Thai Style Chicken Mushroom Udon Stir Fry

With inspiration from FineCooking

Printable Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 packages Udon noodles
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup dried Chinese Shitaki mushrooms
8oz/226 g cremini mushrooms, sliced
Swiss chard leaves (or other greens like beet greens, kale...), stalks removed, coarsely chopped) amount is up to you.  Just remember the leaves wilt down a lot.   I filled a large salad bowl with leaves, then chopped them - brought it down to half )
Peanut Sauce:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large or 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp brown sugar
Pinch cayenne
Directions:
1. Soak the dried shitaki in boiling water for at least 30 minutes.

2.Once the mushrooms are soft, drain them well and reserve the mushroom liquid.  Slice the shitaki mushrooms and set aside.  

3. To prepare the peanut sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally, and gently cook over low heat for 5 minutes to "melt" everything together.   Set aside.

4. Prepare the rest of the ingredients - slicing the chicken breasts across into 1" strips and coarsely chopping the leafy greens.

5. In a large non-stick skillet, over medium high heat, add a little oil and sauté all the mushrooms until the cremini mushrooms golden (about 5 minutes). Push the mushrooms to the sides of the pan, add a little more oil and add the chicken strips and half the peanut sauce and toss.  Cook for about 2 minutes per side or until the chicken is no longer pink.  You might have to do this in two batches.  Remove from pan and set aside.

6.  Place the udon noodles in the same pan and add the mushroom liquid (should be at least a cup, if not, add some boiling water) and rest of the peanut sauce.  Toss to separate the noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Then add the greens and toss until wilted (2-3 minutes).   Return the chicken and mushroom mixture back to the pan and add any seasoning you might like... soy sauce to salt it, chili pepper flakes to provide some heat.  

7.  Once the noodles are tender and the chicken is hot, remove from heat and serve.   NOTE: you might need to add a little water during the process.