My Favorite Food

I thought I'd start off with something that really makes me happy. I enjoy food in general, but I wouldn't say it makes me happy - except for this dish. I ate it yesterday when I was in a bad mood and sure enough, I can't be unhappy when I'm eating it!

Thai Chicken Sauté

(based on a recipe in Cooking Light, March 2007)

4 cups prepared rice

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips or pieces

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tablespoon fish sauce

4 teaspoons canola oil

1 cup sliced onion

2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic

1/2 can of coconut milk

1 tablespoon Sriracha (hot chile sauce)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (optional)

Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook to desired texture (I like mine soft, but some people like them still crunchy). Add garlic to pan and cook one minute more. Remove onion and garlic mixture from pan.

Toss chicken with cornstarch and fish sauce. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in the pan, add chicken to pan and sauté 5 minutes or until done. Meanwhile mix together coconut milk, Sriracha, sugar and lime juice. When chicken is done, add coconut milk mixture and onion mixture to pan. Cook until everything is hot, about a minute.

Serve chicken mixture over hot rice and sprinkle each serving with cilantro.

Makes 4 - 5 servings

This recipe is fairly spicy, so if you don't like spicy foods you should cut back on the Sriracha. If you double the recipe you can freeze half of the chicken mixture after it's cooked and heat it up for dinner another night. Plus you won't end up with half a can of leftover coconut milk.