Thai | The Humble Onion

Thai Peanut Chicken Wraps

September 4, 2019

You know when you’ve had something delicious, and it was in a specific time and place that you won’t ever get to visit again, but the memory of it just kind of haunts you?

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can recreate it at home. It’s crazy, but this post is brought to you by a craving that has lasted for over fifteen years.

Yes I realize that makes me sound old, but let’s just focus on the fact that the flavors of this Thai Peanut Chicken Wrap are that good, shall we?

Long ago when I was a young, spritely twenty something, I worked in Boston at a mutual fund company (where I met my husband, so they were wonderful years). I used to run out to lunch and grab wraps from this amazing wrap place because they were so quick and so good. They had a ton of different kinds of wraps but I kept returning for their warm, tangy, salty, comforting Thai Peanut Chicken Wrap because the flavors from the peanut sauce were amazing, the crunchy veggies the perfect counter to the soft rice and chicken, and everything was so warm. Warm rice, warm wrap and warm chicken all succeeded in making my belly very full and happy. So when I was trying to think of new dinner ideas that could produce the same feeling in my kids, I knew I had to try to recreate this wrap.

I love to make food that is driven by cravings…they can lead you to some very good places. Like this Thai Peanut Satay Sauce.

I have tried to make a good peanut sauce many times before, but I could never get it to be as good as my memory of this wrap. So I kept researching and fiddling and finally…I discovered two game changers. The first is to start with coconut milk. It makes it so thick and creamy and the perfect consistency. The second is white vinegar. SO many recipes for satay sauce use rice wine vinegar but I found a food blog by a woman whose mother hailed from Thailand and sounded like a wonderful cook, and she swore that you should only use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar in your sauce. I actually taste tested this with my big kids and she is SO right. (Can’t re-find her blog either or I would share!)

This sauce actually comes together very fast, and most of these are already in your pantry. Some of the flavor notes like lemongrass and chili I’m listing as optional because if you have coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, and ginger, lime and white wine vinegar, you’re going to get something approximating this crave worthy sauce. And then you need to make buckets of it and put it on everything. Noodles, rice, chicken, pizza crust, whatever you prefer.

If you were super smart and made the sauce on a weekend, then your weeknight dinner prep looks like: shred rotisserie chicken and toss it in a pan with some of the sauce to your desired thickness (I would say about 1.5-2 cups per chicken), slice some veggies…

and throw some rice in the rice cooker. I’m not going to lie, jasmine rice is delicious here. But when I had the leftovers for lunch I used the more virtuous brown rice and it was delicious too.

If you don’t have a rice cooker, this recipe (along with literally thousands of others) will make it worth your while. I love it for the use of the steamer tray on top which is completely helpful in steaming broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc. But for these wraps I used it for getting the wrap nice and hot. I just put it in and shut the lid after the rice was done for about 1-2 minutes. You can also microwave it in a moist paper towel for 30 seconds too, which I did the next day.

Then you try to build the wrap with rice straight from the rice cooker, still steamy.

The dense packing of the rice is pretty important, so make sure when you wrap it you fold it over and secure all the fillings with one hand and then fold in the ends and roll.

If for any reason you wait to eat this trust me and microwave it for 30 seconds as it is best to eat it pipping hot. You can also wrap it in foil to stay warm if needed.

My kids LOVED this dinner. As did my husband. It is definitely a keeper and I’m so glad to have it in back in my life again. It’s kind of like meeting an old friend again after a long time. Also, how cute is she? She’s basically a dream 11-year-old. I’m glad she gets to know about this wrap young.

