As Kris and I got comfortable with our joint cooking routine, we began to get adventurous. We soon found ourselves going to restaurants and saying “Hey! I bet we could make this at home.” We were right. We got pretty good at being able to simply read a recipe and determine if it would be good or not, and whether it was in the ball park of what we were trying to make. At any rate, we found that we really enjoyed various ethnic foods, especially Indian and Thai. When I first moved to Lawrence, there was a Thai place in town called Lulu’s. They made the most outstanding spicy noodles. I have never been to another Thai place that made them. Born out of desperate need for something similar, we developed this recipe from several others we’ve found. It is, for the most part, derived from a single recipe in our Thai Cooking cookbook.

This dish is good whether you use pork or chicken. We prefer chicken. We really prefer left over grilled chicken. It’s a great dish to make if you have some left over meat you might not otherwise use.

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 – 2 teaspoons red curry paste (we use a brand called Thai Kitchen, available at most grocery stores)
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 3 Asian shallots (about 1 large onion)
• 1 large carrot
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 lb pork or chicken breasts (preferably precooked)
• 1 lb brown rice noodles
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Optional:

• 6 dried red chilis [if you like it extra spicy]
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar (try Sucanat) [this adds a wonderful flavor and really reduces the spiciness of the dish]
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (in place of soy sauce) [for a more authentic Thai flavor] {yuk}
• 2 – 6 Tablespoons hot chili oil or hot sesame oil (substitute some or all olive oil)

Preparation

1. Start water boiling for noodles
2. Chop onion, garlic, and carrot
3. Cut meat into bite sized strips

Instructions

Cook noodles per package directions. Heat the oil and curry paste in the wok, stirring continuously to break up the paste and form a thick liquid. Add the onion, garlic, and carrot. Stir fry until onion is translucent. Add the meat, and stir fry for 5 minutes or until meat is heated through. Drain noodles, and add to wok. Add soy sauce (and sugar if desired) and cilantro. Mix well.