Stir-fried chicken with lime and coconut

This recipe was originally published in How to Cook by Delia Smith, but I found it in another compilation of recipes. There are two things I love about it:

1. It tastes complicated, but it's actually really easy with relatively few ingredients, so it makes for a great weeknight meal.
2. It's already scaled for two servings, so I don't have to convert any measurements or end up with a big batch of leftovers. (Not that there is anything wrong with leftovers, but sometimes you just don't want to deal with them, you know?)

Anyway, here it is...

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

• Grated zest and juice of 1 large lime


• 2 tsp. olive oil


• 1 hot green chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped


• 2/3 c. canned unsweetened coconut milk


• 2 tsp. fish sauce (nam pla)


• 4 scallions, cut into 1-inch shreds (including the greens)


• 6 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro


• Cooked jasmine rice, for serving

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken and lime zest and juice. Stir well and let marinate for 1 hour.

In a wok or large skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden. Add the chile and stir-fry for 1 minute more. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce, half the scallions, and 3 tablespoons of the cilantro. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Serve with jasmine rice and sprinkle the remaining scallions and cilantro over the top.

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This works out really slick... I zest and squeeze the lime while defrosting a couple of frozen chicken breast halves. Once I have chopped the chicken and gotten it marinating, I have about half an hour to get a load of laundry going, check my e-mail, whatever. Then I start the rice, and while it's cooking I chop the chile, scallions, and cilantro. After that I can get out the rest of the ingredients and start the stir-fry. By the time it's done, so is the rice... perfect!

I'm guessing that you could easily substitute shrimp or even tofu into this recipe, though you would need to adjust your marinating and stir-frying time. If you go the tofu route, you can make the dish vegan by substituting light soy sauce for the fish sauce and adding a pinch of sugar. Your dish won't have that distinctive fish sauce twang, but at least you'll get the salty-sweet aspect of it.

Also, I've found that I use less cilantro and scallion than the recipe calls for, only about 4 tablespoons cilantro and 3 scallions. That's still a lot of flavor but fewer leafy bits to get stuck in your teeth.