Thai Peanut Chicken Wraps

For the sauce:

1 can coconut milk

3/4 cup peanut butter (natural is the best)

3 garlic cloves, finely minced or grated

1 inch piece of ginger, finely minced or grated

4 T. soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

2 T. sweet chili sauce, optional

2 T. lemon grass puree (or let 4 1-inch pieces simmer in the sauce), optional

1/4 c. white vinegar (apple cider vinegar works fine too)

For the filling:

2 cups cooked rice (jasmine is best, brown works too)

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (about 3 cups)

2 cups peanut sauce

red pepper, thinly sliced

shredded carrots

scallions, sliced

cilantro and lime, if desired

Directions:

While rice cooks in rice cooker, heat 2 cups peanut sauce with shredded chicken. When rice is done, warm wraps in top of rice cooker or microwave in a wet paper towel for 30 seconds. Then quickly build wrap with rice, sauced chicken, veggies, and more sauce if desired. Wrap and serve immediately. If needed, you can make wraps ahead and wrap them in tin foil and keep them warm in the oven at 200 degrees.

Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken

April 26, 2018

Do you like Peanut Butter? Chicken Satay?

Then you are in for a treat my friends.

Its hard to put into words how I felt after racing home on a chilly spring afternoon of sports to find this ready in the crock pot. Tears of joy? Maybe. Especially because this was SO easy to make and took all of 5 MINUTES at around noon time.

If you have ever tried to make Chicken Satay, you know it has SO many ingredients. My husband loves it but I usually chicken out (see what I did there?) when I start to make it because of ingredient fatigue. (Visit Ina Garten’s recipe to see what I mean).

This however has all the flavor of a great satay sauce with a handful of Thai ingredients.

Did you know that Thai cooking tries to balance 5 different flavors? There is usually something sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter in every dish. (I usually leave out the spicy part since I am making this for kids – I left out the red pepper flakes and just added sriracha to mine). This helps me to keep a stocked pantry to cook Thai food, since I know most recipes will call for coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime, brown sugar or honey, ginger and garlic to get these flavors balanced. And I usually keep ginger in my freezer and limes in my fridge so I always have them on hand. If this hurts your brain then just ignore this paragraph and follow the super easy crockpot recipe below and you will just have to lift the lid to have good food in six hours.

This is also a great recipe when you have a package of chicken breasts and want to magically turn it into something delicious. Add some cilantro, rice and dry peanuts to your shopping list for garnish and you are done.

Also, this recipe for Carrots with Ginger and Honey by Martha Stewart is the perfect side to this and also only takes five minutes. You’ve already got the ginger and honey out anyway.

Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken (printer version here):

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup coconut milk about a half a can
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce low-sodium
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon ginger peeled and minced
3 garlic cloves minced
3 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lime juice
Optional garnishes: chopped peanuts cilantro or green onions

DIRECTIONS:

To a 6 qt slow cooker, add the coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, ginger, garlic, and stir until combined.
Cut the chicken breasts into one inch chunks and add to the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
Add the lime juice and cornstarch/water mixture to the slow cooker and stir carefully.
Cook for an additional 20 minutes until sauce is thickened.
Garnish with desired toppings like chopped peanuts, cilantro or green onions (or all three!).

Recipe adapted from Dinner Then Dessert

Carrots with Ginger and Honey (printer version here):

INGREDIENTS:

6 bunches (about 2 pounds) baby carrots
Salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 two-inch pieces fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
3 tablespoons honey

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trim stems of carrots to 1/2 inch. Peel carrots, and wash stem area.

2. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Salt water, add carrots, and reduce heat. Simmer until carrots are almost tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove carrots from heat, and drain. (Carrots can be prepared earlier in the day to this point.)

3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ginger, and sauté, stirring, until transparent, about 2 minutes. Add carrots and honey, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until carrots are glazed. Serve immediately.

Recipe from marthastewart.com

End-of-the-Week Vegetable Curry

June 8, 2016

“There is a prevailing theory that we need to know much more than we do to feed ourselves well. It isn’t true.” – Tamara Adler

Oh, serendipity, I love you.

