Thai-Style Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles
We love our pad thai recipes and chicken was on sale at the market, so we make a chicken version. We do not have many eggs, so we leave out the scrambled eggs, but add fresh thai herbs from the garden. Originally served as part of: Chicken Pad Thai.
- Pad Thai (March 25, 2002)
- Sarah's Spicy Pad Thai (June 17, 2002)
Ingredients
- 7 ounces Thai wide-style rice noodles
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 extra-large shallot
- 6 small thai bird red and green chile peppers
- ¼ cup roasted and unsalted peanuts (Trader Joe's)
- 2 tablespoons grocery-store fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar (firmly packed)
- 1¼ pounds skinless bone-in breasts chicken (Bell Evan's)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- ½ cup fresh mung bean sprouts (picked over and rinsed)
- 3 medium scallions (trimmed and chopped)
- 1 lime (cut into wedges)
- thai basil and mint herbs (washed and dried)
Instructions
We begin by pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees as we prep the ingredients. We want everything ready for the stir-fry in about an hour. We mince our shallots and garlic, yielding 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons respectively, and place them in a bowl. We rinse and pat dry our chiles and slice them. We set these aside in another bowl, with our lime wedges, and put the bowl on the table. We put the peanuts on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake for a couple of minutes. We want the peanuts fragrant and lightly colored. We remove the cookie sheet to cool and place the peanuts in another bowl on the table. Then, we mix the fish sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and brown sugar in a medium bowl for the sauce. We also have bowls for our bean sprouts, scallions, and fresh herbs from the garden.
We put a medium sized pot full of water on the stove and bring it to a boil for the rice noodles. Meanwhile, we rinse and pat dry the 2 breasts of chicken and de-bone them with a small knife. We put the bones aside for stock (we make this tonight too!) and chop the chicken breasts into pieces.
When the water is boiling, we add the rice noodles and cook for 4 minutes, according to the package directions. We drain them in a colander and rinse with cold water.
In a large pot, we heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. When it is hot, we add the chicken and stir-fry. When both sides of the chicken are getting browned, we add the shallots and garlic. We stir-fry for a couple of more minutes until the chicken is just cooked through. We then add the rice noodles and the sauce and reduce the heat to medium. We toss these around to heat. Next we add the bean sprouts and scallions to the rice noodle pot. We cook for a minute, tossing often.
We serve the chicken-noodle dish with a squeeze of lime and sprinkled with the peanuts, chiles, and hand-chopped thai basil and mint.
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 extra-large shallot
- 6 small red and green Thai bird chiles
- 1 lime (in wedges)
- ¼ cup roasted unsalted peanuts (Trader Joe's)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar (firmly packed)
- ½ cup fresh mung bean sprouts (picked over and rinsed)
- 3 medium scallions (chopped)
- Thai basil and mint
- 1¼ lb skinless bone-in chicken breasts (Bell Evans)
- 7 oz wide Thai rice noodles
- 1 tbsp canola oil
Instructions
What's a kid job?
A Kid job is a step kids can help with, with a grown-up nearby, not one they do on their own. Every kid is different, so go by what your child can do rather than by age. Roughly:
- Little ones (about 2 to 4) can stir, pour in ingredients a grown-up has measured, tear lettuce, wash vegetables and sprinkle toppings.
- Older kids (about 5 to 8) can also measure and level, crack eggs, whisk, roll and cut out dough, and put things together.
- Bigger kids can read the recipe aloud, keep track of the timer, and take on more of the cooking as they're ready.
Steps with a knife, microplane, skewers, stove, oven, grill or hot oil, or with raw meat, poultry or seafood, are marked Grown-up. Kids can still watch those, from a safe distance.
Grown-up
Heat the oven to 350°F. Mince the shallot (about ½ cup) and garlic (about 2 tablespoons) into a bowl. Rinse, dry and slice the chiles into a bowl for the table with the lime wedges. Wash your hands.
Grown-up
Toast the peanuts on a foil-lined sheet a couple of minutes, until fragrant. Cool and put in a bowl for the table.
Kid job
Mix the fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar for the sauce. Set out the sprouts, scallions and herbs in bowls.
Grown-up
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Rinse and dry the chicken, cut it off the bone (save the bones for stock), and chop. Wash up.
Cook the noodles 4 minutes, drain, and rinse with cold water.
Grown-up
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high and stir-fry the chicken until browning on both sides. Add the shallots and garlic and stir-fry a couple of minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the noodles and sauce, lower to medium, and toss to heat. Add the sprouts and scallions for 1 minute.
Serve with a squeeze of lime, the peanuts, chiles, and torn basil and mint.