Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chicken

While looking for Chinese recipes, I came across this wonderful Chinese dish of Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chicken at myrecipes.com. To my delight, after hearing I was making Chinese food, my Hunny Bunches couldn't get in the kitchen fast enough to help me make this dish along with another Chinese dish, Sesame Chicken. When it comes to chopping and dicing, I couldn't be happier to have him with me and enjoying our sweet time together cooking. Some Chinese dishes tend to be loaded with ingredients that I do not usually have in my pantry. But I am finding out that once you buy the ingredients, like fish sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and etc., you use them over and over in other recipes. So you are really not spending a lot of money on ingredients that you only use one time. In this recipe, curry paste and coconut milk spice up a simple chicken and vegetable stir-fry. Once the ingredients are prepared, the cooking goes quickly, so have everything ready before you heat the pan.

Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chicken

1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken; seal and marinate in refrigerator 15 minutes, turning once.

Remove chicken from the bag, reserving marinade. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add chicken; stir-fry 4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add onion and carrot; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; stir-fry 3 minutes. Add reserved marinade, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add coconut milk and fish sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute. Stir in chicken and salt; cook 1 minute. Top with sprouts and cilantro.