I need to gush/share with you all that I just discovered the book The Everlasting Meal by Tamara Adler. It came in the mail on Monday, and from the first pages, her cooking philosophy so sang to me since it feels really close to what is happening in my brain in the kitchen when I cook. So much so that her third chapter ends with a kind of end of the week vegetable curry. I had just made this curry you see in these pictures on the Friday before I read her book, almost exactly according to her recipe, with all the leftover veggies in my fridge, while the kids ate pizza.

If that is not serendipity, I don’t know what is.

It is also serendipitous because I just had my 5,467th conversation with another mom who feels intimidated by cooking. And I try to gently share how it can be made easier with a routine, a way of thinking. I know dinner every night can be a chore, but, there are ways to make it easier. And this is the heart of Adler’s writing. As witnessed by the quote above, she breaks it down and makes cooking as seamless and fluid as getting dressed or tidying your kitchen. Her first chapter is titled “How to Boil Water” and her second, “How to Teach an Egg to Fly”. They are more meditations then recipes, but you will come away knowing how to make delicious food.

Chapter 3 – “How to Strive Ahead” – is about chopping vegetables. She demonstrates her routine in this video which shows how she preps vegetables for the week. If you don’t have the few minutes now, come back when you do and check it. It might change your life. Or at least show you how to make delicious food. Which is really the same thing, isn’t it?

There is something so stick to the ribs about curry, yet this veggie one is so light. I have been dolloping a bit of chutney, greek yogurt or sour cream, some cilantro, and serving it with naan bread.

I hope you try all the things in Tamara’s book. At the very least, this recipe will get you started.

xoxo, Katie

p.s. As I wrote this, my husband called and told me to pack a bag because we are going to Primo for my birthday dinner! I am not sure if that is serendipity or love or both, but he’s a keeper.

End-of-the-Week Vegetable Curry (printer version here):

½ onion cut into a large dice

Peanut oil or olive oil

Salt

½ teaspoon, combined, ground turmeric, ground cardamom, and ground cumin

½ teaspoon flaked chile (or whole fresh chile minced)

½ cup cooked chickpeas or black-eye peas, canned or cooked

½ to 1 can coconut milk

1 cup other liquid (chicken stock or water)

2-3 pieces of lemon rind

Optional: 1 t. Fish sauce

2 cups cooked vegetables

½ cup toasted peanuts

Fresh lemon juice

Fresh mint or basil leaves
From Tamara Adler’s The Endless Meal

Asian Lime Chicken with Braised Bok Choy

April 14, 2016

Do you ever grab an ingredient at the store that is totally off-list but you just know you need it and then you get home think, what am I going to do with this? My husband will tell you that I do this all the time. Well,this dish was born out of that scenario. Luckily for both of us, the results were delicious.

I love bok choy in restaurants, but hadn’t made it at home in ages. Of course, when I googled methods for cooking it, Martha Stewart’s braised bok chop came up, so I knew I was in good hands. And this ginger-sesame version looks delicious too, think I might have to try it next time.

Braising is such a great technique to give you lots of options in the kitchen – I recently did these same steps with fennel, chicken broth, and lemon and it was so good I had to force myself not to eat it strait from the pan. The braised bok choy alone is an awesome side dish. But here’s the thing: after I was done braising them, I looked in the pan and I was like, this seems like the start to a good sauce.

So I made one. The result has become one of our family’s favorite dishes, and I have made it at least five times since. My kids love it and I love that it is gluten free, low fat and loaded with veggies.

I knew asian recipes tend to thicken with cornstarch, so I added some to chicken stock and then added my favorite asian flavors:

I also love how good asian cooks pound their chicken to tenderize it. I just lay it on wax paper and fold it over and pound away. #freetherapy

I started by browning the chicken in the soy, broth and butter that the bok choy was braised in, adding a bit more broth when the heat cooked them down. After the chicken was cooked, I added it to the plate with the bok choy while I made the sauce and boiled the noodles.

