Thai Chicken Stir-Fry

This is very similar to the first dish we had when we arrived in Bangkok. My brother took us to a small garage/hardware store/general store/"restaurant" where we watched the owner of the "entity" make this for us. It was wonderful. The best food we had was street food. While this is not technically street food, is it very close, and so are the ingredients (Thai street food uses fresh vegetables extensively). This experience was memorable for more reasons than the food. I was sure I was going to get food poisoning, and since I used an excessive amount of the super-spicy vinegar-pepper-sugar condiment on the dish, when we left, my stomach was protesting as if I might actually throw up (several tablespoons of vinegar and fresh Thai peppers on an empty stomach will do that…) My brother shook his head and told me I'd be fine, while I reassured myself that food poisoning takes 12-36 hours to take effect. I was fine, and this recipe is as close as I have found to recreating the culinary aspect of this experience.

Source: Adapted from The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook

Serves 4-6

Marinade Ingredients:

• 4 garlic cloves minced (the way I mince garlic incorporates salt, if you don't use this technique, add 1-2 tsp of kosher salt to the marinade)
  
• 4 tsp very finely minced lemongrass.
  
  • Use only the inner leaves, and be very sure that this is an extremely fine mince, no more than 1/16^th of an inch. Lemongrass is very tough, and if it is not chopped finely will ruin any dish it's in
    
• 1.5" piece of ginger, or 4 tsp. Peel ginger, then grate the ginger into a bowl, using a smaller size grater.
  
• ¼ cup minced cilantro, preferable more stems than leaves
  
• 4 T Asian fish sauce (nam pla) (available at most grocery stores in the Asian section)
  
• 2 T rice vinegar
  
• 2 tsp sugar
  
• 2 T corn starch
  
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken cut into ¼-inch strips
  

Stir-fry Ingredients

• ¼ cup peanut oil
  
• 4 T niced garlic
  
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  
• 2 T minced red onion
  
• 4+ Serrano peppers, red and green if possible. Or 1.5 – 2 jalapenos. Cut in half, seeded, then sliced cross-wise as thinly as possible—no more than 1/16 of an inch
  
• 2 smallish English cucumbers, cut into a ½ x ½ x ¾ inch dice. (no need to peel English cucumbers)
  
• 2 cups grape or pear tomatoes, under-ripe, if possible
  
• ½ cup coarsely chopped, lightly packed Thai basil, regular basil or mint
  
• Steamed rice (2 cups uncooked rice will be plenty)
  

Marinate Chicken

Combine all marinade ingredients without chicken. Mix together till corn starch and sugar are dissolved. Incorporate chicken and continue tossing until coated. Marinate for 2-3 hours.

Stir-Fry

Heat a wok of non-stick pan until very hot. Add oil and heat it to very hot, near if not smoking. Add garlic, pepper flakes and onion and stir for a few seconds. Add marinated chicken mixture, scraping off all marinade into the pan. Stir-fry until chicken turns opaque. Add the chiles and stir-fry for a few seconds (15-30 or so), add the cucumbers and the tomatoes and stir-fry for a few more seconds, or until you manage to incorporate them. Remove from heat. Incorporate basil and serve immediately.

Serve

Serve immediately over rice.