Cooking: Spicy Peanut Chicken Noodles

About a week ago I came across this lovely recipe from The Noshery (Recipe: http://thenoshery.com/2009/04/27/spicy-peanut-chicken-noodles/) on tastespotting.com. It looked so refreshing and perfect for a warm day.

I haven't had time until today to cook anything that required a little more effort than normal. This seemed like the perfect recipe due to the muggy weather we were having. It was cloudy but warm.

I did alter the recipe to include red bell pepper instead of carrot and I grabbed a cucumber. You'll see what I did with that later.

When I got home from the store I immediately washed and prepped my veggies first. I'm starting to get into a rhythm where I prep my veggies first and then deal with the protein. That way you only have to wash the cutting board and knife once. That may seem like common sense but I didn't think about it until I started cooking a lot.

The cucumber threw me for a loop. I didn't want to throw it in with the rest of the veggies because they'd get soggy. So instead, I made a quick marinated cucumber relish. It has a little rice wine vinegar, garlic chili sauce, salt and some water. Just julienne the cucumber, add your "pickling mixture" and throw it in the fridge until you're to serve. Very refreshing and the acid in the relish cuts through the richness of the noodles.

I cut up my boneless skinless chicken thighs into strips.

And drained my bean noodles (I believe you would call these clear or silver noodles). Unfortunately, I couldn't find the rice noodles at the store so I substituted with these instead.

I took out some aggression by pounding the shit out of the peanuts and felt much better afterward.

And then... it happened. I was happily cooking away when I looked at the handle of my wooden spoon. WTF? Are the bell peppers staining the spoon somehow? Can't be... they don't bleed like that. Then I looked at my hands to see if I cut myself while processing everything. Nothing... then I found a small gash on my right thumb. Oh.. It's amazing I didn't feel anything because it was literally gushing blood everywhere. I got it on my camera, my spoons, the counter, the cutting board... yeah.. not pretty. Still hungry? Hehe..

Back to the dish. You start by sauteeing the chicken until almost cooked through. (I decided to do a quick soy sauce & rice wine marinade first). Then you add the garlic, chili sauce & ginger until fragrant. After that you add the rice wine vinegar, rice wine & peanut butter. Give that a stir until the peanut butter has incorporated into the sauce. Then add your veggies and saute for about 5 more minutes.

Throw it all together and give it a mix. I had some black sesame seeds in my freezer so I garnished with that, the peanuts & chopped green onion.

That's it, tada!

Super yummy and easy for a weeknight meal.