Thai Basil Chicken

[58limited]

I was inspired to experiment in the kitchen this week by Michael_in_TX 's post about a Thai restaurant that he went to recently: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...ad#post1485356

I had Thai Basil Chicken at a place in College Station called Nipa Hot (Phillipe and Thai cuisine) in the mid-1990s, it was my favorite menu item. They are closed now but I set out to reproduce their recipe as close as I can.

After three tries I'm close enough to be satisfied, here is what I did:

Thai Basil Chicken
Serves two (or one hungry person)

12 oz. Chicken, ground or cubed into small pieces
2-3 T Oil for stir frying
4-5 Cloves garlic
4-5 Thai (Birds Eye) red chili peppers (use more or less depending on how hot you like it)
1 Medium shallot, finely sliced
1 t Light Soy Sauce
1/2 t Dark Soy Sauce
1 T Oyster Sauce
1t Hoisen Sauce (optional and probably not authentic but really plays well with the Oyster Sauce)
1 1/2 T Sugar
1 cup whole Basil leaves, Holy Basil if you have them, but I used regular sweet basil which is what Nipa Hot used.
Jasmine rice or rice noodles for serving

EDIT: 9/25/23 - I just remembered that the three recipes that I used to make up my recipe called for fish sauce. I forgot to add that to the batch that I made for this post and it tasted fine. If you want to add fish sauce I would use a teaspoon.

Cook noodles or rice, drain and rinse, and set aside.

Peel and crush the garlic and place into a mortar. Remove stems and cut Thai chilies into 3-4 pieces and add to mortar. Using the pestal, pound the garlic and chilies into a course paste.

Stack several basil leaves on top of each other, roll up from the side - not top to bottom - to make a tight roll and thinly slice. Repeat until all of the basil is sliced,

Combine light and dark soy sauces, oyster sauce, Hoisen sauce, and sugar and mix well.

Mise en Place: Garlic pepper paste and shallots in one bowl. Chicken in another bowl. Sauce in a third bowl. Basil in a fourth bowl.

Add oil to a wok and heat until smoking. Add shallots and garlic pepper paste. Stir Fry about a minute then add chicken and stir fry until almost cooked through. Add sauce by pouring down the sides of the wok and stir until it thickens to desired consistency. Just before this point add the basil and turn off the heat. Serve over rice or noodles.

Note - pic below also has green onion tops from another cook.



Yum! I had some long beans so I sliced one into 3/4 inch pieces and added it with the shallots.

[Michael_in_TX]

I can't wait to try your take on this. What brands do you use for your light and dark soy sauces?

[58limited]

Michael_in_TX I use Pearl River Bridge Light soy Sauce and some smoked shoyu for the dark: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If I was going to use regular soy sauce I'd probably use either Pearl River Bridge Dark (its really strong so I'd use less) or Crystal's brand of soy sauce, they are both stronger than Kikkoman.

[Uncle Bob]

Neat recipe, I like it.

I've had bumper crops this year of Thai Basil and the tiny fire bombs you called Birds eye chilis (damn they pack a kick). I like the sweet, licorice like flavor notes in the basil. I'll sometimes use it in recipes calling for parsley since the flavor is more interesting to me.

[fzxdoc]

This looks wonderful. Thanks for the recipe.

Maybe next year I'll try to grow Thai basil again. Hard to find locally, and the flavor is so uniquely different from sweet basil.

Kathryn

[Bob K]

Looks great. Did you use chicken breast or thigh and do you think it matters?

[58limited]

I used mostly breast with a little thigh meat. I think I like the texture of thigh meat better.

[Baltimorelger]

Looks fantastic!

[TripleB]

Looking good. Will have to give this recipe a try. Thanks for posting.

[58limited]

I just remembered that the three recipes I used to come up with this recipe called for fish sauce. I forgot to add that to the batch that I made for this post and it tasted fine. If you want to add fish sauce I would use a teaspoon.