Thai Spaghetti Toss

By kellmurph

Ingredients

• Sauce:
• 4 cloves fresh garlic
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup regular or reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 4 tsp. finely minced fresh ginger or bottled minced ginger
• 1 tbs. red-wine vinegar or cider vinegar 1 tbs onion powder
• 1 tbs asian (dark) sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (or more)
• Pasta:
• Salt for cooking
• 12 ounces thin pasta, thin spaghetti or angel hair
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 8 ounces bean sprouts
• 1 to 2 bunches scallions
• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil
• 2 cups (6 ounces) snow peas or sugar snap peas
• 1 cup Thai-Style Peanut Sauce

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

For Sauce:
Peel the garlic. With the blender on, drop the garlic cloves, one at a time, through the opening in the lid, blending until finely chopped. Pour the lime juice into the blender container. Stop the blender and add all remaining ingredients, along with 1/2 cup water. Pulse on high speed just until the ingredients are combined, about 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the blender container and pulse 3 or 4 more times. The sauce is now ready to use with the pasta or as a dipping sauce, or it can be refrigerated or frozen for future use.

For Pasta:
Bring water to a boil and cook pasta according to box directions. Rinse and drain the bean spouts, shaking the colander to remove as much water as possible. Set aside. Cut scallions into roughly 1 inch pieces, using all of the whites and enough tender green tops to make 1-1/2 cups. Set aside. Coursly chop the peanuts and set them aside.
Heat the oil in an extradeep 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, adding them to the pan as you cut. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken turns white on the outside, 4 minutes. Then add the snow peas and scallions to the skillet. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the snow peas are bright green, about 2 minutes more. Add the bean sprouts and peanut sauce to the skillet, and reduce the heat to low. Stir to mix well, and simmer until ready to serve.
When the pasta is done, drain it in a colander, shaking it to remove excess water. Return the pasta to the cooking pot. Add the chicken mixture and toss until well mixed. To serve, divide the pasta, chicken, and vegetables evenly amoung four plates. Sprinkle 1 tbs of peanuts over each plate and serve.