Thursday, December 8, 2016

Thai Basil Chicken Stirfry

This is a refinement of an earlier post - Thai Minced Beef Stirfry with Basil. But I used chicken this time.


Hoping for more Thai authenticity. So there is no sesame oil. I did use dark soya sauce for some sweetness and colour. Relied mainly on fish sauce for salinity.

I find this recipe works better, at least I enjoyed it alot more that the minced beef one.
I that find adding the basil leaves at the end preserves more the fresh basil hit.

Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients
500g-600g Chicken Thighs, diced to roughly 1cm cubes. (Up to you if you want the skin on)
1 yellow onion - sliced
8 garlic cloves - roughly chopped or minced
Handful of Thai basil - leaves only (use continental basil if you cannot find Thai ones.)
3-4 Kaffir Lime leaves - you can use them whole or thinly sliced.
3-6 bird's eye chillies (Or however much you want.) - sliced
1 Large Red chilli - sliced
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
Ground white pepper
1 Tablespoon of corn flour/corn starch
1 egg per person - cooked sunny side up

Method
1. Season the meat in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, pepper and corn flour. Mix well. Leave for at least 30 mins. Using corn flour or corn starch is a technique that helps the meat stay tender and also helps with flavour retention of the meat you are marinating.

2. In a small bowl, mix the rest of the fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce mix well.

3. In a large wok or frying pan, heat about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium high heat. When oil is heated (Its starts to shimmer and moves around the pan more easily). Add the chicken and fry until the chicken starts to brown a little on the outside on all sides (About 8-10 mins). Turn off the heat. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Note: If you left the skin on the chicken, its a good idea to ensure the skin is rendered for additional flavour. Un-rendered poultry skin can be a put off, at least to me.

4. There should be some oil left from frying the chicken. (If you left the skin on, there will probably more oil left in the pan than you need. You can mop some of it with a paper towel if you have to.) Turn the heat back up to medium. When oil is heated throw in the onions, garlic, chillies and lime leaves. Fry for about 4-6 minutes, sweating the onions and garlic a little, till they just start to brown and then Add all of the sauce mix. Mix well.

5. Add the chicken back in next. Stir fry for another about 5-8 minutes then add all the basil leaves and turn off the heat. Mix well, until the basil leaves are wilted.

6. Serve with steamed rice and a fried egg.

Note: For added authenticity, the Thai street style fried egg is not the same as your "non-stick pan" sunny side up. The That street one actually use quite a bit of cooking oil. Almost shallow frying the egg till you get crispy edges and the yolk remaining runny.

Enjoy!

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