Poached Chicken with Udon Noodles
Poached chicken with udon noodles started with the noodles, which I made one night to accompany something–I forget what. My memory is not what it was. But I remember liking the noodles far more than the protein, and thinking I’d better write down how I cooked them, right then, mid-meal, because there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d remember what I’d done later.
Deciphering what I wrote down later? Another story.
Returning to the chicken.
People love to hate chicken breasts. They’re dry, they’re tasteless, they’re diet food.
It’s true chicken breasts can be all these things when poorly prepared. But it’s difficult to dry out chicken you’ve immersed in a potful of liquid. Further, it’s unlikely said chicken will be tasteless when the liquid in question involves soy sauce, nam pla, and oyster sauce. (Don’t say the u word. Don’t even think it, okay?)
In other words, you’d have to work hard to dry this chicken out. But if you truly detest chicken breasts, use thighs. I won’t tell. Or make the dish with another protein. Firm tofu, white fish, lean pork, or beef all leap to mind. Or eat the dish with just the noodles.
Before going further, it’s only fair to tell you can forget about poaching and go the stir-fry route. To do so, see recipe notes, below.
Into the kitchen.
Preparing the chicken poaching liquid is simple: measure the fish sauce, rice wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and water into a saucepan.
Note the word measure. Most of my recipes are pretty easygoing; a little extra of this or that won’t wreck a dish. This a rare instance where you really need to measure the sauces, as three of them are extremely salty, and pouring freehand could result in an inedibly salty dish. Learn from my mistakes.
Add two or three smashed garlic cloves, two trimmed pieces of lemongrass, and a good grinding of white pepper. Heat this gently, giving the ingredients a chance to meld.
Add the chicken. If the pieces are large, you might want to halve them lengthwise. This is up to you. Add just enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the liquid to a medium simmer–not a rollicking boil–and cover the pot. After ten minutes, check the pan. You may need to adjust the heat or add a bit more water.
There is nothing pretty about raw chicken. But many people struggle with “just to cover,” so I offer an example.
Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the pieces to a bowl or deepish platter and spoon some of the cooking liquid over them. Cover the bowl/platter with foil and keep the chicken warm while you make the noodles.
Udon noodles are just a suggestion; I like them for their thickness and texture. Whatever noodle you choose should be thick and chewy. You want something that will stand up to the sauce. Now is not the time for delicate noodles like angel hair or capelletti.
The noodles I buy are sold in packages of three. “Cooking” them is really a matter of heating them up, which I do by dropping them into the cooking liquid and gently untangling them with a fork. They’re ready in about two minutes.
From there it’s simply a matter of serving the chicken and noodles, either separately or together, as you prefer. Top with (raggedly) minced scallions or cilantro, if desired, or leave plain.
Serve poached chicken with udon noodles with stir-fried greens and plate of sliced radishes or cucumbers. Lime wedges are always welcome, as is some kind of hot pepper sauce. Barring pepper sauce, a few fresh hot red peppers, seeded or not, may be offered to any spice freaks. Handle these–the peppers, not the spice freaks–with care.
Poached Chicken with Udon Noodles
Prep Time: about 30 minutes
Serves: 2-4, depending on what else is served; easily scaled up or down
Please see recipe notes, below, for ingredient substitutions and stir-frying instructions.
You will need a 3-4 quart/liter lidded pan to make poached chicken with udon noodles. If your pan lacks a lid, you can improvise one with tinfoil.
2 stalks lemongrass
1-3 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons/ 1/4 cup/60 ml fish sauce
2 tablespoons (scant) soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon white pepper, plus more to taste
1 pound/454 grams boneless skinless chicken breasts
water
15-16 ounces/approximately 454 grams Udon or other thick, chewy Asian style noodles
Trim the lemongrass, removing the dry outer layers. Trim the top and bottom, leaving only the soft inner core. Slice this thinly and toss into your cooking pot.
Crush the garlic cloves to peel them. Leave whole or slice, if you wish. I leave them whole. Add to pan.
Measure the fish sauce, soy sauce, rice wine, and oyster sauce into the pan. Add the white pepper.
Set the oven burner to medium low and stir the sauce. Allow it to heat gently so ingredients blend, 3-4 minutes.
While the sauce heats, trim any unwanted bits from the chicken. If necessary, slice the pieces in half to better fit the pan.
