Showing posts with label Quick and Easy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quick and Easy. Show all posts
I can still remember the first time I tried Thai food. We went to a Thai restaurant in Chester with our friends Jo and Colin. For me it was love at first bite!
I thought it was delicious! We all ordered different things and then shared with each other. It was like being at a fabulously tasty mini banquet!
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That's a really happy memory for me. I love Jo and Colin and spending time with them has always been my favorite thing to do. Jo was the housekeeper down at the Manor for the first few years I worked there.
She left there to pursue a career in Chiropody. She and I remain good friends to this day. She and Colin are great people and were very supportive me in the changes I had to make in my life several years ago.
I have been so blessed in being surrounded by good people in my life.
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This recipe I am sharing with you today was adapted from one I found on a blog called Seasons & Suppers. It sounded delicious. I am not sure how authentic it is, but I can tell you it is very tasty!
I did make a few changes to the recipe however. I cut a bit back on the meat and added some vegetables for fiber and color. The last time I cooked something like this someone on my Facebook page said it looked like dog food. I didn't want that to happen again.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE THAI PEANUT CHICKEN
It looks like a lot, but it isn't really. Simple ingredients put together in the most delicious way.
For the chicken:
- 4- 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 2 large boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized dice
- 1-2 tsp cooking oil
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp salt
- a quantity of loose frozen stir fry vegetables (optional) (you decide how much you want)
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For the sauce:
- 1 tsp ginger paste (or 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger or 1/4 tsp dried ginger powder)
- 1 tsp Asian Chili garlic sauce, plus more, to taste or Sambal Oelek or Sriracha
- 1 TBS soy sauce, low-sodium recommended
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 TBS peanut butter, smooth or crunchy, plus a bit more stirred in at the end, if you like
- 2/3 cup (160ml) full fat coconut milk, make sure you stir or shake it well (you can freeze the remainder of the can to use at a later date)
.JPG "Quick & Easy Thai Peanut Chicken")
To finish:
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated lime zest
- the juice of 1/2 lime
To serve: (all optional)
- Chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
- Fresh lime wedges for squeezing
- coarsely chopped peanuts
.JPG "Quick & Easy Thai Peanut Chicken")
HOW TO MAKE THAI PEANUT CHICKEN
You will find that if you have all of your ingredients measured and assembled before you start, this simple recipe goes together very quickly!
Heat the oil over medium high in a medium sized skillet. Add the chicken pieces. Cook, stirring frequently, until no longer pink. Add the vegetables if using. Sprinkle with the spices and salt.
Whisk together the chili sauce, ginger paste, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Stir into the chicken and vegetables to combine.
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Stir in the coconut milk and peanut butter. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes to blend the flavors and make sure the chicken is really cooked through.
Taste and adjust seasoning as required. You may also stir in an additional TBS of peanut butter if you desire and like more of a peanut flavor.
Serve hot and spooned over rice or noodles and garnished as desired.
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This made for a really quick and delicious supper. You can easily double everything to feed more people. I really loved the addition of the vegetables. They added color, fiber and crunch.
I served this with some white basmati. For the smaller family you can buy small pouches of cooked basmati rice which has only two to three servings in them. (Depending on appetites.) I find them to be very handy. Its not easy to cook rice for one or two people, and I hate waste.
All in all I really enjoyed this and it is something I would make again. I thought you would enjoy it too. I didn't sprinkle any chopped coriander on it at the end, but I did use some chopped peanuts and lime juice. Delicious!!
Quick & Easy Thai Peanut Chicken
Yield: 3
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min
This quick and easy recipe is incredibly versatile and delicious! I like to serve it with Basmati rice, but it is also good with noodles. If you have everything ready and assembled before you start, this goes together very quickly!
