Sweet and Spicy Chicken Pad Thai

I cannot remember the last time I had Pad Thai.  It's not something I ordered very often in Thai restaurants to begin with, being much more of a coconut curry fan, but there's something about obtaining a bottle of gluten-free soy sauce that makes you feel adventurous and ambitious.  All of a sudden, you crave Pad Thai for the simple reason that now, you can eat Pad Thai. 

A quick survey of my kitchen revealed that conditions were perfect for my first attempt at this dish.  I had a bottle of tamarind sauce from an international grocery shopping spree of long ago, a bag of scallions in the freezer, frozen chicken tenderloins, stir-fry rice noodles, and several cloves of garlic.  And that new bottle of soy sauce.  It was a done deal - Pad Thai was happening.

I looked up a few recipes to get a general sense of what to do and then started frying.  I make no claims that this is a remotely authentic method of preparation, but what I can say is that my kitchen quickly started to smell amazing, and what resulted lived up to the smell.  This comes together pretty quickly and is easily doubled if you're cooking for more than one.  Whether this is an old favorite or you're developing a new taste like I was, I think you'll love this recipe.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Pad Thai
Makes 1 serving

Small handful of Stir-Fry Rice Noodles (just enough for 1 serving)
1 - 2 tsp. olive oil
1 small chicken tenderloin, chopped into small pieces (or about half of a chicken breast)
1-2 scallions
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. crushed cashews or peanuts
1 tbsp. reduced sodium gluten-free soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. tamarind sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 - 2 tsp. lime juice
Ground black pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper to taste
Salt (optional - you probably won't need it because of the soy sauce)
1 egg


*If you have a wok, that will be the optimal pan to use, but a nonstick pan will work just as well.

Place the rice noodles in a bowl and pour several cups of boiling water over them.  Set the timer for 8 minutes and let them soak.  You want them to be soft but not too soft; otherwise, they'll break up in the pan when you fry them.  When they are al dente, drain them and set aside.  If you aren't going to be using them right away, you might want to cover them in the interim with a bit of cold water to keep them from sticking to each other.

In a nonstick pan or wok, heat the oil.  Add the garlic, scallions, cashews, and chicken and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.  Add the cooked noodles, soy sauce, tamarind sauce, sugar, lime juice, and spices and cook until the sauce is mostly absorbed.  Push it all to the side of the pan and crack the egg into the open space.  Quickly scramble it, keeping it on that side of the pan until done, and then mix to combine it with the rest of the ingredients.  Serve immediately topped with another squirt of lime juice and crushed cashews or peanuts.

Spicy Thai Curry Soup with Bell Peppers and Pineapple

The warmth and spice in this lovely soup has been a welcome relief from the chilly maelstrom of snow that, more often than not, has swirled outside my window over the last month in Boston.  The trick to giving this soup the depth of flavor you'd expect from a Thai restaurant is to use a blend of curry pastes and a hint of brown sugar to complement and ease your taste buds into the spice.  Don't worry, though - this can be as mild or hot as you prefer, so don't be frightened away by the word "curry!"  Finely crushed pineapple works beautifully because the tiny pieces find their way into every spoonful, but you can use any cut of pineapple you like, big or small, and it will still taste fabulous.  Save this one for particularly horrible weather and have it ready to warm you up when you come in from shoveling.

Spicy Thai Curry Soup with Bell Peppers and Pineapple
Serves 2 - 3

1 - 1 1/2 tbsp. Taste of Thai red curry paste (add more or less to taste)
1 - 1 1/2 tbsp. Taste of Thai panaang curry paste (add more or less to taste)
1 can coconut milk (you can use lite if you don't mind sacrificing some creaminess)
1/4 cup soy creamer or So Delicious Original Coconut Milk (optional)
10 oz., or 6 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, fat trimmed and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 small or 1/2 very large red bell pepper, sliced into 2-inch pieces
1 small can crushed pineapple (with juice drained)
2-3 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt (more to taste)
Jasmine rice to serve (optional)

