Udon Noodles with Oriental Veggies and Chicken in a Spicy Peanut Sauce

Finishing up a statement of purpose for my PhD applications has been a fantastic diversion from the copy-editing job which sucked my soul out last week. With that said, I'm still working on it, so this should stay brief.

Udon Noodles with Oriental Veggies and Chicken in a Spicy Peanut Sauce (holy crap that is a mouthful!)

Tools:

Non-stick pot (If you value your sanity, this makes clean up sooooo much easier!)

Strainer

Plastic Spatula

Glass Serving Dish (because plastic is also a nightmare to get peanut butter off of)

Ingredients:

Udon Noodles (these can be found in the Oriental section of most mega-marts and well stocked smaller stores. When you open it you will see a cluster of noodles wrapped in a band, this is two servings of noodles.)

Water (you know where to get this, right? The sink!)

Cooked chicken breast or thigh (about .5 lb for every two servings)

1 tbsp chopped garlic

2 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (seriously, get a good one, not one of the chemical monstrosities LaCrap makes)

1/4th cup of dry roasted peanuts (unsalted are the best for this)

10 oz bag of frozen oriental veggies, thawed.

red chili pepper flakes to taste (I use A LOT, like 4 tbsp, but I'm sadistic at times.)

Cook the noodles follow the directions, strain and cool in the strainer in the sink with cold water and several ice cubes. This might sound strange, but cooling the starches helps later on when you add this to your dish. It really works!

Once the noodles are cooling, add 1 tbsp of sesame oil to the bottom of the pan and heat it up on medium high. Careful not to burn this oil, you will regret it! Add the garlic and peanuts to the pan, count to 20 out loud, and then add the chicken. I also do this with seafood, like last night I used baby clams from a can and it was delicious, but since not everyone likes seafood I am going with the standard option here.

After cooking and sizzling away for a minute or so, add the veggies and cook them in the pan until warm all the way through. Pour the mixture into the serving dish and put the pan back on the heat.

Here comes the tricky part, add the rest of the oil and peanut butter to the pan and start to stir like a madman. The goal here is to heat up the oils in the peanut butter so the sauce is creamy. Pour in the pepper flakes and soy sauce while maintaining the heat, and once this is slightly bubbling in tasty goodness, add in the cold noodles. Continue to stir the pot, and add a splash of water if it seems the sauce is thickening up too much. Once the noodles are warm again (this takes like a minute) add in the meat/veggies. Mix together and then pour into the serving dish.

And YUM!

Anyways, back to work!

Bien Camino! :)