Here’s a great and very easy recipe for stir fried green beans in chili paste with chicken.

There is nothing at all complicated about the recipe, although you may need to take a trip to your local Asian market to source the ingredients.

You can use pork instead of chicken, if preferred.

Stir Fried Chicken and Green Beans in Red Chili Paste

• A little bit less than ¾ lb of skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces (actually, you can use any kind of chicken…)
• ¾ lb of yard long beans (these are normally sold in bundles and are very similar in taste and texture to plain old green beans, you can in fact substitute regular green beans if you can’t find the longer ones. They should, however, be available in most any Asian grocery store.)
• 2 Tbls of red chili paste (the kind of chili paste that is used to make red curry, called Prik Gang, in Thai). This will make the dish mildly spicy. If you are concerned about the heat, you can add slightly less.)
• 8 kaffir lime leaves, finely julienned
• 4 or 5 larger Thai chilies, cut on the diagonal into thin slices. Don’t use the really tiny chilies here, as they will make the dish too spicy. Ideally, you want red chilies that are about 2 inches long.
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed flat with the side of a knife, but not minced
• 1 Tbls of soy sauce
• 1 Tbls of fish sauce
• 1 Tbls of sugar
• ¼ cup of coconut milk (if you don’t have this, you can omit it)
• Vegetable oil

1. Heat a fry pan or wok over medium high and splash in a couple of Tbls of oil
2. When hot, add in the smashed garlic and stir fry for about 20 seconds, or until slightly golden and fragrant.
3. Immediately add the chicken pieces and stir fry until slightly browned, but not yet cooked through, about 1-2 minutes
4. Add in the chili paste and lime leaves (and a quarter cup of tap water) and stir to mix it, stir frying for another 30 seconds or so
5. Add all of the remaining ingredients, and continue stir frying until the beans are cooked “al dente” another couple of minutes.
6. Taste for seasoning and add more sugar, soy sauce or fish sauce as needed to adjust the seasonings.

Serve, as always, with steamed Jasmine rice. This is great on its own, or as one of many dishes in a full Thai style dinner menu.