I had planned on doing a peanut sauce dinner this week, and with the weather reaching almost 30c I decided that it would be the perfect meal to invite LX over... but first a glass of wine on our rooftop terrace. Life is tough.
This is a really old recipe, and the amounts for the ingredients that I give below are just suggestions. It is best to taste and add as you go along. For example, if it needs more salt, add more soy sauce; more garlic, add some garlic.
Ingredients:
1 cup of onion, chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp FRESH ginger (perhaps more)*
1/2 - 3/4 cup of peanut butter
2 chick'n breasts
1 tbsp olive oil or sesame oil
1 bag of baby spinach
Sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
Basmati rice
Optional Ingredients*:
Asparagus
Cauliflower
Snow peas
Baby corn
Chicken or tofu for protein
{Note. Revisions: LX suggested more ginger than I had originally put in, and I agreed. I only added about 1/2 tbsp, so I suggest a little more than 1 tbsp and to simmer it longer. You may also want to add asparagus, or other veggies of your liking, and substitute the chick'n with real chicken or tofu. The crispy spinach is optional, and I'm not sure how to actually get it "crispy"!}
1. First I had my helpers (or "sous chefs" as they prefer to be called) chop up the green pepper and onion for me!
2. As they were chopping, I heated up my wok on medium heat and added the olive oil. I then added the green peppers and onions, as I wanted them to be very cooked (I am trying to slowly wean SB onto peppers). I like to cover them as they cook to really soften the peppers.
3. Once the onions and green peppers were cooked, I added the garlic, coconut milk, ginger, chili sauce, and soy sauce. Once it heated up, I spooned in the peanut butter.
4. As this was cooking, I also heated up a frying pan on medium-high heat and added olive oil. I then added a bunch of the spinach and coated with sugar. I stirred this occasionally.
5. When it became cooked (i.e., right before it burnt), I removed and set on a plate, and then started another batch.
6. I let the stir-fry cook for a while, as the rice and spinach were being finished. As it cooked, I tasted it and adjusted everything accordingly (adding a bit more of this or that as I went along).
7. A few minutes before everything was done, I added the cooked chick'n to the stirfry. If you are adding chicken, cook in a separate pan before and then add at the end. If you choose tofu, you can brown it first and then add it at any stage.
8. When everything was ready, I served on a bed of basmati rice.
Overall, I enjoy this stir-fry quite a bit. I need to find a better way to measure how much flavour the ginger and garlic is going to add, as I could definitely have upped the quantities of these ingredients this time around. The spinach didn't turn out very well, although it added a really nice flavour. It was pretty soggy and not at all crisp. LX suggested I could just add it directly to the stirfry, although I like the idea of the crispy spinach I can get in restaurants. Anyone know how to do this? SB would have upped his rating had their been real chicken (wimp!) and crispy spinach. It's definitely recommended.
Posts
2 comments:
The crispy spinach in the restaurant is deep-fried. That is why it has that texture. Unless you flash fry it in hot, hot oil you won't be able to do it at home.
The best way to have cripy spinach: you lighly coat the spinach with any oil (like olive or sesame oil) then on a parchment paper in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes or so (only one layer of spinach per batch, otherwise it becomes soggy
Post a Comment