Thai Flat Noodles with Chicken

My husband introduced me to Thai cuisine a couple of years ago. He took me a renowned Thai restaurant in the suburbs – his favorite then - as I wanted to give Thai food a try. I must confess, I am not someone closed to new things....especially when it comes down to food...but then I had a set of preconceived notions from the reviews I’d read about Thai food. I realized that either people loved it or hated for numerous reasons - it’s too spicy, it’s overloaded with coconut, too greasy, at times too sweet and or it has an overpowering smell of fish sauce. Interestingly the perspectives of most reviewers were based loosely around all of these factors.

Astonishing and contrary to my belief, it took me a while before I became an ardent fan of Thai food. Not that I didn’t enjoy it the first few times, but in retrospection, may be the coconut, tamarind and turmeric made me feel more close to eating a regular home cooked meal or may be I was too overwhelmed by the reviews. Well, now that I have “evolved” :-) I can admit that it’s been nothing short of a ‘tradition’ to visit a Thai place at least once every month. Thanks Hun for getting me hooked on to Thai food! No matter how many times we’ve eaten Thai food already, I‘ll always relish it! And I'll forever love you for it.

My husband has a few favorites: Panang Gai, Thai Flat noodles and Pad Thai and I’ve observed that he’s happy to choose from among the three. I however, have been trying different things each time, just to savor the assortment of flavors that Thai cuisine has to offer. After a few visits, I told myself that there must be something in the Thai Flat noodles that makes him eat it time and again. So, I decided to go for it. Loaded with red peppers, crushed peanuts, bean sprouts and chicken tossed in soft flat noodles and cooked to perfection, it was fabulous. The nutty taste of the peanuts came together wonderful with the heat from the red peppers, the crunch from the sprouts and the tang of sesame oil. Too good to say NO to? You bet.

Not long after I began introducing my friends to the Thai Flat noodles at this place, preaching that it was “Alright to drive a good 35 miles one way to eat because this flat noodles is really worth the drive”, the restaurant relocated due to change in management…a bummer .....definitely!!! Sadly, my acquired fondness for the Thai Flat noodles made me hunt for alternatives. That’s when I began browsing aisles at grocery stores that carry Thai ingredients and produce. After a zillion experiments , a thousand protocols, one hundred abortive attempts and tens (or should I say tons) of dull outcomes…I was able to figure out a undemanding recipe to make Thai Flat noodles to gratify my longing. Its been a year now since our favorite Thai place relocated out of town, to cherish its memory I decided to include this on my chronicles for the week. So here it is from my Thai experimental log to yours….

Choc-tee!

Ingredients

1 cup wide Thai rice noodles

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

½ cup green onions (julienned)

½ cup Bean Sprouts

½ cup Red Peppers (julienned)

2 tablespoon sesame oil

¼ cup crushed peanuts

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon of finely chopped Thai Chili peppers

Salt to taste

Marinade

½ tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon of finely chopped Thai Chili peppers

1 tablespoon rice wine

1 tablesppoon of fish sauce

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 ½ cups chicken thighs ( boneless, skinless) and cut into ½ “ cubes

Method

Add all ingredients for marinade into a zip top bag. Mix contents well so that the chicken is evenly coated. Set aside at room temperature for an hour. Cook noodles (I use the method specified on the package) till soft in warm water. Add a drop of oil and salt while cooking the noodles to prevent each noodle from sticking to another. Drain out water and toss the noodles into ice cold water to prevent further cooking. Heat sesame oil (350F) in a wok, add the Thai Chili peppers and marinated chicken. Stir fry till done. Now add beaten egg and scramble. Next throw in the veggies and the sauces, sauté till done. Add salt to taste, mix in the noodles.

Finally add crushed peanuts, toss well and cook for 2-3 min. Serve hot.

Note

For all you Basil lovers, toss in a few fresh basil leaves along with other veggies and stir fry. For those of you with nut allergies, avoid peanuts and add ¼ cup of crushed manchow style noodles (fried). Veggie lovers can substitute chicken with Tofu or bean curd.

General Tso’s Chicken

A stop at an Asian fusion bistro was something that was added arbitrarily to my list of weekend “To Dos”. Tired after running errands in the scorching Texas sun, a sip of Mango Ice Tea was more than just refreshing!

After a 15 minute scan of the items listed in the Menu, I finally dared to give up my favorite Kung Pao Chicken for the Hunan style General Tso's chicken - something that I had been wanting to try for a while. Though not quite sure what I was getting into or who General Tso was, I decided to kick the spice level up a notch to a "High" from my regular "Medium". The lady taking down my order rolled her eyes and repeated “Did you say High?"...making sure she heard me right!!

