Chicken in Lemongrass Sauce

Thai-inspired main dish, per Ashley and Sandra's request:

12 ounces green beans

2 TBS vegetable oil

1 1/2 lbs chicken breast or thigh, cut into 1/2" strips

1 medium onion, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup lemongrass

3 TBS fish sauce

3 TBS sugar

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 cup chicken stock or broth

2 TBS spicy oyster sauce

Cook beans in large saucepan of boiling salted water just until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain.

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add chicken, onion, and garlic; stir-fry until chicken is partially cooked, about 4 minutes. Cut lemongrass into rounds (so that you can remove them easily), add to skillet, along with fish sauce, sugar, coriander, and turmeric; stir 2 minutes. Add beans, stock and oyster sauce (I used shrimp paste and roasted chili paste instead of oyster sauce); reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.

This recipe comes from epicurious.com, originally printed in Bon Appétit, September 2000. Here are my modifications: added lime zest and juice of 1 lime. You want to balance the flavors of hot, sour, sweet, and salty, so you can adjust the amount of chilis or chili paste, citrus, sugar and salt (or fish sauce).