Once the sauce components have blended, add the chicken pieces to the pan.
Add just enough water to cover the chicken (see photo in post, above, for example.).
Bring pot to gentle simmer–not a rolling boil-and cover. Cook for 10 minutes. Check, being mindful of the heat (my pots are not heatproof), adjusting the burner or adding water if necessary (you may not need to do either). The chicken will likely need 7-10 more minutes cooking time.
Chicken is done when the flesh yields easily to a knife, revealing a uniformly beige interior throughout, with no signs of pinkness or rawness.
When the chicken is done, remove it to a platter or bowl. Moisten it with a few spoonfuls of the sauce and keep it warm with foil or in a low oven.
Make the noodles:
To make the noodles, just add them to the sauce pan. This time, add enough water to cover. Cooking time depends the type of noodles you have; the udon noodles I buy need only heating.
Serve the chicken and noodles on a large platter, or separately, in deep bowls, with the sauce spooned over.
Chicken and udon noodles keep, refrigerated in a covered container, up to four days.
The chicken and sauce may be frozen in a freezer safe container up to three months. It is not advisable to freeze the noodles.
Notes:
Poached Chicken with udon noodles may be prepared with boneless chicken thighs, firm tofu, firm white fish filets, boneless pork chops, or lean cuts of beef.
If lemongrass is hard to find, substitute lime juice to taste. If you can find Makrut limes, they make an excellent substitute. Only the peel is used. Don’t be afraid to buy a few: they freeze beautifully.
If rice wine eludes you, dry sherry will work. So will dry white wine.
I have said this before and will repeat myself: don’t waste money on cheap oyster sauce. Buy the good stuff and use less of it.
Any thick, chewy Asian noodle will work in this recipe.
To stir-fry the chicken and noodles:
Measure the fish sauce, rice wine, soy sauce, and oyster sauce into a small bowl. Whisk to blend with a fork.
Smash the garlic to remove the peel, then slice thinly. Set aside.
Trim the lemongrass of outer leaves and trim until only soft white interior remains. Mince. Set aside with garlic.
Cut chicken into pieces easily managed with chopsticks or fork. Put into medium bowl and set aside.
Have noodles ready to cook; I cut the plastic vaccuum packs open so they’re easily poured into the wok.
Heat a 14-inch/35 cm wok or comparable wide saute pan on high heat. Add a generous 2-3 tablespoons peanut or other high heat stable oil to the pan.
Add garlic and lemongrass to wok. Turn heat down to medium high. Cook, stiring with wok spatula, allowing aromatics brown but not burn; if they’re sizzling to a crisp turn the heat down.
After two minutes or so, turn heat to medium. Add sauce to wok. Allow it to heat gently. It should simmer but not boil madly.
Add chicken and cook. Heat should be at medium simmer. If liquid level appears low, carefully add more rice wine down side of wok.
You don’t have to move the chicken nonstop, but don’t leave town, either. The chicken will take 5-8 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces, the heat of the pan, and the size of the wok.
Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it to a platter or bowl. Keep it warm in a low oven if possible.
To cook the noodles: there is no need to wash the wok. Add noodles to wok, then add water: they’ll need about 1/2 cup/118 ml per 1 pound/454 grams noodles. This is a rough approximation; use your senses–or the instructions on the noodle package!
Serve noodles and chicken together on a deep platter or separately, in bowls.
Share:
You might also like:
Kitchen Note: Udon Noodles. Cat Blogging.
Madly craving fiery udon noodles today. I can’t really say “for lunch” because I eat at odd hours: breakfasting before 6am means by 9:30 I am ravenous for what most people would call lunch. Around 1pm I might snack. Or not. We eat dinner around 6:30. It works. Anyway, I…
Chinese Takeout Noodles
Breezy little blog posts are increasingly impossible. This week gave us Chester Bennington’s death, the migrant tragedy in the Texas Walmart lot, Venezuela, Yemen, and Syria. Atop all this, a gibbering idiot is running amok in the White House. In this context, Chinese Takeout Noodles are beyond trivial. Then again,…
Laksa with Chicken and Pumpkin
You would think we only eat pork or poultry around here, and if stats are any indication, some of you are getting bored by this. Then again, you may be distracted by larger events. Maybe your country is leaving the European Union…or perhaps your country is leaving civilized society entirely….