Awaiting my complimentary bowl of Hot & Sour soup with crispy noodles, I was mentally trying to figure out how good or bad would General Tso's Chicken be! With a ferocious name like this, I imagined the chicken to be superrr spicy. "Of course I had just been eating nothing but Kung Pao for years now from the American-Chinese cuisine, so how was I going to guess", I convinced and prepared myself for the worst.

The wait seemed longer, though it just took 10 minutes, for the General Tso's chicken to finally arrive. I began scrutinizing from the first glimpse I could catch while it was placed on my table. It seemed very different from Kung Pao, no peanuts, more sauce, no veggies, decadent chicken with nice big red chillies. With all senses alarmed, I gathered courage to dive into that first bite of Tso's chicken. And boy! Was it brilliant or what!

With an impeccable balance of sugar and salt, this crispy chicken had just the right flavor without the over powering effect of soy sauce. And yes, the spice level was just perfect for me. Yum! It was simply delicioso!

I fell in love with Chinese food all over again with General Tso's chicken. Now, did someone say "change" is the essence of life:)

Thrilled to have made a sumptuous choice, I got back home to only to reserve an online copy of a cookbook loaded with Asian cuisine, at the local Public library. There it was my recipe to General Tso's chicken hidden amongst its Schezuan cousins. I also began asking friends at work about a good recipe - as an alternative. A few of them narrated their versions of the recipe and I noted down each one of them - religiously:) ; I tried permutations & combinations too, till I finally had my own version that created the same lasting impression on me as that from the Asian fusion bistro.

What best place to document my first experience and my version of General Tso's than the chow chronicle....

Ingredients

For the chicken
¾ lb Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs
1/3 cup Soy sauce
¾ cup Corn Starch
1 egg, beaten
1 ½cups Canola Oil

For the Sauce
½ cup Corn Starch
¼ cup water
½ tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon iodized Salt
¼ cup Soy Sauce
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup Sherry Wine
1 can low sodium Chicken Broth
1 teaspoon Ginger powder
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
4 dried medium sized Red chilies
2 tablespoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Orange juice (Optional)

Method

For the chicken: Cut chicken into inch long cubes. To a zip top bag (Large) add soy sauce, and beaten eggs, close and shake well to get an even emulsion. Add pieces of chicken into the emulsion close the bag and mix well (inside the bag by slow tossing). To a second zip top bag add ¾ cup of corn starch. With kitchen tongs, remove pieces of chicken, one after the other, and add into the corn starch. Make sure to coat well. Heat oil in a wok, tap off excess corn starch and add pieces of chicken into the wok. Fry pieces of chicken in hot oil (325 degrees on the thermometer) until golden brown. Drain excess oil using paper towels.

For the sauce: Mix all of the following in a zip top bag: cornstarch, water, sugar, salt, soy sauce, ginger powder and garlic powder. Make sure no lumps are formed. Add in white vinegar, sherry whine and chicken broth and mix well by shaking the ziptop bag. Heat Sesame oil in a wok ( to around 390 degrees) , add dried red chilies. Stir fry for a few seconds. Stir in the sauce mixture. Cook till the sauce condenses (thickens). Avoid lumps and stir to prevent the sauce from turning gooey and extremely thick. Throw in pieces of chicken (previously prepared) into the sauce. Cook till you get a “close to gravy” consistency. Serve HOT with brown rice.

Tips: I opt to choose white meat chicken thighs to dark meat chicken or chicken breasts, to avoid high absorption of oil on frying. For ease of cleaning and lesser mess I prefer using zip top bags for marinating/mixing. Bowls/ Jars serve as ideal substitutes. For the scent of orange, give it a flavor of the orange glaze by using Orange juice. Store bought White wine could be used in place of Sherry Wine. To make General Tso’s chicken less sweeter and salty, go easy on the sugar and use low sodium chicken broth. Fresh minced garlic and ginger are certainly more aromatic than powdered versions. For a delightful entrée serve with fried rice or brown rice. Cook brown rice in chicken broth to enhance its nutty flavor.

Most Important Chow Tip for General Tso’s chicken:
No matter what time of the day it is eaten, General Tso’s chicken must be served hot to avoid the gooey taste due to the corn starch. Add a little water while re-heating (preferably in a wok and not microwave) if the sauce is too thick.