I was watching Bourdain's show earlier in the week, a special about
"street food". One of the things feature was Thai "chicken rice". I
decided to give it a whirl, based on what I'd seen on TV, with
ingredients at hand. I don't really measure much, so bear with me.

I had two boneless/skinless breast, one fairly small. The real recipe
boils whole chickens. I browned these very lightly in butter, then
poached them in some water, white wine, broth, and crushed garlic
cloves (about one cup liquid all told). In an effort not to overcook
these (they dry easily as we know) I took the smaller one out after
about 20 minutes, the larger 25. Just done.

Took 1/2 cup long-grain rice, browned it a bit in oil and butter, then
added the poaching liquid and set it to cooking as usual.

While that was going on, grated up some ginger and garlic, then sauted
that a bit in oil with some crushed red pepper. Added some bottled
Thai-style sweet chili sauce (1/2 cup maybe) and some soy sauce
(tablespoon or so).

The show mentioned sliced cumbers as a part of it. So I thinly sliced
some, with a little lime juice and salt. The chicken was sliced fairly
thickly crosswise. The big one I ate for dinner, saving the smaller and
some of the rice for lunch down the road.

Analysis and conclusions:

Pretty decent. Chicken was moist and tender. Rice cooked in broth,
what's not to like there. The sauce. Hmmm. A bit too much soy sauce.
Needed more (maybe lots more) ginger and garlic. The cucumbers were all
right, but I didn't know that they added all that much to things. A
decent first try, worthy of refinement.



Brian

--
Day 185 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project

"Default User" > wrote in message
...
>
> I was watching Bourdain's show earlier in the week, a special about
> "street food". One of the things feature was Thai "chicken rice". I
> decided to give it a whirl, based on what I'd seen on TV, with
> ingredients at hand. I don't really measure much, so bear with me.
>
> I had two boneless/skinless breast, one fairly small. The real recipe
> boils whole chickens.

You just wrecked the recipe right there. I need read no further. These
tasteless boneless, skinless chicken breasts are nothing like breasts cooked
with the bone and skin.