Spicy Thai Noodles with Fresh Vegetables

Total time: 30 minutes

It's easy to have a couple of Thai staples at home and simply adding a few fresh ingredients for a delicious meal! I was surprised myself how delicious this was.

Try to stock up on low sodium soy sauce, fish sauce, Sriracha (hot chili sauce), peanut oil, sesame oil as well as different sorts of rice noodles. I also always have fresh ginger, garlic, onions and eggs from free roaming hens at home. All I extra bought for the following dish were snow peas and red peppers. You can substitute these two vegetables with any other you prefers. You can even add more vegetables to the dish without loosing flavor. Give it a try!

What You Need

For 2 people

• 1/2 box or 8oz straight cut Thai rice noodles
• 1 red paprika, cut into pieces
• 1 cup snow peas
• 3 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon grass, minced

• 2 teaspoons peanut oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons fish oil
• 2 teaspoons low sodium
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha (hot chili sauce) 
• 1 teaspoon black sesame for decoration 

How It Is Done

• Start by soaking the noodles for 25 to 30 minutes in really hot tab water. If yours doesn't really get hot, you might use some heated water or soak the noodles longer. They have to  be really chewy and flexible before you can stir fry them.

• Heat the peanut and sesame oil in a large pan or wok if you have.
• Add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, peppers and snow peas at medium heat and stir fry for 2 minutes.
• Add soaked noodles and stir for 3 to 5 minutes. Keep the medium heat or turn it a bit down if it gets too hot.
• Season with fish oil, soy sauce and hot sauce.

• Shortly before serving, carefully fold the eggs in and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Don't let the egg get too sticky.

Divide onto two bowls, garnish with black sesame seeds and serve immediately. Have extra soy and hot chili sauce at the table.

Guten Appetit!
-- Elke♥ 

Thai Chicken Curry

Yesterday, I tried a recipe from Delicious Magazine which required egg noodles which I couldn't get in the two stores close to my home (it's an Italian neighborhood!). So instead of using the rice noodles I had at home, I decided to go "fusion" and use noodles every Amercian household would get! Some plain American egg noodles!

Here's the recipe which I followed very, very closely.

What You Need

• 2 x 250g pack dried medium egg noodles
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste (we like Thai Taste, from major supermarkets)
• 400ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
• 600ml chicken stock, hot
• 4 small, skinless chicken breasts

• 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
• 150g green beans, halved lengthways
• 2 carrots, cut into thin sticks
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar
• Grated zest and juice of
• 1 lime, plus lime wedges,
• Good handful fresh basil leaves

How It's Done

• In a bowl, cover the noodles with boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes, to soften. Drain, refresh in cold water and drain again. Toss in half the oil.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the curry paste and stir-fry for 1 minute. Stir in the coconut milk, stock, chicken and lemongrass, cover and simmer for 12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked. Using a slotted spoon, lift the chicken out of the pan and onto a plate, and roughly chop.

• Return the chicken to the pan with the beans and carrots. Simmer for 2 minutes, then stir
• in the noodles, sugar, lime zest and juice, and most of the fresh basil leaves and heat through.
• Season and ladle into bowls. Garnish with lime wedges and the remaining basil leaves.

There are 3 things I'd do differently because it tasted all a bit bland:

1) I would not use any kind of noodles but rice!

2) I'd use not just 1 but 2 limes. That's what I did, in the end when we were actually eating the dish.

3) And I'd use some sort of salt. Maybe my chicken stock was not good enough but there was really something missing. So we added a bit soy sauce and it was then really yummy.

Guten Appetit!
-- Elke ♥