Quick Cooking: Like it Thai hot? Fire up the wok

This Thai dinner is full of hot, spicy flavors with a refreshing hint of lemon and the cool crunch of cucumber. To simplify cleanup, everything is stir-fried in the same wok.

One secret to stir-frying is to make sure your wok or frying pan is very hot before you start. It should be smoking; if it isn't, the vegetables and meat will steam rather than develop a crisp coating with the juice and flavor locked in.

For easy stir-frying, place all of the prepared ingredients on a cutting board or plate in order of use. You won't have to look at the recipe once you start to cook.

Lemon grass, which adds a special lemon flavor to Asian dishes, can be found in many supermarkets. It looks something like a scallion, but the stalks are a pale-green color, hard and dry. Use 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind if lemon grass is unavailable.

Fresh Chinese noodles can be found in the refrigerated section of the produce department. Dried Chinese noodles or angel hair pasta can be used.

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Stir-fried Thai chicken and noodles

Prep time: 30 minutes | Cook time: 11 minutes | Serves 2

Ingredients

1/4 pound Chinese noodles
3 teaspoons canola oil, divided use
3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 cup onion, sliced
2 medium cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
2 stalks lemon grass, washed, hard upper stalk removed and lower stalk and bulb sliced
1 cup red pepper, sliced
1 cup cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 ripe tomato cut in eighths
1/3 cup fat free, low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

Bring a large sauce pan of 3 quarts water to a boil. Add noodles and boil 3 minutes for dried, 1 minute for fresh. Drain, toss with 1 teaspoon oil and set aside.

Remove as much fat as possible from chicken and cut into strips,  1/4 inch thick and 2 inches long.

Heat second teaspoon of oil in wok or skillet. Add onion and stir-fry 1 minute. Add garlic, ginger, jalapeño, lemon grass, chicken, red pepper and cucumber. Stir-fry 3 minutes. Add tomato and move all ingredients to sides of pan, leaving a hole in the middle. Add chicken broth, ketchup and sugar to center of pan. Blend well.

Mix cornstarch with water and add to sauce. Bring to a boil to thicken sauce. Toss with ingredients in wok.

Add cilantro and toss all ingredients in wok together. Remove from pan.

Add remaining teaspoon oil and noodles. Stir-fry 1 minute.

Divide in half and place on individual plates. Spoon chicken and vegetables over noodles.

Per serving: 610 cal.; 30 g pro.; 73 g carb.; 13 g fat; 109 mg chol.; 1,000 mg sod.; 6 g fiber; 19 percent calories from fat.