy they are seriously good.  It is originally meant to be a side dish for any Asian meal, but I also think they would be so wonderful as a topping for a nice steak.  These mushrooms are earthy, creamy and have the best combo of sweet and spicy.  I have found a new favorite!

Spiced Coconut Mushrooms
2 Tbsp peanut oil (or any vegetable oil)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 fresh red chilies, seeded and thinly sliced into rings (or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried chili flakes)
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 cups cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced (button mushrooms also work nicely)
2/3 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp cilantro or chives, chopped
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a wok or deep skillet.  Add the garlic and chillies, and stir-fry for a few seconds.  Add the shallots and stir-fry for 3 minutes until softened.  Add mushrooms and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.  Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil.  Boil rapidly over high heat until liquid is reduced by half and coats the mushrooms.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle the cilantro over the mushrooms and toss gently to mix.

from Wok and Stir-Fry edited by Linda Doeser

Pad Thai from my Kitchen- I Think I am in Love

When asked what my favorite food is, hands down is Pad Thai.  This is a fabulous noodle dish with scallions, peanuts, shrimp and egg.  If you have never had it, please do yourself a favor and head over to your local Thai Restaurant and pick some up.  Or just make this recipe below- it is equally as easy!

Each and every time I got out to a restaurant that serves Pad Thai I am physically unable to order anything else off that menu- yes it is that good.  I am sure that there are tons of other wonderful dishes on those menus, but until now I have seldom tried a single one (except maybe a taste off of my husbands fork).  Since this is a dish I had never attempted to make at home, it was always an exciting treat I could never pass up.  But there is also something about Pad Thai that I absolutely crave.  I could probably eat it every week and still not tire of it.  So when Scott got me this new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen by Jaden Hair for Christmas I was super excited to see she had a recipe for it that seemed insanely easy.  I knew that had to be the first recipe I tried out of it!

Jaden Hair is such a cool lady.  She started off just as a home-cook who created her food blog as a place to hold all of the recipes her mother recited to her over the telephone.  At the same time she taught a cooking class at a local cooking school and slowly started combining the two.  Her blog became so popular she finally developed her recipes into a cookbook.  And what a great one it is!  She doesn't feel that Asian cooking needs to be difficult, and that you can make any of these recipes in the same amount of time it takes to drive to your local take-out.  OK, I'm in!!

Shrimp Pad Thai

Please excuse my crummy picture.  I was having problems with my lighting!  Please check out the link to her cookbook.  A great picture of the dish is on the cover.  

Ingredients

Pad Thai Sauce 

**Some of these ingredients might be new to you, but they are easy to find.  I have found all of these ingredients at Heinen's, Giant Eagle or depending on your location, Marc's

4 tablespoons pad thai paste

2 teaspoons tamarind paste/concentrate

3 tablespoons fish sauce

3 teaspoons sugar

2/3 cup water

2-4 teaspoons Asian chilli sauce (preferably Sriracha) or 1-2 teaspoons Asian chilli powder or ground red pepper 

Pad Thai Noodles

8 oz dried rice noodles (medium thickness)

3 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 lb peeled, deveined raw shrimp

1 tablespoon finely minced garlic

4 green onions (scallions), cut into lengths

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

1/2 cup coarsely chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Directions
Soak the rice noodles in hot water (just from the tap) for about 10-15 minutes or until they soften. (Do NOT over cook.  Otherwise they will turn into a soggy, clumpy mess)

Combine the ingredients for the Pad Thai sauce in a bowl.

Check back on the noodles.  They are sufficiently soaked when they are flexable but still a bit stiff.  Drain them and set aside.

In a wok or large saute pan over high heat, add just one tablespoon of the oil.  When the oil is very hot, add the beaten eggs and swirl gently while it sets.  Use your spatula to scramble the eggs and then remove from the wok.

Wipe down wok with a paper towel, return to high heat and add the minced garlic and do a few quick stirs. Add shrimp into the wok and stir until half cooked (if desired you can add chicken and firm tofu pieces), noodles and Pad Thai sauce into the wok and stir continuously. Add bean sprouts and chives into the wok, stir for 1 minute. Cover and let simmer until the noodles are soft and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes.  Check at the 1 minute mark and if the noodles are still a bit stiff, cover and cook another minute.  The noodles should have soaked up a lot of the sauce, and you should have a combination of sweet, salty and a little heat and a zing of tartness.  Dish out, sprinkle some peanuts on top and serve with a wedge of lime.

This dish was absolutely amazing!  It came out perfect- just like at our favorite Thai Restaurant, Charm Thai.  Only better because I made it myself!  Scott and I gave this recipe a full 5 stars.  Now I can start ordering all those other wonderful dishes on those menus!  Why don't you make it for dinner tonight?