Asian Fusion

I had no idea what to make for dinner tonight except that I had a bag of sugar snapped peas, chicken thighs, and an open bottle of white wine. So I immediately thought of making Israeli cous cous with sauteed peas and chicken. Halfway through cooking, I realized I really didn’t have cous cous. So what did I do? I immediately went to my latest subscription of Bon Appetit because I JUST saw a recipe in there with sugar snapped peas, chicken and udon (and yes I always keep dried udon in my cupboard just in case!). Their recipe is called Asian Chicken-Noodle Salad with Snap Peas. But because I didn’t have all the required ingredients, I improvised. And like I always say, Asian food is the hardest to get wrong!

Here’s their recipe plus or minus a few things that I found in my fridge and pantry:

• 12 ounces sugar snap peas, strings removed
• 1 8-to-9 ounce package of fresh Japanese-style noodles, such as udon (I used dry and it lasts forever. The package comes with 6 bundles of udon and I used 1.5 bundles for this dish)
• 1 Tbsp Asian sesame oil
• 2 grilled chicken breast halves, cut horizontally in half, then crosswise into thin strips (I used 2.5 chicken thighs because I prefer dark meat, cut into strips)
• 6 green onions, thinly sliced (I didn’t have green onion so I left it out)
• 1 cup Mango-Sesame Dressing (Bon Appetit has a separate recipe for this which is listed below with my alterations)

Bon Appetit’s recipe: Cook snap peas in boiling salted water until crisp-tender, 2 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Return water to boil. Add noodles. Cook until tender but firm, 3 minutes (or as directed on package). Drain; rince under cold water until cook. Transfer to large bowl. Toss noodles with sesame oil. Cut noodles with kitchen shears to shorten. Add peas, chicken, and green onions; toss with enough dressing to coat. Arrange salad on platter; top with toasted sesame seeds, if desired.

My recipe: Marinate chicken in a little bit of corn starch, white pepper, salt, sesame oil. Heat pan with oil, and cook chicken through. Set aside. In same pan, add a little more oil and toss in garlic, chopped shallots and snap peas until cooked (about 5 minutes). Set aside with chicken. Meanwhile, boil water and throw in udon. Cook for 12 minutes. Drain and throw in same bowl as chicken and peas. Mix dressing in (recipe below) and eat!

Mango-Sesame Dressing

• 3/4 c vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup Major Grey’s mango chutney (didn’t have)
• 6 Tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar (I only had seasoned rice vinegar.)
• 3 large garlic cloves, peeled (i chopped mine as well.)
• 6 3/4 tsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Asian sesame oil (I omitted this because I already added it to my chicken.)
• 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (I’d recommend not using this. Makes it taste funny.)
• 1 1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp sugar*
• 1 Tbsp dry sake*
• 2 Tbsp soba soy sauce* (Found in Asian markets. Is sweeter and less salty than soy sauce.)
• 1 shallot, chopped*

*my own additions

Mix the ingredients above together and toss in with your noodles/salad (I actually didn’t use their suggested amounts for my sauce because I eyeballed everything and tasted occasionally).

The dish as a whole didn’t taste awesome but was still good.