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 4- 5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 2 large boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized dice
- 1-2 tsp cooking oil
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp salt
- a quantity of loose frozen stir fry vegetables (optional) (you decide how much you want)
For the sauce:
- 1 tsp ginger paste (or 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger or 1/4 tsp dried ginger powder)
- 1 tsp Asian Chili garlic sauce, plus more, to taste or Sambal Oelek or Sriracha
- 1 TBS soy sauce, low-sodium recommended
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 TBS peanut butter, smooth or crunchy, plus a bit more stirred in at the end, if you like
- 2/3 cup (160ml) full fat coconut milk, make sure you stir or shake it well (You can freeze the remainder of the can to use at a later date)
To finish:
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated lime zest
- the juice of 1/2 lime
To serve: (all optional)
- Chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
- Fresh lime wedges for squeezing
- coarsely chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Heat the oil over medium high in a medium sized skillet. Add the chicken pieces. Cook, stirring frequently, until no longer pink. Add the vegetables if using. Sprinkle with the spices and salt.
- Whisk together the chili sauce, ginger paste, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Stir into the chicken and vegetables to combine.
- Stir in the coconut milk and peanut butter. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes to blend the flavors and make sure the chicken is really cooked through.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as required. You may also stir in an additional TBS of peanut butter if you desire and like more of a peanut flavor.
- Serve hot and spooned over rice or noodles and garnished as desired.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
One thing which I always try to keep in my freezer are flat breads of some sort. You can get rectangular ones (like you see here) or round ones. I also like Lebanese Pita breads and Indian Naan.
Not only do they come in handy to serve with meals, especially soups, stews and tagines, but they also make fabulous pizza bases!
Today I used a rectangular one to make a Peanut Chicken Flatbread Pizza. I am not sure if this would be considered fusion cooking or not, but I like to think that it combines something Italian with something Thai.
I adore pizza. I adore Peanut Chicken. The two together? Fantabulous!
You could of course make your own pizza base or flatbread from scratch and there are no end to the recipes available to do just that. It all depends on what you are looking for.
For ease and speed, I highly recommend a good store bought one. This one is Presidents Choice Original flatbread. It is plain and simple and just the right size to feed four.
From there I slathered it with a delicious homemade Thai peanut sauce, topped it with some mozzarella cheese and a scattering of chicken breast cubes I had marinated and cooked in a Thai marinade.
I baked it and then finished it off with a scattering of chopped roasted peanuts and spring onions and I have to say, it was very delicious! Not to mention, very quick and easy to make!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE PEANUT CHICKEN FLATBREAD PIZZA
The ingredients for this are actually quite simple, and if you are like me and keep an assortment of oriental condiments, etc. in your store cupboard, it won't take a special trip to the shops, but if it does, trust me when I say it is worth it.
For the chicken:
- 1 large free range boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp liquid honey
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
For the peanut sauce:
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 TBS sweet chili sauce
- 1 TBS hoisin sauce
- 1/3 cup (80ml) water
- 1 1/2 TBS smooth peanut butter
In a pinch you can sub powders for the fresh garlic and ginger. I would use 1/4 tsp each of powdered ginger and garlic powder (not salt).
Also if you don't have sweet chili sauce, then you can make a suitable substitute by subbing 1 TBS plum sauce whisked together with 1/2 TBS sriracha sauce. It is pretty hard to find a substitute for hoisin sauce. I would try equal parts of BBQ sauce, molasses and dark soy sauce.
You will also need:
- 1 4-serving sized prepared flat bread (you can also use 2 medium naan bread)
- 2 TBS light olive oil
- 8 ounces (225g) grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 spring onion, trimmed, washed and finely chopped
- 3 TBS chopped roasted peanuts
You could use chopped coriander instead of the spring onions. (Cilantro) I happen to think that spring onion works perfectly here. I think also you want the mild flavor of the mozzarella cheese rather than another cheese. It melts beautifully, quickly and won't take away from the flavors of the other ingredients.
HOW TO MAKE PEANUT CHICKEN FLATBREAD PIZZA
This goes together very quickly and simply once you get each element sorted. You will have more peanut sauce than you need, but trust me when I say that you can drizzle the leftover sauce over the cooked pizza as desired and nobody will be complaining.
I could eat that sauce with a spoon and be quite happy.
