Next weekend will be busy, between symphony, another Trek event, and my first go at a farmer's market since I left London. Greenwich had a lovely market on Saturdays, and I did spend quite a bit of pocket money (got my wallet there!). I used to walk about the entire neighborhood and get great deals AND delicious crepes. Mmmm.
I also want to do a lot more fall cooking once it consistently is cooler -- gobbling down apple cider and pumpkin treats seems inappropriate in 80 degree weather.
I mentioned awhile back on Facebook that I had created a Thai Peanut Stir Fry. It's actually an amalgam of three different recipes that I pulled together, and it is delicious. I scaled it down so that it's 'Dinner for 2' but you can expand it as needed -- it scales well.
What you'll need:
2 large skinless boneless chicken breasts
Marinade:
- 3/4 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons JIF® Creamy (or extra crunchy) Peanut Butter
- 1 tablespoon CRISCO® All-Vegetable Oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice (I used lemon)
- 1/2 large clove garlic, minced (I love garlic so I doubled this)
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped ginger (or 1/8-1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger; depends on how much you like ginger)
- 1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts (the chestnuts store well in tupperware, so if you buy a can of them, you can use half and store the others later)
- 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
- freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetables for the stir fry can simply be one cup broccoli, but I personally added 3/4 cup broccoli, 3/4 cup of carrots. Bean pods are also good additions.
- 1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk
- 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/2 small onion, grated
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (optional)
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1. To start, clean and then cut up the chicken into medium cubes or stripes.
2. Mix up the marinade in the plastic bag using the ingredients above. This tends to be the messy part of the operation, so putting the bag in the sink may be prudent. Make it to your taste; I love garlic, so my mentality was 'more the merrier!' Soy sauce is salty and can be overpowering, so if you're not a big fan, use a minimal amount. Same goes for the cayenne -- you will taste it later!.
3. Once all the ingredients are in, seal the bag (important) and shake it until everything is well mixed. You may have to find trouble spots and smoosh them through the bag, such as clumped peanut butter or brown sugar.
4. Once mixed, add the chicken pieces. Seal the bag, give it a good shake, and then stick it in the fridge overnight (or at least for two hours, if you're already hungry from handling all those ingredients).
5. About ten minutes before I anticipate starting the stir fry, I set up the sauce in a small pot. Peanut sauce has two different schools of thought: sweet or spicy. Because the marinade already has soy sauce in it, you may want to eliminate it from the sauce. The red or cayenne pepper adds a kick, but if you don't like spicy, you may want to drop it. It's not a huge kick, but it certainly warms you up. Those two ingredients alone really change the flavor of the sauce, so it is cook's discretion. I prefer the sweet peanut sauce for this dish, eliminating the soy and pepper.
6. Just add all the sauce ingredients to the small pot, stir til smooth, and then heat to a boil, stirring frequently.
7. After it hits boil, keep stirring and drop the heat to low, just to keep it warm while you attempt not to burn the house down with the stir fry.
8. For the stir fry, grab a 12-inch frying pan or a wok, at the least -- 10 inches isn't big enough (that's what she said). Heat to a medium-high heat -- it'll be ready if you flick a bit of water off your hand on there and it sizzles. Add the garlic, peanut oil, and ginger, stirring quickly.
9. Jack the heat up to high, and empty your chicken marinade into the fry pan. Yep, whole thing, especially the liquid. This is where it veers away from a traditional fry. You have to make sure the pan is super hot to make sure a) all bacteria is killed; b) the liquid is gone (or nearly so) by the end of the 'stir fry' phase. Stir quickly and make sure the chicken is rotated around for an even cook.
10. Once the chicken start looking 'done', add the broccoli, then carrots, water chestnuts, and mushrooms in that order, stirring after each addition. You can elect to add 1/4 cup soy sauce for the final 2 minutes of the fry, but I found that it made it too salty and really overpowered every other ingredient. Plus, due to the marinade, it leaves a lot of excess fluid.
11. Your stir fry is considered 'done' about 2-3 minutes after the addition of the mushrooms (all veggies are tender). Your marinade should also be cooked away. I like well-done mushrooms, so I left mine on a bit longer.
12. I have a two-quart size bowl that I dumped the pan into, but a mixing bowl will probably suffice as well. Serve with the sauce (which has been sitting quietly on the back of the stove top). I also normally do rice with it, but you should probably be able to figure that bit out, if you're attempting this.
I've made this twice, cooking on Saturday, and it's never made it to Tuesday -- I normally eat the entire thing by myself in rapid succession.
