I have worked on the outskirts of Chinatown in Boston for a solid four or so years now (our office was initially in a little room off our VC's office in Harvard Square. I miss Cambridge sometimes. But now, my commute from Dorchester is a grand old 20 minutes. So I don't miss it in that regard, at all).

The other night, I finally ventured over to the C Mart Supermarket a block or so away to grab some things and make dinner. I realized pretty quick that I am an idiot for overlooking this really good, really cheap, really close market for a long time just because I wasn't sure what I would find.


Obviously, despite some packaging being in Chinese, I was still able to grab the ingredients I needed to make a really delicious, really easy pot of what I was craving: broth-y, chicken-y, spicy goodness. With bok choy. All the bok choy. So, without further ado:

• Handful of shallots, chopped
• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (or chicken breats if you're the C Market. Thought this was a typo on just one package but as you can see, it's all of them. Awesome.)
• Flour
• 1 lg (32 oz?) container chicken broth
• 5-6 small skinny hot chile peppers
• Star anise (I had it in tea bag form?)
• 2 T Red curry paste
• 1 T Reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 T Sriracha
• 1 t Chinese 5 Spice 
• 2" piece of ginger, peeled and grated (I grated right into the pot)
• 1 T dark brown sugar
• 1 large bunch bok choy, rinsed and cut into 2" or so pieces
• A bagful or so (I'm so precise) sugar snap peas
• A small bagful (again...) mung bean sprouts
• 1 bunch fresh wonton/lo-mein style noodles 
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 bunch cilantro

How it's Made:

• Heat 1 T sesame (or olive) oil in a heavy-bottom pot over medium heat.
• Add the shallots and stir to coat
• Cook shallots until translucent, 3-5 mins
• In the meantime, dredge your chicken lightly with flour. I also added salt and pepper to the flour.
• Add chicken to pot and allow to brown for ~1 minute
• Pour in 1/2 chicken broth, bring to a boil
• Reduce heat to simmer and add in chiles (whole, as you will want to remove them later), star anise, red curry paste, Sriracha, 5 Spice, and grated ginger.
• Allow to simmer for 30 mins
• Skim chiles out of soup (and remove star anise if necessary? Is it always a tea bag? I'm a regular gourmand over here...)
• Add bok choy, snap peas, sprouts and remainder of chicken broth to the pot. You may need more liquid (use water or veg broth if you have it)
• Cook until bok choy is wilted, another ~10 mins
• Cut bunch of noodles in half with a knife or kitchen shears. Add to pot and stir to ensure they all break apart,
• Repeat with 1-2 more noodle bunches, if you wish.
• Continue to simmer another 5 minutes to cook noodles through
• Garnish with chopped scallions and shredded cilantro.
• Slurp it up!