Chicken Chili Men

Complete honesty: I chose this recipe because of the name. How funny does "Chicken Chili Men" sound? Truly that is the reason I chose this, because I definitely wouldn't choose it for the ingredients. You know me, I hate vegetables. What does this recipe have in it besides noodles? Vegetables. Lots of vegetables. And odd Asian roots I've never heard of. And more vegetables (it also has "chili" in the title which usually sends this white girl running in the other direction).

I was branching out; what can I say? I can say that I need to purchase a wok if I'm going to keep making Wagamama recipes. And maybe a few more regular pots as well. I always seem to run out of them when I cook these dishes. I have a bazillion skillets (yes, a bazillion), but only 3 pots of greatly varying sizes.

As I made this recipe, it asks you to saute without coloring. Anyone know what that means? I tried looking it up. My best guess would be to saute, but to stop if the veggies start changing color. That's the theory I operated under.

• 10 oz soba noodles
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut on the diagonal into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 green pepper, trimmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
• 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion, peeled, thinly sliced
• 4 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch lengths
• 1 1/2 cups chili sauce

Chili Sauce

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, finely chopped
• 1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger root
• 1 chili, trimmed, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 red pepper, trimmed, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp store bought sweet chili sauce
• 1 Tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 1/4 cups water

Make chili sauce first: heat the vegetable oil in a small pan over low heat until hot. Add the next eight ingredients and saute for 7-8 minutes without coloring. Add the red pepper and continue cooking gently for 8-10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. Blitz in a blender and use.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes or until just tender. Drain thoroughly and refresh under cold water.

Heat a wok over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until completely hot and almost smoking and add the vegetable oil. Add the chicken, pepper, zucchini, red onion, and scallions and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are lightly colored. Add the chili sauce and bring to a boil. Divide the noodles between 2 bowls and top with the stir-fry.

NOTES: Per the cookbook, it is perfectly fine to replace soba noodles with ramen noodles and that's what we did. I used regular ramen noodle packets from the store and left out the seasoning. Actually, we were experimenting at the end and sprinkled some of the unused seasoning over it, and it was quite good.

I was able to find ginger root at WinCo, surprisingly enough. But I had to go to an Asian grocery store to purchase the lemongrass stalks.

Also, per the cookbook, each recipe is for 2 people. I have found you can feed at least 3 people on each recipe. Whenever I have to multiply for extra guests, I always have tons left over (yes tons, I planned on 10 people on Monday, there were 8 eating with us and we had enough for at least 5 more servings).

Serves: 3
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 50 min

Recipe from Wagamama cookbook