Monday, March 25, 2013

Thai Chicken with Noodles

I like to pretend that I can make lots of different types of food, like Mexican (my fave), Italian (I'm pretty good at that one too), Chinese, and Thai.  I just dabble in those, but if the recipe is simple I can do it.  Whenever we get Chinese food, I hate myself about 2 hours later.  I'm not sure if it's the fat or the MSG or a combination of everything, but I always want to give it back, if you know what I mean.  When I've made Asian-like dishes at home, I don't seem to have that problem.  Also I like to make Haitian food, I have one Ethiopian recipe in my keeper book, and I've seen a couple recipes for Mongolian food that I'm thinking about...but the raisins are throwing me off.  Anyway here in the $5 Dinner Mom cookbook I'm working through I found a simple Thai recipe.  A lot of the other Thai recipes I've tried have peanut butter in them, but not this one.

Thai Chicken with Noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
12 oz bag frozen stir fry vegetables
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp curry powder (I used Bahamian curry powder my parents brought back for me from their cruise...does that make this a Bahamas recipe instead of Thai? I don't know)
8 oz cooked thin spaghetti

In a large skillet or wok, heat the olive oil.  Add the chicken pieces and saute for 7-9 minutes or until cooked through.  Add the vegetables, garlic, lime juice, and curry powder and saute until the vegetables have defrosted and cooked through.

Toss in the thin cooked spaghetti and let cook with the sauce and veggies for 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and serve warm.

This tasted pretty good, but it was quite dry.  The "sauce" mentioned above is basically nonexistent.  The noodles picked up almost no sauce, just some color/flavor from the curry powder.  I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be or not.  The chicken was pretty dry too.  Sam said it tasted bland.  But he knew it was a new recipe and was giving me feedback.  The stir fry blend I bought had broccoli, red peppers, those baby corn things, carrots, water chestnuts, and green beans.  I knew the kids would probably not eat many of the vegetables but I thought we would try.  Nathan said "what happens if you eat broccoli?"  I said, "you might like it.  Jojo is a kid and she likes it (his 6 year old cousin)".  A minute later I noticed him cleaning other food bits off a piece of water chestnut.  I said "oh, are you going to try a water chestnut?  Good job!"  And he said "OH I thought that was broccoli!  Which one is broccoli?"  And when I pointed it out, he said "EWWWW" and then he tried neither one.  Ha!  So funny.  You can see that our children's vegetable exposure may be less than the average bear. 

I'm not sure about this one.  I don't know how to make it just a bit more saucier, and I didn't really love it the way it was.  Thai-me to try a different recipe...

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