Saturday, July 8, 2017

Thai Basil Chicken


I loved this dish so much.  I found some Thai Basil at my Italian grocery store.  It's just regular Thai basil- not Thai Holy Basil, which you're supposed to use in this dish, but it worked out wonderfully anyway.  I found this recipe online after asking my Thai friend what I should do with the Thai basil plant.

We loved the crispy fried egg with this! I forgot to buy chilies, so I used my Italian chili oil to fry the eggs in and add a little spicy.


Thai Basil Chicken
adapted Eating Thai Food

1 egg
2 tablespoons of oil for frying (I used hot pepper oil)

For the basil chicken:
1 chicken breast (or any other cut of boneless chicken, about 200 grams)
5 cloves of garlic
4 – 10 Thai chilies – when you fry the chilies, they aren’t as spicy
1 tablespoon oil for frying
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 splash of dark sweet soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 handful of Thai holy basil leaves
Hot cooked jasmine rice, for serving

1.  First, fry the egg:
Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or frying pan on high-medium heat.  When the oil is hot and sizzling, drop in the egg. Let it sizzle and bubble up, and at the same time, splash some of the hot oil onto the top of the egg (don't flip the egg, unless you really want to).

After the egg looks about right to your cooked likeness (I like mine runny), take it out, drain the excess oil, and put it on a plate for later.

2.  Basil chicken:
Cut the chicken into small bite sized pieces.

Rinse and peel the garlic and chilies, and pound them in a mortar and pestle (alternatively you can just mince them with a knife). They don't need to be super fine, you just want to bring out the oils and flavors from the garlic and chilies.

Pluck a good sized handful of holy basil leaves off the stems.  

Heat your wok on high heat, and add about 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan.  When the oil is hot, add the chilies and garlic. Stir fry them for about 20 seconds or so until they get really fragrant, but don't let them burn or get too dry.

Toss in your chicken. Keep stir frying continuously. At this stage you want to continue to stir and cook your chicken until it's just about fully cooked all the way through (depending on the size pieces of chicken and how hot your fire is, it should take about 2 - 3 minutes). If it starts to get dry, add just a tiny splash of water.

Add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar, and finally a splash of dark soy sauce. Keep stir frying for about another 30 seconds.

Grab a handful of holy basil, toss it into the pan, fold it into the chicken, and then immediately turn off the heat (if you're using an electric stove, you'll want to remove the pan from the burner). The holy basil really only needs to cook for about 5 seconds, and it will continue to wilt and cook from the existing heat of the chicken. This step is important because if you cook the basil for too long, it loses some of its glorious flavor and gets slightly chewy.  Serve over cooked rice.


**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

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