Begin by preparing your chicken. Cut it into cubes. This is best done if the chicken is semi-frozen. You can get nice clean cuts. I cut mine into a 1/2 inch dice.
Whisk together the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and pop the diced chicken into it. Leave to sit for about 10 minutes while you make the sauce.
To make the sauce, heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook until quite fragrant.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, and then simmer until it has thickened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the marinated chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown and cooked through.
Preheat your oven to 375*F. 190*C/ gas mark 5. Place your flat bread onto a baking sheet. Brush around the edges with the olive oil.
Spoon about 1/2 cup of the peanut sauce in the middle of the flat bread and spread it around up to the edges. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the peanut sauce. Scatter the cooked chicken pieces over top of the cheese.
Pop the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake until the cheese has melted, the crust is crisp and golden brown and the chicken is heated through.
While the pizza is baking chop your spring onions and peanuts for the topping.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let sit for a few minutes, then sprinkle the chopped peanuts and spring onions over top.
Cut into wedges to serve! Prepare yourself for praise and accolade, because you will surely receive them!! This is some good!!
Like I said, you can serve any additional peanut sauce for people to dip their pizza slices in, or you can drizzle it over top.
You could also cut it into smaller squares and serve it as appetizers or game night bites for your friends and family with sauce for dipping.
No matter how you decide to serve this one thing is for certain, everyone is going to love, Love, LOVE it!! I guarantee!!
Peanut Chicken Flatbread Pizza
Yield: 4
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 8 MinTotal time: 28 Min
Favorite Thai Peanut Chicken flavors on a flatbread pizza. This is incredibly deliciously moreish.
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 large free range boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp liquid honey
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
For the peanut sauce:
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 TBS sweet chili sauce
- 1 TBS hoisin sauce
- 1/3 cup (80ml) water
- 1 1/2 TBS smooth peanut butter
You will also need:
- 1 4-serving sized prepared flat bread (you can also use 2 medium naan bread)
- 2 TBS light olive oil
- 8 ounces (225g) grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 spring onion, trimmed, washed and finely chopped
- 3 TBS chopped roasted peanuts
Instructions
- First prepare and marinate your chicken. Whisk the soy sauce, honey and cornstarch together in a bowl. Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes. Add to the marinade in the bowl and leave to sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.
- To make the peanut sauce, heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook until very fragrant. Add the sweet chili sauce, hoisin sauce, water and peanut butter. Whisk together until smooth. Simmer until thickened.
- Preheat your oven to 375*F/190*C/ gas mark 5.
- Heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken. Sauté the chicken pieces until cooked through and golden brown. Set aside.
- Place the flat bread (naans) onto a baking sheet. Brush the edges with the olive oil. Spread about 1/2 cup of the peanut sauce over top of the bread evenly.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the peanut sauce. Scatter the cooked chicken over top of the cheese.
- Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven until the cheese has melted, everything is heated through, and the crust is golden brown around the edges.
- Remove from the oven. Scatter the spring onion and chopped peanuts over top. Cut into wedges to serve. Serve hot with or without additional peanut sauce for dipping if desired.
Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you come again!
I confess I just made a real pig of myself. Seriously. I decided to update my old recipe for Simple Sesame Noodles. The photos on the original posting were not the best and I really wanted to make a better presentation.
This is such a simple dish, so quick and easy to make, plus it caters to my great love of pasta. I quite simply adore pasta and if it is as quick and easy to make as this dish is, I love it even more!!
Seriously, you have never met a quicker pasta dish to make and eat than this one. The timing depends on what type of noodles you decide to use. I used spaghettini today and they cooked to al dente in six minutes.
So this made for a really quick, ultra quick, super quick lunch indeed!
You can use whatever type of noodles you want to make this simple dish. The only requirement is that they be long, thin and rather fluid, ie. wiggly.
Anything like spaghetti, ramen, udon, spaghettini, linguine and the like works really well!
The strength of this dish lies in the deliciousness of the simple sauce/dressing which gets quickly mixed together to toss with the cooked noodles.
