Chicken Long Rice

This tasty Asian side dish goes great with any meat or as is. It's a nice light, healthy, soup-like sauce with nice thin noodles. mmm...I like chicken thighs because I can almost always find them for under $1/pound and they're so good! I like to serve it with slow cooked kalua pig and leave out the chicken thighs, but include them when serving as a main dish. My whole family loves this! A family member may or may not have almost lost an eye because they ate the last of the long rice leftovers I had been very excited to eat for lunch that day. I shall not name names, but he knows who he is. Serves 4-6.

Chicken Long Rice

1 8-oz pkg sai fun noodles (aka bean thread noodles)
3 Tbsp avacado, olive or grapeseed oil
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices
3 celery stalks, washed and cut into thin slices
2 small zucchini, peeled and cut into thin slices
1 tsp garlic powder
2 c shitake mushrooms, or other mushrooms (shitake have a wonderful texture and flavor but can be pricy)
6 chicken thighs
1 1-oz piece fresh ginger root (1 to 1 1/2 inch piece), minced, or 1 tsp ground ginger
salt and pepper, to taste
3 c chicken broth

1. Soak noodles in warm water for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, celery and zucchini and stir fry until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir garlic powder into vegetables. Add mushrooms and cook until they begin to sweat.
3. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Add ginger root and chicken to pan, tucking thighs under the vegetables to make sure they get direct heat. Cook both sides of thighs until they're good and brown, then add chicken broth.
4. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until broth reduces by half. Drain noodles, cut in half with kitchen scissors and stir into chicken mixture; cook noodles 5 minutes and remove from heat. Here you can shred the chicken but I love to serve it on the bone. Serve warm.