Saturday, April 4, 2009

Nice Spice




On Thursday, as mentioned, I made a Chicken Satay Stir Fry. Click here for the recipe. For extra spice, I added a spoonful of red curry paste and a little Sriracha (the hot, spicy, rooster sauce in the big red bottle at Asian restaurants).

Otherwise, I think that the Satay sauce is a little bland. I would, however, recommend tasting the sauce to adjust the flavors to your liking.
Since I used chunky peanut butter, I didn't add any peanuts as a condiment, though I added some leftover fresh basil for a nice finish. Sean suggested pouring the satay sauce over the chicken and vegetable mixture and the rice. This worked out well, since he only wanted a little sauce. More spicy, peanutty goodness for me!
The orange-scented jasmine rice is also really good, and it is something that could be used underneath other Asian style dishes. My advice is to buy a big bag of jasmine rice at an Asian grocery store, if that is available to you. Some large supermarkets will also stock some of these brands. They are just so much less money than "luxury import" brands, and they taste just as good, if not better. Having a Microplane takes all the work out of zesting citrus. I use this little tool all the time.
The end result for the satay was almost as delicious as the real thing, which is pretty hard to find in Thai restaurants, at least in Pittsburgh.The only place that I have been able to find a saucy, stir-fry style satay is at a little food truck near the Carnegie Mellon University campus. However, they are only open lunchtime hours, though they are usually open on afternoons during the weekend.
This recipe was already in my rotation (I like to make two or three familiar recipes every week, and then I try something new on the other days), but I think I will be making it more often, it was just so tasty!

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