Put the curry pastes into a medium-sized pot and heat over medium heat for about 30-60 seconds.  Add the entire can of coconut milk and soy creamer and stir to mix with the curry paste.  Bring to a boil, then add the chicken.  Stir, then cover and simmer for at least 10 - 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  After the first 10 minutes, add the chopped bell pepper.  Wait another 5 minutes, and then add the drained crushed pineapple.  Stir well, and simmer uncovered for another 5 - 10 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and salt to taste.  When the soup is the thickness you desire, remove from heat and serve immediately.  Serve with Jasmine rice or on its own as a soup.

Sweet and Spicy Thai Skillet with Brown Rice

This is a lovely quick meal, with both sweet and spicy flavors, and it's a perfect way to use leftover cooked rice you may have in your fridge.  You can have it ready in less than 10 minutes!  You can play around with the ingredients, easily adapting it to any dietary requirements - leave out the meat, or use a different kind, and add any other vegetables you like.  I just added what I had in my own fridge.  So save this one for one of those nights when you are pressed for time, or are just too hungry to wait for a full meal to cook. 

Sweet and Spicy Thai Skillet with Brown Rice

Cooking spray or cooking oil
1 Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe's, sliced
1/2 cup sliced mini Portobello mushrooms
1/2 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
Chopped bell peppers, if desired
3 - 4 tsp. Thai Curry Paste (I used half Panaang, half red - but use your own favorite!)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 - 2 tsp. brown sugar
dash of salt
3/4 cup cooked brown rice

In a small saucepan, cook the broccoli florets in boiling water for about 5 minutes, or until tender (but not too tender).  Drain and set aside.

Coat a skillet with the cooking spray and spread the sliced sausage and mushrooms onto the bottom of the skillet.  Cook over medium-high heat until the sausage and mushrooms are browned to your liking (5 - 8 minutes).  While they are cooking, prepare the sauce:  place the curry paste into a small bowl and pour the 1/2 cup of boiling water over it to dissolve it.  Add the brown sugar and a dash of salt, and stir well.  When the sausage and mushrooms are cooked, pour the sauce over them and allow to simmer for about 5 more minutes.  Add the broccoli and toss to coat, and then add the cooked brown rice and continue to cook until it is all heated through.  Adjust seasonings as desired, and voila!  Dinner is served.

Thai Red Curry with Chicken, Red Peppers, and Pineapple

There is not much that is more satisfying to me than a bowl of Thai curry with some fluffy white rice on the side. My default bonding activity with my sister for the last few years has been to meet up for Thai food at our favorite place in the Loop area of St. Louis. There are four Thai restaurants within 2 city blocks of each other there, and they are all owned by the same family. The strange part of this scenario is not the number, but the differing levels of quality of these restaurants. The one that my sister and I go to is, in my mind, unquestionably the best. My cousins, however, maintain that the restaurant a block away is superior. In any case, during the summers, when my cousins are all around, back from school or from out of town for the summer, inordinate amounts of Thai food is a given. Sometimes more than once a week, we head over to Thai Café and tell stories and laugh (often hysterically) with each other as we spoon curry onto beds of rice. And as adventurous as we all may be outside of that restaurant, our orders hardly ever change. Unfailingly, I order panaang curry with chicken, my sister gets yellow curry with only chicken and potatoes, and my cousins ask for the masman curry. And it is delicious every time.

The day eventually came when I decided, just that once, to deviate from my usual and try a different taste. I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough to stray from the coconut curries into other, less-traveled sections of the menu, but I studied the selection and chose the red curry with some slight trepidation. Would it live up to my beloved panaang? Would it be $7.50 down the drain, having me wish I’d just stuck to what I know is good? But when it came, I decided I had found a dish to rival my old favorite. The red curry paste maintains the intense heat of the dish, while the red bell peppers and pineapple soften the bite.

