Thai Basil Chicken

My favorite spot for cut herbs is my kitchen window or the dining room table.  They smell great and look lush and lovely and are accessible for snipping for dishes.  Pictured here: thai basil, genovese basil and purple clover (picked from the side of the road by the 3-year-old).

So this is my very first food/recipe post.  I needed to trim up my basil and figured it was a good time to pull out a favorite family recipe.  I've never actually followed the recipe for this Thai Chicken with Basil Stir Fry, but all the variations I've made are great.  It's a fragrant, sweet/spicy, fresh tasting dish that is pretty easy to throw together.  The wonderful thing about stir fry is that it doesn't really matter.  You have fresh ingredients and toss in whatever you have on hand.  Let's see how it goes tonight.

Here are the ingredients I used tonight.  I've got rice, garlic, ginger, sweet onion, chicken, coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, green onions and a bunch of basil.  When I'm doing stir fry, I do like to chop up most things beforehand and pull out any spices/condiments I might need.  Usually I would put all the garlic/ginger/onion in one bowl since it all goes in at the same time, but I was aiming for a fancy "foodie" shot.  Now that I have uploaded this picture, I can see that it is necessary to note that I had about  a 2:1 ration of ginger to garlic.

The dark purple herb leaves are a thai basil which tastes (to me) like the italian basil with a licorice note.  This is actually the first time I've ever had thai basil for this dish, and it came out of my garden, so that's a reason for celebration in my kitchen!  As you can see, I'm using brown basmati instead of jasmine rice.  The kids like it and it's really nutritious in the event that they decide the thai chicken is not their speed tonight.  I tend to prefer to add veggies to the white rices, so we'll save the jasmine for another night.

I cook the onion, garlic and ginger for a few minutes, then add the chicken.  If you are compelled to add a grind of pepper here, it's a good time for it.  Hopefully you can see the size of strips.  I used chicken thighs because that's what I had.  I think this would be lovely with pork or shrimp or probably tofu.  I am honestly nervous about tofu based on a bad experience with my mother's tofu chili in my formative years. I promise that my future adventures with that soy product will be fodder for upcoming posts.

While the chicken cooks, I make up the "sauce" in a pyrex cup.    I forgot when I took my ingredient picture that I'd wanted to sub some of this thai chili garlic paste for some of the red pepper flakes.  I used about 1/4 tsp red pepper and 1/2-3/4 chili paste.  If you are not familiar with the condiments/spices I mention, my best advice is to buy them and try them!  You have to use it and taste it to know whether or not you like it.  Just remember if you have a low spice tolerance (like me): you can always add, but it is difficult to take away.  Start out with no red pepper and 1/4 tsp. chili sauce if you're nervous.  You can add more next time if you like it.

I don't cook the chicken totally through before adding the sauce.  It's going to cook while that sauce reduces, so I'd say it's about 75-80% "legally" cooked when I add the coconut milk sauce mixture.

While the sauce reduces, I chop the green onions  and basil.  Do you see that little glass dish?  I used to toss those root trimmings in the compost, but after seeing this blog post I now stick them in the garden.  You only need a teensy bit of the white root bulb left and soon....new onions!

So, once the sauce reduces, toss in the onions/basil and you're ready to go.  I did not have mushrooms tonight, but if you have some, slice and toss in.

This is how I serve it.  I have a better shot, but then you cannot see my sweet child looking out the window waiting for dinner and I could not deprive you of such loveliness.  Forgive the garish tablecloth; it is cheery in the room, but not terribly photogenic. I have toddlers so we use the canvas  indoor/outdoor cloths for easy cleanup. I put the rice in a ring around the outside so that the kids can have "plain rice" if they so desire.  They snacked on frozen green beans during dinner prep, so lieu of other veg I served cantaloupe and grapes.  Also on table are parmesan for the kids' rice, sweet chili sauce for me and sriracha for my heat-loving husband.

Critics reviews

2-year-old: loved rice plain, rice with chicken sauce, rice with parmesan and cantaloupe

3-year-old: liked cantaloupe best but also enjoyed rice with parmesan and grapes

Husband: declared it a company-worthy dish

Me: agreed

(full recipe after the break)

Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry

Rice (your choice)

4-5 bulbs garlic (to taste, about 2-4 TBSP chopped)

2 TBSP fresh ginger root, minced

1 medium onion, sliced very thinly

1-2 lbs chicken, cut into 1/2-inch strips

3.4 cup coconut milk

3 TBSP soy sauce

1.5 TBSP fish sauce

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2-3/4 tsp chili sauce (to taste)

4-6 green onions, chopped (plant the roots)

1.5 cups chopped fresh basil leaves (fairly rough chop)

Cook your rice first. The recipe suggests mixing the sauce first and that's a good idea, so go ahead and mix coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes and chili sauce in a bowl.

Then, in a skillet or wok, heat some oil over med-high heat and stir in the onion, garlic and ginger.  Cook until it starts to brown and add the chicken.  Cook for a few minutes until the chicken is mostly cooked through.  If you ignored my previous suggestion and haven't mixed the sauce yet, do it while the chicken is cooking.

When chicken is about 75-80% cooked through (mostly white, but you can see a hint of pink here and there), add the sauce and stir.  It's going to take a few minutes to reduce so use this time to chop the green onion and basil.  Keep stirring the sauce here and there throughout.  If you thought ahead and have these items chopped already, then by all means sip wine while stirring/monitoring.  When the sauce is reduced by about 1/3, mix in green onions and basil and serve over rice.  Enjoy!