Thai Peanut Chicken Noodles

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp peanut butter, smooth
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp sriracha
• 600 g chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 300 g egg noodles, medium
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 200 g beansprouts
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• roasted peanuts and lime wedges, to serve
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Whisk the peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, sriracha and sesame oil together with 4 tablespoons of warm water until smooth and pourable. Taste — it should be salty, sharp, nutty and a little hot. Adjust now, not at the table.
2. Salt the noodle water generously — it should taste like the sea, your one chance to season the noodles themselves. Cook the egg noodles to packet timing, drain, then rinse briefly under cold water to stop them seizing into a brick. Set aside.
3. Pat the chicken dry and season generously with salt and black pepper before it hits the pan. Water on the surface means steam, and steam means no colour. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over a high heat until it shimmers and just begins to wisp.
4. Stir-fry the chicken in two batches, spread in a single layer — crowd the wok and the meat sweats grey instead of catching gold. Each batch wants 3–4 minutes until cooked through with charred edges. Tip onto a plate.
5. Drop the heat to medium. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold — don't let the garlic burn past that or the whole wok turns bitter. Add the beansprouts and toss for 1 minute, enough to take the raw edge off but keep the snap.
6. Return the chicken to the wok with the noodles. Pour over the peanut sauce and toss vigorously over a high heat for 2–3 minutes, lifting from underneath, until every strand is glossy and piping hot. If it tightens, splash in a little warm water to loosen. Taste — most of the salt comes from the soy and fish sauce, but a final pinch and a fresh squeeze of lime juice ties the whole bowl together.
7. Divide between bowls. Scatter over the sliced spring onions and red chilli, shower with chopped roasted peanuts, and tuck a lime wedge against the rim of each bowl for squeezing at the table.