soba noodles with sesame chicken, red peppers and cilantro

don't you just love it when your dish plates up so well? i love the movement of noodles and its ability to nestle little culinary gems in its strands. tonight's dinner reflects just that. the rustic brown of the soba noodle provides a nice base for the golden chicken, ruby red peppers and bold green cilantro. hot.

this dish is amazingly simple to make. i basically took leftover ingredients and created stir-fry noodle concoction with a simple 4 ingredient sauce. the soba soaks up whatever flavor you add. just be sure to undercook the soba by a minute or you'll have a soggy, gloopy mess instead.

slice 1 large chicken breast into short strips (across the grain for tenderness) and marinate for 5 minutes with s/p and a splash or two of sesame oil.

prepare 2 servings of soba according to package. make sure to drain the noodles a minute early to prevent overcooking. they will finish cooking in the sauce.

heat a few tablespoons of evoo in a large saute pan. add 2 cloves of garlic slivered and 3 thai chiles slivered and deseeded/devained. let both fragrant the oil. add the chicken and let brown slightly, stir-frying to cook almost all the way through. add 2 red bell peppers sliced and stirfry for a minute.

blend 3 T fish sauce (i use the three crabs brand), 1 T oyster sauce, 3 T water, and 1 T sugar, then add to the pan to deglaze. stir to combine. add the pasta and 1/2 bunch cilantro with bottom inch of stems discarded. stir to combine with sauce for 1 min only. transfer to a serving bowl immediately (or the soba will start sticking to the pan, it gets very starchy).

to plate, using tongs or chopsticks, grab some noodles and "swirl" down onto the plate. add a layer of chicken and peppers, then another layer of noodles and cilantro, etc.

if you don't know what fish sauce is, you're missing out. used heavily in southeast asian cuisine, notably vietnamese and thai, fish sauce can be used as a sauce base, splashed as an accent, or on its own for dipping fried foods. i believe its made from fermenting small fish. the flavor profile is salty, sweet, and pleasantly fishy. it smells rather offensive, but once it's been incorporated into the dish, the odor disappears and the flavor is amazing. you'll notice i never added salt to this dish, except to season the chicken before cooking. if you find the dish too salty, adjust the concentration of fish sauce to water.