Tamarind, basil and snow peas chicken stir-fry

No story behind this recipe. Just that I went to an Asian supermarket over the weekend and stocked up on tamarind paste and snow peas and wanted to play with them :)



INGREDIENTS (for 4 people, or 2 people with leftovers)
- 2 large chicken breasts, sliced finely and dredged in cornstarch
- 1 medium onion, diced finely
- 4 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 inch fresh ginger, in fine sticks
- 1 tbsp fresh chili paste (I used Sambal Oelek, but you can also use a fresh red chili of your choice and grate it into a paste)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup tamarind paste (you can make your own out of the dried fruit: click here for a recipe, or rehydrate commercially available tamarind concentrate)
- 2 1/2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
- 3 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- about 1 cup chicken broth
- snow peas, rinsed (I think I had about 1.5 lbs here, but you can use as much as you want, really!)
- a big handful of fresh Thai basil
- a splash of coconut oil


RECIPE:
- in a very (VERY) hot wok, fry the onion, garlic and ginger in coconut oil for a few minutes, stirring almost constantly

- add the chili paste, the chicken and stir again until the chicken is almost cooked through (opaque), then add the soy sauce and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes

- while it is cooking, dissolve the brown sugar in the fish sauce

- after 3 minutes, add the snow peas and stir until well mixed, then add about 3/4 cup chicken broth and stir until the sauce coats the snow peas and chicken

- after 3 minutes, add the tamarind and sugar dissolved in fish sauce, and cook for another 3-4 minutes, or until the snow peas are cooked to your liking, then turn off the heat, sprinkle fresh basil on top and mix well

Note: if the stir fry is getting a bit dry, add more chicken broth
- serve piping hot over steamed jasmine rice and decorate with a few leaves of fresh basil

- Enjoy!

Homemade tamarind concentrate

Last week, I posted a Malaysian Shrimp with Tamarind, curry leaves and Jasmine rice. If you've been wondering how I made the tamarind paste, here's how.

Don't be repulsed by the unappealing (and sometimes gruesome) photos of this recipe. I promise you, the end result is well worth it!

You can use this tamarind paste in Indian and Southeast Asian dishes.

Have fun!

INGREDIENTS:
- a box of ripe sweet tamarind pods (16oz)
- boiling water (about 2 cups)

RECIPE:
- peel the pods and remove the strings



- soak the fruits (pulp and pits) in just boiled water for at least 15 minutes, or until the pulp gets soft and separates easily from the large pits.
- then the fun begins: when the temperature has cooled enough that you can touch it with your bare hands, drain the fruits and mush them up! Make sure you remove all the pits.

- filter the thick paste through a sieve. This is your tamarind concentrate.

- it will keep for a few days in the fridge, but you can also freeze it in an ice cube tray for longer storage :)