Red Curry Chicken Stir-Fry

On Tuesday I went to group workout with a friend.   The leader only uses exercise that require no equipment or weights.  It's amazing how well you can exercise with only your body weight.

I feel like we did a million squats.  That's an exaggeration of course, but my muscles were exhausted. The next day I was aware of every muscle it took to walk up stairs.  Overtime I walked up a set of stair, I held onto the railing for support.

After my friend and I worked out, we talked about getting ice-cream.  It would not have been the first time I nullified the value of a workout with a dessert.  Luckily, we talked ourselves out of it.

This quick and easy stir-fry recipe came from Martha Steward.  I first saw the recipe on youtube.  I have a habit of waisting time watching people prepare food on youtube.

I don't think it's authentic to any region, but it has Thai flavors.  According to Wikipedia, stir-frying is a Chinese cooking method.  Intelligent people think the wok was used in China to stir-fry as early as 206 BC.

Stir-frying wasn't a popular way to prepare food historically in China because it required expensive fats.  It gained popularity in the late Ming period (1368-1644).

The ingredients for this stir-fry are 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1/4 cup red-curry paste, 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1/2 pound snow peas, 1 1/2 cups pineapple, 1 cup fresh basil, 4 teaspoons fish sauce, and salt.

I  added the oil to the work and warmed it over medium-high heat.  I added the curry paste and stirred it until fragrant.  The recipe says this should take about a minute.

I thinly sliced the chicken ad added it to the work.  I cooked it for about a minute.  The chicken had started to brown.

I added the snow peas and pineapple.

I continued to stir-fry the ingredients until the chicken was fully cooked.

I added the basil, fish sauce, and salt.

 I served the stir-fry over rice.   This dish was done in minutes.

The flavors were bright, fresh, savory, and sweet.

The snow peas became tender and bright green.  The pineapple softens and sweetens in the wok.

 The chicken became insured with the spices of the curry paste.  The flavors were warm and exotic.

The dish was pleasurable and satisfying.  

The dish was full of aromatic and alluring smells and flavors.  It was so quick and yet delicious.