First I added the broth, scrapping up the browned bits on the pan, then added the corn starch and whisked for a minute, then add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and lime juice. (I usually measure them out and stir them together while the chicken is browning so I can just pour it in). Stir sauce together until a thick gravy forms, then add the chicken and bok choy back in. I also added the microwaved vegetables (this was a lifesaver since we had just come from the beach and everyone was hungry, and it shaves at least 10 minutes off the dish. You can stir fry them after the chicken if you prefer).

Then I tossed with some rice noodles that I cooked.

The result is such a tangy, salty, stick to the ribs type of meal. With just 1 T. of fats in the whole dish it is super healthy. And I am just a sucker for making a dinner I know the kids will love. Hope you love it too.

Asian Lime Chicken with Braised Bok Choy (printer version here):

Ingredients:

3 Heads of baby bok choy, sliced in half if large

1 T. butter

¼ cup chicken stock

3 T. soy sauce

3 chicken breasts, pounded and sliced

For sauce:

2 cups chicken broth (you can use some while cooking chicken if pan gets too hot)

¼ cup soy sauce

2 T. rice wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lime (2 T.)

2 t. sesame oil

3 cups of stir fry vegetables, pre-cooked, such as broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, snap peas.

¾ bag of rice noodles

Directions:

Set large pot of water on to boil for rice noodles. If vegetables need to be boiled also, set a second pan on to boil (I used steam-in-bag microwave stir fry vegetables).

Melt 1 T. butter in large pan on medium high heat. Add bok choy and cook, turning once, until it just begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Remove bok choy and set on a plate. Add stock and soy sauce. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until bok choy is tender about 5 minutes. Remove bok choy from pan and place on a plate.

Add rice noodles to boiling water. Cook vegetables in boiling water or in microwavable until tender. Pound chicken with mallet or heavy object. Slice into 1 inch strips.

Add sliced chicken to pan. Cook until golden, about 5-7 minutes, adding chicken broth or water if pan gets too hot and the liquid starts to evaporate. Remove chicken, place on same plate as bok choy.

To make the sauce, first deglaze the pan with 1 c. chicken stock, then whisk in cornstarch, stirring until lumps are mostly removed, about 1 minute. Combine soy, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, and sesame oil in a bowl, then add mixture to pan and continue to stir until it is a thick brown gravy. Add more broth or cornstarch to achieve desired thickness.

Put chicken, bok choy, vegetables into the pan and stir to coat with sauce. Add rice noodles and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Curried Pumpkin Coconut Soup

March 20, 2015

One of the things that made me want to do the Whole30 was because I genuinely love vegetables and finding new things to do with them.

Unfortunately, I also really love cheese. And bread. And wine. So, my Whole30 was a Whole14.

I feel like I need to be honest here because I laid it out for you lovely readers that I was doing the Whole30 and because maybe you thought, hey, should I try that too?

Well, yes and no.

Yes if you have any health issues, especially with digestion or allergies or asthma or insomnia and you want to find out if there is a food that is causing it. Because I think the only way to get through the month is if your life depended on it. (Just kidding. I am totally weak, I know.) Seriously, many people have had life-long issues clear up with this diet. So I do think it is great. I just don’t happen to have any. I did it because I wanted to lose weight.

But if you are already eating healthy and do most of the things you are supposed to do (thinking of you Molly!), then maybe just track your eating because this is one restrictive diet. I read one blogger post “you’re not the boss of me Whole30!” And like the rebellious teenager that I am, I agreed and promptly ate some greek salad and had a glass of red wine. The days 11,12,13, and 14 were so hard and I kept waiting for it to get easier but it didn’t. It was admittedly a very hard week with my husband out of town and sick kids (excuses I know!) so that may have sucked my will power dry. But I do well with a varied diet that gives me energy to work out and relieve stress. (You will have no energy to work out and will only want to sleep. If I had stuck it out I might have found some new energy, but I thought eating toast might be easier). I can only hope that spring and summer running will take care of the last of the baby weight for me because I love food too much, according to the founders of whole30 and everyone who has ever read this blog.

