thai chicken basil

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. With the summer fully upon us, we've been feasting on a lot of tomatoes, salads and other cold meals throughout the week. Not very interesting stuff to blog about. I do however have a mini-garden on our very windy fifth floor balcony and among other things have a large bunch of Thai Basil growing. Since I hadn't used any of it yet, it was starting to get rather unruly. Gai Pad Gra Pow, or chicken (gai) stir fried (pad) with holy basil (gra pow), seemed like a good way to use some of it.

This dish can be found in just about any Thai restaurant all over the world. It's rather quick and simple to make and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. Usually this dish is made with ground chicken, but I used diced chicken thigh today. Turkey or pork would work well for this dish as well. Ideally the dish is made with Holy Basil, which is different from Thai Basil or regular Basil. It has more of a spicy, minty quality. Any basil will do in a pinch, but if you can find Holy Basil somewhere, all the better. The sauce is a simple mix of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar dissolved in a bit of water. And don't forget the chilies! This dish is usually very spicy, but obviously you can adjust that to your tastes rather easily.

I fell in love with sticky rice in Thailand, and this seemed like a perfect time to make some. Unlike regular rice, you do need to soak the rice first (i usually soak it for 8-12 hours). Then you simply steam it for 20-25minutes minutes. Ideally I would have a special bamboo steamer, but I've found that my fine mesh strainer fits perfectly in my saucepan and works very well for this. The only trick is to keep the layer of rice a uniform thickness. You'll also want to buy special "sweet rice" for this (it's not actually sweet!). I use "Three Ladies" brand Sweet Rice. When cooked, the rice should stick together, but it'll be dry to the touch. Enjoy!

Gai Pad Gra Pow (Serves 2)
3/4 lb chicken, diced or ground
2 tsp cooking oil
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbls oyster sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 thai birdseye chilies, minced (this should make it somewhat spicy, adjust to taste)
1 cup loosely packed Holy Basil

Instructions
Heat oil in frying pan until very hot
Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring continuously
Add chicken and cook 2-3 minutes until cooked through
Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar and just enough water to thin it out a bit (1-2 tbls)
Add basil and chillies and serve immediately