Thai Basil Stir-Fry

This is probably one of the better stir fry's we've made. It definitely tastes like takeout, and it's pretty easy to make. FYI - Oyster sauce and fish sauce can be found in the International aisle of your grocery store.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• sesame oil for frying
• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice, chilled
• 6 large cloves garlic clove, crushed
• Sriracha hot sauce (comes in a big red bottle) or crushed red pepper
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
• 1 1/2 cups frozen bell peppers
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups basil (remove leaves from stem, but don't chop)

Directions

1. Whisk together the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar in a bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Add the garlic and serrano peppers (or crushed red pepper), stirring quickly. Stir in the chicken, bell pepper, onion and oyster sauce mixture; cook until the chicken is no longer pink. Raise heat to high and stir in the chilled rice; stir quickly until the sauce is blended with the rice. Use the back of a spoon to break up any rice sticking together.
3. Remove from heat and mix in the basil leaves.

Clams and Mussels in Thai Curry Sauce

This recipe is compliments of Food Network Magazine, and I have to say, it's not only easy, but delicious too! We used fresh steamers and frozen mussels and served it over some Udon noodles. The broth is a bit spicy, but you can tone that down by using less hot pepper or hot sauce, to your liking. I made a few simple substitutions noted below, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. The recipe makes quite a bit of broth, which will be used for our lunch tomorrow with a package of Ramen noodles!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped (I used 1 tsp ginger paste instead)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I doubled this)
  
• 1 to 2 Thai chile peppers or jalapenos, seeded and chopped (I used Sriracha hot sauce)
  
• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I used green curry paste b/c it's all I had)
  
• 1/2 cup ketchup
  
• Juice of 2 limes, plus lime wedges for serving
  
• 16 littleneck clams, scrubbed
  
• 1 3/4 pounds mussels, scrubbed
  
• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips (I used frozen bell peppers)
  
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro
  
• 3/4 cup fresh basil
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ginger, garlic and chiles and stir-fry until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the curry paste and ketchup and fry until slightly browned, 3 to 4 more minutes. Add the lime juice and 3 cups water, cover and bring to a boil.

2. Add the clams; cover and steam until they open slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the mussels; cover and steam until they open slightly, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper and half of the cilantro and basil. Cook, covered, until the pepper is crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.

3. Transfer the clams and mussels to serving bowls and ladle the broth on top. Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro and basil and garnish with lime. Serve with crusty bread, if desired.

Thai Pork Salad

It's been pretty hot and humid these past few weeks, so while I was at the library, I picked up a fantastic cookbook that's all about salads, called Simply Salads, by Jennifer Chandler. The beauty of the book is that each salad can be made with a package of mixed salad greens and just a few ingredients. Also, there are a ton of recipes for freshly made salad dressings. The first salad we made was a Thai Beef Salad, but I used pork loin instead of beef. The marinade was good, but I didn't like the dressing, so I made something different. The final product was very light, and full of flavor, perfect for a hot Summer night.

Ingredients

• 1/2lb pork loin, trimmed, and cut into thin strips
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1/4 small onion, sliced thinly
• 1 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh mint (I really didn't taste much mint with all the other ingredients, and would probably omit it next time)
• 1 bag Hearts of Romaine
• 1/2 cup corasely chopped unsalted, roasted peanuts

Marinade

• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 T grated ginger (I used 1 tsp ginger paste)
  
• 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
  

Directions

1. Place the pork in a shallow dish. Pour 1/3 of the marinade over the pork and marinate 2-3 hours. Reserve the rest of the marinade for use later.
   
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan and cook pork 3 minutes. Add onions to pan and continue cooking until pork is no longer pink. Be careful not to overcook it!
   
3. In a large bowl, combined sliced pork, cucumber, onions, cilantro, mint and lettuce. Add dressing to taste, and toss well. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and serve immediately.

Thai Pork Springrolls w/Peanut Sauce

This was sort of done on a whim, in order to use up a pork loin that had been in the fridge for a few days. Justin really wanted to make spring rolls, and we had some wrappers leftover from our last attempt a few months ago, so we gave it another shot. I also made a light peanut sauce to drizzle over them. They're not the prettiest things, but they were delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into bite-sized pieces
• pepper
• 1/2 tsp fresh ginger
• 1/2 head green cabbage, sliced thinly
• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
• 2 carrots, julienned
• fresh basil, chopped
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter
• sesame oil
• soy sauce
• hot sauce
• 6 spring roll wrappers (the kind you soak in hot water before using)

Directions

1. Heat 1 Tbsp sesame oil in large saute pan. Add pork and ginger, stir-frying just until cooked. Be careful not to overcook! Remove from pan and set aside.
2. In same pan, add cabbage and onions, cooking approximately 3 minutes until slightly wilted but still crunchy. You may need to add a smidge more oil to your pan to keep the cabbage from burning. Once cooked, remove cabbage/onion mixture and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter, sesame oil and soy sauce until a thin sauce is formed. I used approximately 2T peanut butter, 2 T sesame oil and 1T soy sauce, but I kept adding a little of this and a little of that, so those amounts may not be entirely correct. Just keep adding those 3 ingredients until you have a sauce that's thin, but not watery. And add a few drops of hot sauce to kick it up a notch!
4. Prepare springroll wrappers according to package directions. Mine said to soak in hot water for 15 seconds, then place on a damp cloth and blot dry. Then I added the cabbage/onion mixture, pork, drizzle of sauce, raw carrots, and basil. Wrap each roll like a burrito and slice in half before serving.

