Thai Chicken Laksa

Tonight I made a recipe that I've been wanting to make for awhile.  I made Jamie Oliver's Thai Chicken Laksa.  To be honest, I've been slightly obsessed with Jamie Oliver and his 15 or 30 minute meals.  My friend, Nicola, let me borrow all of her JO books and I have poured over them again and again, quietly plotting purchasing each one eventually.

What draws me to his recipes is that they are typically well balanced and almost always a full meal.  I'm typically very SSSLLLOOOWWW in the kitchen, not making many quick meals and so I like that his recipes speed me up some.

Tonight I made one of his 15 minute meals, which took me about 30 minutes to make, so that's pretty darn good.  I'm posting this recipe tonight making a few of the modifications I plan to make the next time I make it, don't worry nothing major.  Give it a try, you'll love it and so will your body!

Thai Chicken Laksa

For the Chicken:
4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, or two chicken breasts
1 heaped teaspoon of Chinese five-spice
1 Tablespoon of honey
1 Tablespoon of sesame seeds
1 fresh chilli sliced thinly

For the Laksa:
1000 ML of chicken stock
1 butternut squash (neck end only)
4 cloves of garlic
1 large thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 fresh red chilli
1 teaspoon of tumeric
4 spring onions
2 Tablespoons of creamy peanut butter
6 dried kaffir lime leaves
Large bunch of coriander
1 1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoon fish sauce
300 g medium rice noodles
600 g of asparagus or green beans
1 400g tine of coconut milk
2 limes

Instructions:
Bring the chicken broth to a boil.  In your food processor rough grate the squash (leave the skin on if it's nice and clean, remove the stem and bottom before grating).  Put squash in broth.  In food processor with regular blade put in the garlic, ginger, red chilli, tumeric, spring onions, peanut butter, kaffir lime leaves, stalks from the coriander (reserve the leaves for garnish), sesame oil, soy sauce, and fish sauce.

Turn on the heat and put your griddle pan on (I don't have a griddle pan...yet).  Put a sheet of grease proof paper down with salt, pepper, and Chinese five-spice, then your chicken, making sure to spice both sides.  Fold over paper and pound chicken to flatten a bit.  Add a bit of olive oil to the pan and put in the chicken.  Turn after browned on one side. 

Trim asparagus or beans and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces and add to broth.  Then add the noodles to the broth and then the coconut milk.  As soon as it comes back to a bubble remove from heat, squeeze in the juice of one lime and then sprinkle with 3/4 of the coriander/cilantro leaves and 1/2 the sliced red chillis over and put on the table.

As soon as the chicken is about ready, squeeze the honey over and turn the chicken over and over in it coating with a lovely sticky sauce, then sprinkle with sesame seeds and remove to a plate for the table.  Sprinkle with remaining coriander/cilantro and sliced chillis.

I liked this is a bowls, kind of shredding my chicken over it.

Big THANK YOU to Jamie Oliver and his book 15 minute meals, picture provided from that book as well.

March 2, 2013