Recently, I have become enamored with spicy food. I know that a lot of you out there have eaten and enjoyed foods from the spicy side of life for many years. I, on the other hand, have been held back by something I like to call “the burn”.
I have had issues with heartburn for as long as I can remember. When I was 15 I realized that my Dad’s chili, although tasty, was NOT worth the pain. When I was in college, I figured out that Schezuan was just not going to work out for me. Unfortunately, tomato sauce and orange juice were off the table for me, too. And, yes, I was sad.
But, last year I gave in and let my doctor give me medication to control my heartburn. At first I was just really pleased to be able to stop popping Rolaids every twenty minutes, but after a few months I realized something.
The stuff I’m taking doesn’t just cover me from eating mundane vanilla flavored foods. It doesn’t care if it’s protecting me from Schezuan or Dad’s chili or battery acid. For the first time in my life I am eating unhindered by “the burn”. It’s amazing! I’ve been like a kid in the candy store – I just want to try it all. Do you know I had NEVER had buffalo sauce? Never, people – not even one hot wing! That’s just wrong.
So, you can imagine how excited I was when I came across this Thai inspired chicken dish in one of my old magazines. I quickly added it to the queue of “must try” recipes.
After I started making this, I realized that the original recipe said “inspired” because it was peanut-y, not spicy, which was pretty disappointing considering my new found freedom. I made a snap decision and started doing what I do best; ignoring changing enhancing fixing the recipe. I just added some spicy chili sauce (you can find this in the Asian section at your market, or order it online
) and a dash of crushed red pepper and everyone at my dinner table was saying “Hoo-whee! That’s good! Hot, but gooood.”
So. Load up on your Zantac and let’s make some Chicken.
Thai Inspired Curly Noodles with Chicken
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy will work)
¼ cup soy sauce
1 clove pressed or minced garlic
1-2 tablespoons spicy chili sauce
¼-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
½ cup dry bread crumbs
3 packages of ramen noodles (chicken flavored)
1 pound boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup fresh bean sprouts, or 14oz can bean sprouts, drained
1 tablespoon salted peanuts, chopped (for garnish)
Start out by mixing the first 6 ingredients together until smooth (brown sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chili sauce, crushed red pepper). Using one tablespoon of chili sauce and ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper will give you a mild-medium heat. Use more if you like it hotter. Set the sauce aside for now.
Use a large zippered bag to mix the bread crumbs and contents of two noodle seasoning packets together. You can throw away the other seasoning packet, or keep it, if you’re like that.
I bet you didn’t know that ramen noodles were good for anything other than college students and that crunchy salad recipe, did you? I actually use them a lot in my cooking. There’s even a recipe for lo-mein in my Chinese New Year Cookbook that uses them, too.
Rinse off the chicken breasts and shake them inside the bag, one piece at a time, to coat.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook the chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side, until done. Don’t flip the chicken back and forth, back and forth – unless of course you don’t want the coating to stay on (yeah, I flipped mine too much.)
While you’re cooking the chicken, prepare the ramen noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm.
Add the peanut sauce to the skillet and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan. This is called deglazing the pan, I tell you this because I know you were intensely interested – and because I figure that I had to memorize all these terms in culinary school, I might as well share them with you.
Add the noodles and the bean sprouts to the deglazed pan and toss to mix with the hot peanut sauce.
Serve the chicken over the noodles and sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top. This green bean recipe can also be found in my Chinese New Year Cookbook.
Here it is again, without the pictures:
Thai Inspired Curly Noodles with Chicken
Start out by mixing the first 6 ingredients together until smooth (brown sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic, chili sauce, crushed red pepper). Using one tablespoon of chili sauce and ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper will give you a mild-medium heat. Use more if you like it hotter. Set the sauce aside for now.
Use a large zippered bag to mix the bread crumbs and contents of two noodle seasoning packets together. You can throw away the other seasoning packet, or keep it, if you’re like that (you know who you are.)
Rinse off the chicken breasts and shake them inside the bag, one piece at a time, to coat.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook the chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side, until done.
While you’re cooking the chicken, prepare the ramen noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm.
Add the peanut sauce to the skillet and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the noodles and the bean sprouts to the deglazed pan and toss to mix with the hot peanut sauce.
Serve the chicken over the noodles and sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Here is what I do for any heartburn…lemon juice.
I used to be on one of the prescriptions for it + taking lots of Tums, I heard about taking vinegar for heartburn but didn’t have any. The next time I needed something I tried a tablespoon of lemon juice. Worked like magic, and I’ve never needed the medicine again. I don’t even keep Tums on hand any more.
The way I understand it is the stomach is not producing ENOUGH acid to trigger the valve between the stomach and esophagus to close. The acid in the vinegar or lemon juice does the trick.
susan, my family has done the vinegar trick for years.
Angie, have you tried this using sliced chicken breast? Whenever I make a chicken/noodle type dish, I’ve found (with kids especially) that it’s just easier to either make slices or chunks, then bread and fry.
Michelle, I’m sure that if you cut the chicken into smaller pieces first that would work just fine. My kids are older, but if they were still wee ones I would do the same thing.
As far as vinegar and lemon juice – the main reason my doc put me on meds is because I need to protect my stomach from my arthritis medication.
I wish, though, I had known about this trick when I was younger, although as severe as my heartburn was – I’m still rather skeptical that it would work. Drinking OJ, for instance, was pure torture – wouldn’t that be the same as lemon juice?
Angie, I think the lemon juice works because the acid is so much more concentrated than orange juice. I had some HORRENDOUS heartburn when I was younger and I used it with good results. Of course, with everything, your mileage may vary.