I did find some delicious recipes however. My loss (or lack thereof) is your gain.

Here is one that I totally fell in love with. It was posted by someone in my Whole30 Facebook group. It is so simple I had to try it, and with this few number of ingredients, it will be a staple in my house.

When I first made it, I was probably so desperate for something interesting that I ate it without pureeing it and I loved it! The next day I used an immersion blender and it just went to a whole other flavor level. It seemed infused with a curry flavor. So definitely use a blender and know that it tastes better the second day.

So, here is the easiest, tastiest, Whole30 compliant recipe I can give you. And if you’ve been missing gluten, dairy, grains, and cheese here on the blog, me too friends. Me too.

Curried Pumpkin Coconut Soup (printer version here from Recipe.com)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Teaspoons curry powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/4 Teaspoon pepper
14 1/2 Ounces chicken broth
14 1/2 Ounces water
15 Ounces unsweetened pumpkin purée
3/4 Cup coconut milk

Directions

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until softened, 5 minutes. Add garlic, curry powder, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute more.
Add broth, water and purée; mix well. Reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Stir in coconut milk.
Purée soup in blender in several batches until smooth. Return to saucepan. Reheat and serve.

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup + A Wine Tasting

May 24, 2014

Want to meet my favorite comfort food?

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup has everything regular chicken soup has when you are craving a soul-satisfying bowl of something in your hands. Plus it has the balance of all those Thai flavors – lemongrass, lime, Sriracha sauce, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

This pic doesn’t do the flavors of this soup justice, but even still I had to share it on here because I have been eating it all week and it is just so good.

Remember this book?

If you don’t,that is because it was Billy Joel’s second wife who he was married to for a nano-second. When it came out, I was a newlywed living in Rochester, NY and I think I bought it because I saw her on Oprah. But guess what? There are actually a lot of really delicious and easy recipes in there. That is where I found this recipe for Asian Chicken Noodle Soup. It was the first time I had cooked with Lemongrass:

It made this amazing aromatic broth, and now I love cooking with it. It also calls for a little Srirachi in the broth, but when I eat it, I add a lot more hot sauce and lime. I leave it out if I am making it for the kids. And I have some boys in my house that don’t love soup, and for them, I can just drain out the broth and they eat the veggies, noodles and chicken on their own:

But the more broth, the more of those amazing flavors. I ate a pot of this all week and you know what? I felt totally healthy after every bowl. I love biscuits and gravy and collard greens and fried chicken, but to me the best part of comfort food is when you really feel comfortable and healthy when you are done. And this recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it is actually very easy to pull together.

Speaking of feeling comfortable, what could be better then a Wine Tasting in the comfort of your own home?

The Tasting Room had me at whatever ad they had on Huffington Post that alluded to such comforts for $6.95 shipping costs, and I am happy to report a box with this on the cover came this week:

And inside there were such cute little bottles…

…and I am off to go try them. And if you want a cozy weekend, go try this soup!

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup (printer version here)

Servings:Makes 4 To 6 Servings

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 35 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, minced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 tbsp grated fresh peeled ginger
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 stalks lemongrass, the bottom 3 inches only, each stalk cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp sriracha or chili-garlic chili sauce
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/4-inch thick and thinly sliced
2 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage (about 1/2 head)
1 cup shredded carrots (about 1 to 2 medium)
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper (1 medium)
One 3 to 4-ounce package rice noodles, prepared to package instructions
Cilantro and mint leaves, sliced scallions, and bean sprouts

DIRECTIONS

1 In a stockpot over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger. Saute until the onions are translucent, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the chicken broth, lemongrass, chili sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to a low boil, add the chicken, and cook about 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, carrots and red pepper, and simmer an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
2 Divide the rice noodles among bowls and ladle the soup into each bowl. Garnish with cilantro, mint scallions, and bean sprouts, and serve with additional chili sauce, if desired.

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