Thai Chicken Salad

Chicken Ceaser Salad is a staple for us, at least once a week. Buy a bag of salad, grill some chicken, toss in some veggies, coat with Ceaser dressing. Simple! But this week, I decided to switch it up a bit. The local farm up the road had peas, fresh for picking. So we went over the weekend and picked a bucket full and they are delicious! I was inspired to make a Thai style chicken salad, using the peas, and some other fresh veggies, and some homemade ginger dressing. The dressing makes a fairly large batch, so make sure you have a big enough container nearby to store it.

Ingredients
Dressing

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
• 3/4 cup olive oil (we used sesame oil instead)
  
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup water

Directions

1. In a 1 pint glass jar or larger, combine the garlic, ginger, olive oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and water. Cover the jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake well. Remove lid, and heat jar in the microwave for 1 minute just to dissolve the honey. Let cool, and shake well before serving. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  
• 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• garlic powder, to taste
  
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1/4 cup sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half
  
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced carrots
• 3 Tbsp chopped peanuts
• Lettuce
  

Directions

1. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Season chicken with garlic powder. Add chicken and white onions, cooking until almost done, approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Add broccoli, peas and sliced carrots to pan, and cook an additional 2 minutes. Pour soy sauce over everything and toss to combine.
3. Remove from heat when veggies are tender and chicken is cooked. Stir in chopped green onions. Allow mixture to cool about 8-10 minutes.
4. Combine lettuce and chicken mixture in a large bowl and pour dressing over top, tossing to coat evenly. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Thai Coconut Curry Tilapia

By now, you've probably figured out that we are huge fans of Asian style cuisine, and I have a new recent obsession with Cooking Light! This recipe is from Cooking Light.com and was rated one of the top fish recipes. So of course I had to try it. It is SO good. Just a bit spicy, but not so spicy that it burns your mouth. This sauce is definitely going in my "staple book" to use on chicken, fish, tofu, veggies, etc.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil, divided
• 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 teaspoons red curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
• Cooking spray
• 3 cups hot cooked basmati rice
• 4 lime wedges

Directions

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add pepper and onions; cook 1 minute. Stir in curry powder, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and coconut milk; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.
3. Brush fish with 1/2 teaspoon oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve fish with sauce, rice, and lime wedges.

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

With the recent ice and snow hitting the DC area, I decided it was time to start making some warm, hearty soups for dinner. Something about snow and wind makes me crave hot soup and bread, so I turned to Cooking Light (Dec 2008) and found a delicious recipe for Coconut Curry soup. It's definitely filling, with the chicken, spinach and pasta.

This definitely has a long list of ingredients, but it makes about 8 servings, so it'll last a while.

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed and cut in half
• 1 5.75oz package pad thai noodles
• 1 T canola oil
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 2 tsp red curry paste
• 1 1/2 curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
• 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 2.5 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 4 small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped
• 7 lime wedges

Directions

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan, cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables and place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.
2. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime wedges.

Thai Chicken Ramen

So delicious! This is one of the better Ramen dishes I've made. Again, budget friendly, full of vegetables, chicken and lots of flavor. I used the Creamy Chicken Ramen because I wanted to add a little extra body to the sauce. I think a regular Ramen might taste OK, but the sauce would probably be too thin.
1 Chicken breast - 50 cents
2 packs of ramen - 25 cents
1/4 onion - 20 cents
2 green onions - 20 cents
1/2 red pepper - 25 cents (2 for a dollar)
1 carrot - 20 cents
2 Tablespoons peanut butter - 50 cents
1 Tablespoon cilantro - 5 cents?
Total cost - Approximately $2.15

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast, cut into small chunks
• 2 packages Creamy Chicken flavored Ramen
• 1/4 onion, sliced
• 1/2 red pepper, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. In a large nonstick skillet, add 1 Tablespoon oil and heat over medium high. Add chicken and cook thoroughly. Add onion, red pepper and carrot to pan and cook 3-5 minutes until tender.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to rapid boil. Add Ramen noodles with seasoning packet and cook 3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the noodles or they become soggy.

3. Drain noodles, reserving about 3/4 cup liquid. Add peanut butter, soy sauce and brown sugar to noodles, mixing well to combine. Add noodles to pan with chicken and vegetables and stir. If too much liquid remains, bring saute pan to a boil and simmer 3 minutes until liquid evaporates.

