Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen

So you guys all know that David is the cook in our family and always making us delicious meals! Well exciting news, David is going to be joining me on this little blog and blogging all of our favorite recipes! Check out this one which we may have had TWO WEEKS in a row, haha….so good!

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Looking for recipes I stumbled on this great cooking blog, Half Baked Harvest and her 30 Minute Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen. Her post is great, with pictures and video, so check it out for any additional “how-to.” However, we did need to make a few adjustments and additions to clean it up a bit for meal plan and make it our own.

Meal Plan Adjustments/Tips

  • Watch the salt! Always use UNSALTED broths, you can always add salt to taste if you really want to. We used Unsalted Progresso Chicken Broth for this recipe, that brings the sodium in 1 cup down from 860mg(!!!) to ZERO.

  • Watch the salt, even in noodles! I was shocked to find that the authentic Hakubaku Organic Ramen Noodles I bought have 885mg of sodium per serving!! The ubiquitous (and cheap) Maruchan Ramen Noodles (without seasoning) have only 220mg per block.

  • Keep the flavor, drop the fat, use lite coconut milk. Yes, full fat will make the soup extra rich and delicious but the difference is hardly noticeable. Thai Kitchen regular coconut milk has 10g of fat per 1/3cup (that’s 50% of the typical 2000 calorie measurement!!))!! Lite has only 4g and 1/3 of the sodium.

  • Reduce or drop the honey. You can always add a little in at serving if you feel it’s missing. Or you can get some sweetness from other toppings like Siracha which has some sugar.

  • Personally I love a soft boiled egg in my Ramen. Personal preference, as pictured, is a 6 minute and 30 second egg. If you like a fully cooked white and slightly cooked yoke go for 7 min, extra soft go for 6.

    • Boil enough water to cover your eggs and bring to a low simmer.

    • Fill a bowl with ice water

    • Gently add eggs using a slotted spoon

    • Simmer to timer exactly (6 min 30 sec), remove and place directly in ice water

    • Gently peel and place in a small ziplock or bowl

    • OPTIONAL: Add a marinade of 1 tbs light sodium soy sauce, 1 tbs mirin (a sweet rice wine), 4 tbs water. Refrigerate over night.

    • Serve or refrigerate up to 3 days. To reheat, simmer in water for 1 min.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups UNSALTED chicken broth

  • 1 can (14 ounce) LITE coconut milk

  • 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce

  • 0-2 tablespoons honey

  • 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

  • 1/4 cup Thai red curry paste

  • 3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

  • 8 ounces cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced

  • 2 red peppers, chopped

  • 1 inch fresh ginger, grated

  • 1 clove garlic, minced or grated

  • 2-4 squares ramen noodles

  • juice of 1 lime

  • 3 cups fresh baby spinach

  • 1/3 cup fresh basil or cilantro, roughly chopped, plus more for serving

  • chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, soft boiled egg, and/or toasted sesame oil, for serving

Directions

  1. In a large soup pot, combine the chicken broth, coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, honey, peanut butter, and curry paste. Add the chicken, mushrooms, red peppers, ginger, and garlic. Set over medium heat on the stove and bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily.

  2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Wait to add the noodles as they will cook very quickly.

  3. Once done cooking, shred the chicken.

  4. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Stir in the lime juice, spinach, and cilantro. Let sit 5 minutes.

  5. Meanwhile, add noodles to water and cook to package directions. 3 minutes if using Maruchan. Strain and add noodles to each serving bowl.

  6. Ladle the soup over noodles and top as desired!

Holly Hillyer