Its a little bit salty, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, a little bit tangy, and a whole lotta bit delicious!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SIMPLE SESAME NOODLES
For me this is just plain store cupboard ingredients, but then I have a whole section in my larder dedicated to oriental flavors.
- 1/2 pound (130g) long thinnish noodles, uncooked
- 2 1/2 TBS dark soy sauce
- 1 TBS sugar
- 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
- Hot chili oil to taste
- 1 TBS seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 TBS toasted sesame oil
- 2 TBS light sunflower oil
- 2 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
As I said for the noodles, you want something which is long and thin. I used spaghettini, but any kind of long thin noodle works well.
Most of these ingredients can be found in the oriental section of the supermarket. They are very common ingredients. Make sure you use "toasted" sesame oil and not regular sesame oil. The toasted oil has a much richer flavor and color than the regular oil.
Rice wine vinegar is a mild flavored vinegar which is made from rice. It contains far less acid than other types of vinegars and I find that it has a somewhat sweet flavor, probably from the rice. It is also referred to as Rice Vinegar.
There is actually no alcohol in it. It is simply made from rice and is used extensively in Asian cooking. It is great in salad dressings. If you cannot find it a good substitute would be white wine vinegar or cider vinegar.
Don't confuse it with Japanese sushi rice vinegar, which is meant for use in making sushi and is highly sweetened in comparison.
Dark soy sauce is darker, thicker and a bit sweeter than regular or light soy sauce. It is used to flavor oriental dishes, but its dark color is also used to darken the color of oriental dishes.
It does contain more sodium than the light soy sauce, but it is a bit sweeter and that offsets any additional saltiness. Do bear this in mind when using it.
Toasted sesame oil is golden brown in color and the toasting helps it to develop a rich and nutty scent and flavor.
If you only have regular sesame oil, there is a great article on how to toast your own found here. Its not really that hard. I find it much more convenient to keep already toasted sesame oil in my larder rather than toast my own.
HOW TO MAKE SIMPLE SESAME NOODLES
Like I said, nothing could be quicker or easier than these simple tasty noodles! If you are like me, you won't be able to resist gobbling them up!
Place the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, hot chili oil and sunflower oil in a jar with a tight light. Shake well together until amalgamated. Set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the noodles and cook to al dente according to the package directions. Drain very well and return to the saucepan.
Shake the jar of sauce ingredients again really well and pour over the warm noodles. Toss to coat. Add the spring onions and toss again.
Serve immediately, or allow to chill and serve as a salad with your chosen protein additions. (shredded chicken, pork, cooked shrimps.) I like to reserve a bit of the spring onion to sprinkle over top of the finished noodles.
I am not sure what it is about these that makes them as moreish as they are. I can always make a huge pig of myself when these are on the menu! Perhaps it is the ease with which they go together?
I think more than likely it is just that they are impossibly delicious. I am not sure if this is called Unami or not. I can only say for sure that they are irresistible! Especially if you enjoy oriental flavors!
Simple Sesame Noodles
Yield: 4
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 15 Min
Quite simply delicious. This goes together quickly and is very easy to make. Excellent served cold as a salad as well. Add some shredded cooked chicken or pork, or cooked baby shrimps.
Ingredients
For the noodles:
- 1/2 pound (230g) uncooked thin noodles, such spaghettini, linguine, vermicelli, etc. (today I used spaghettini)
For the sauce:
- 2 1/2 TBS dark soy sauce
- 1 TBS caster sugar (finely granulated)
- 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
- 1 TBS seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 TBS toasted sesame oil
- hot chili oil to taste
- 2 TBS light sunflower oil
- 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Place the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, hot chili oil and sunflower oil in a jar with a tight light. Shake well together until amalgamated. Set aside.
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the noodles and cook to al dente according to the package directions. Drain very well and return to the saucepan.
- Shake the jar of sauce ingredients again really well and pour over the warm noodles. Toss to coat. Add the spring onions and toss again.
- Serve immediately, or allow to chill and serve as a salad with your chosen protein additions. (shredded chicken, pork, cooked shrimps.)
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