Since being in Swaziland for the last four months, there are foods that I have missed from home. And ironically, one of the foods that I miss most from America is that Thai curry. My lovely sister understood very well and was kind enough to send me a huge care package with some of my favorite foods, including containers of both red and panaang curry paste. It only took me about 2 days before I broke open the red curry, and this is what I was able to recreate.

Thai Red Curry with Chicken, Red Peppers, and Pineapple

1 tbsp. olive oil
3 green onions, chopped finely
2 – 5 tbsp. red curry paste (start with 2 and taste it after it has simmered for a while before adding more)
1 15-oz. can coconut milk
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 small red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
¾ - 1 cup pineapple chunks (if from a can, drain the juice)
1 - 2 tsp. sugar, to taste
¼ - ½ cup boiling water, if extra liquid is necessary to cover all ingredients
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions for about 2 – 3 minutes, or until they start to become translucent. Add the curry paste and continue to sauté for another 1 – 2 minutes, stirring it constantly. Add the can of coconut milk and stir well to mix. Heat through and bring to a simmer, and then add the chicken and red bell peppers and stir, then cover and continue to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the sugar to taste.   Add the pineapple chunks and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. When the chicken is cooked all the way through, add more curry paste, if desired, and salt to taste. Serve with fluffy white jasmine or basmati rice.

Panaang Curry Noodle Bowl with Fried Tofu, Broccoli, and Peppers

My sister and cousins and I have a favorite Thai restaurant in St. Louis that we frequent as often as we can afford it, and probably sometimes when we can't, but our love of Thai curry usually trumps an empty wallet. We each have our usual; my cousins like Masman, my sister prefers yellow curry, and I love the panaang. Of course, for the times when I truly can't afford restaurant Thai food, I have my stock of panaang curry paste at home; a small container that costs $1.79 at an international grocery will literally last you until you can't remember when you bought it. When I made this dish, I was getting ready to move out of my apartment, and I was trying to use all of the food I had in the house already without buying new ingredients, so I grabbed the half empty package of thin rice noodles, some frozen broccoli, half of a red bell pepper, and the fried tofu I'd bought the week before and got to work. Note that this recipe is completely adaptable to whatever type of curry paste you like the best, and with whatever vegetables or meat that you want to add. You could buy extra firm tofu, press it, and bake it instead of using fried tofu as well. What I ended up with was a very delicious and panaang-y noodle bowl that was fast and filling.

Panaang Curry Noodle Bowl with Fried Tofu, Broccoli, and Peppers

1 - 2 tbsp. Panaang curry paste (to taste and depending on how much spice you like)
1 small can of coconut milk (the ones that are roughly 6 ounces)
1/2 - 1 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
5 - 15 sprays of Bragg's GF Soy Sauce, to taste
1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli, defrosted
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 small block of fried tofu, chopped into bite-size pieces (OR extra firm tofu, pressed, chopped, and baked if you don't want to use fried tofu)
1/3 package thin rice noodles

Cook noodles as directed on package by placing them in boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes. Strain the noodles, then rinse with cold water and leave them in cold water in the pot so they won't stick. Place the fried tofu on a lined cookie sheet in the oven at about 400 F and bake until the tofu is puffed up and crispy. Remove from oven and set aside. In a small pot, heat the curry paste for about 30 seconds, and then add the small can of coconut milk and soy milk or creamer. Stir to mix well and adjust the taste as desired. Add the Bragg's gluten-free soy sauce to taste. Place the fresh or defrosted broccoli and bell pepper into the sauce and cook over medium heat for about 5 - 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add more soy milk/creamer if you need more of the curry sauce. Place the desired amount of fried tofu into the pot and stir to mix. Drain the rice noodles and add them to the sauce, stirring to coat. Be sure to add them in portions so you don't add more than what your sauce will coat. Garnish with another dab of coconut milk if desired and serve.