4. Remove pan from heat and add green onions. Stir to warm the onions. Top with chopped cilantro and hot sauce, if desired.

Thai Chicken with Ginger Sauce

Not sure why, but we've been on a Thai food kick for a few weeks now. I have become obsessed with cilantro and can't get enough of it! Tonight's dish, from WW "Simply Delicious," is a bit tangy and ever so sweet. Not spicy at all, but a really nice blend of flavors. The cilantro contrasts with the vinegar to make a unique sauce that I really can't describe.

I served it over rice-stick noodles. To cook those, place the noodles in a pot of boiling water. Remove from heat and let stand about 10 minutes. Drain, and add to pan of chicken/veggies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 (1/2 ounce) package dried wood ear mushrooms
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth (I used beef broth b/c that's all I had)
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 8 scallions cut diagonally into 2-inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas (I used red bell pepper b/c the peas at the store this week were brown and mushy!)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the dried mushrooms; remove from the heat and let stand 20 minutes. Drain the mushrooms; coarsely chop and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch and fish sauce in a small bowl; set aside.

3. Heat the oil over high heat in a large nonstick skillet, then add the chicken. Saute until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

4. Return the skillet to the heat, then add the scallions, ginger, and garlic. Saute until fragrant and the scallions have softened slightly, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, chicken, snap peas and broth mixture; bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until heated through and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cilantro. Serve with rice-stick noodles or over brown rice.

Thai Coconut Chicken

Love, love, love coconut chicken. Especially Justin. Every time we go to the local Thai place, he swears he'll get something different. And in the end, it's always coconut chicken for him. So I decided to give this recipe a shot to see how it compared to the real deal. It's sweet and spicy, and surprisingly rich for a Weight Watcher's recipe (from WW Simply Delicious). The mixture of cumin, red curry paste and basil makes for a really earthy, spicy flavor that's incredible. We kept saying, "Wow, this dish is awesome!"

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 1 Tablespoon packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 pound asparagus, cut diagonally into 2-inch pieces (I omitted this because I forgot to buy them at the store! So I substituted red pepper.)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 Tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet, then add the chicken and sprinkle with the salt. Saute until browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

2. Heat the remaining oil in the same skillet over low heat, then add onion, garlic and ginger. Saute until fragrant and the onions are softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the sugar, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the asparagus, coconut milk and fish sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the asparagus is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the chicken and basil; heat through. Serve over rice.

Pork Pad Thai, kinda?

This recipe looked so good in the cookbook (WW Take-Out Tonight), I had to try it. I'm not sure I can technically call it "Pad Thai" because I didn't use the peanuts, but whatever, it was darn tasty and I'll definitely be making it again no matter what it's called!

The original recipe calls for shrimp and peanuts, but I am allergic to shellfish (substituted pork) and don't really like peanuts in savory dishes, so I omitted them. The final dish was sweet, slightly spicy and really flavorful. The rice stick noodles are so easy to cook with and not nearly as heavy as traditional Italian pasta.

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound rick-stick noodles (I used 1 6oz package)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used pork loin and cut it into very thin strips, about 1/4 inch wide)
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
• 2 Tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon hot chili sauce (I used 1/2 T and it was plenty spicy!)
• 1 Tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 3 Tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
  
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

1. Place the noodles in a large pot and add enough hot water to cover; let stand until the noodles are soft, about 10-12 minutes. Drain, transfer the noodles to a large bowl of cold water to cool, and drain again. Set aside. (I boiled water, added the noodles and turned off burner. Drain, pour cold water over noodles, drain again.)

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in the oil, then add the shrimp (or whatever protein you use). Cook until shrimp are just opaque in the center, about 3 minutes. Add the scallions and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the egg whites, stirring gently, until they begin to set, about 30 seconds. Add the fish sauce, sugar, chili sauce, and soy sauce; cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 30 seconds. Add the drained noodles and the bean sprouts; cook, tossing gently, until mixed and heated through, 2-3 minutes longer. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro.

Thai Curry Chicken

I can't remember where we found this recipe, but it was floating around the Internet somewhere and I copied it to my files. It is Dee-Licious! We love Thai food and this is probably one of the best Thai-inspired dishes I've made in a long time. It's sweet, slightly spicy and all around really flavorful. It would be great with rice noodles but all I had was rice, so it's what I used.

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
  
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  
• 2 tablespoons red curry paste
  
• 2 green onions with tops, chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  
• 2 cups coconut milk
  
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
  
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions

1. Toss chicken first in 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, then in the flour, coating pieces evenly. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place chicken in the skillet, cook and stir chicken until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken.

2. Reduce heat to medium and stir in curry paste. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant, then stir in green onions, garlic, and ginger; cook an additional 2 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, stirring to coat with the curry mixture. Stir the coconut milk, fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and sugar into the chicken-curry mixture. Allow to simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes until the chicken is tender. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.