Thai Chicken With Basil
- Total Time
- About 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- ¾cup long-grain rice
- 1jalapeño
- 1hot red pepper
- 4large cloves garlic
- 4shallots
- ½teaspoon canned green peppercorns
- 2teaspoons canola oil
- 12ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast
- 2tablespoons nam pla fish sauce
- 1tablespoon sugar
- ½cup packed fresh basil leaves, plus a few basil leaves for garnish
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)
647 calories; 10 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 90 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 19 grams sugars; 49 grams protein; 1512 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Combine rice and 1½ cups water in heavy-bottom pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook the rice, covered, for 17 minutes.
- Step 2
Trim and seed the jalapeño and the red pepper. Put from half the jalapeño to all of it, and as much of the red pepper as you like, into a food processor, and add the garlic, shallots and peppercorns. Process to make a coarse paste.
- Step 3
Heat a nonstick pan (large enough to hold all the ingredients except the rice) until it is very hot. Reduce heat to medium high, and add the oil. Sauté the garlic mixture for 30 seconds. Set aside.
- Step 4
Finely chop the chicken breast in the food processor. Return pan to heat, and sauté the chicken, breaking it into tiny pieces while cooking.
- Step 5
Add the fish sauce and sugar, and stir well. Set aside.
- Step 6
Wash and dry the basil, reserving a few leaves for garnish. Return pan to heat, and stir the basil into the chicken mixture. Serve over rice, garnished with the remaining basil.
Private Notes
Comments
This is very good and not as hot on the palate as the ingredients list might imply. Be attentive to your food processor while preparing the chicken. You want a fine chop, but not ground chicken. You're done at the end of Step 6 when the basil in the chicken mixture is slightly wilted.
This dish is probably the #1 fast food served in Thailand. However, they use a different version of basil called grapow (Thai) or Holy basil in English. I agree with Stephen, in fact it is quite commonly prepared using chopped chicken rather than ground. I prefer the meat to be ½ ground chicken and ½ ground pork. The pork gives the dish a more substantive texture. In Thailand they will sometimes replace the chicken with crispy pork belly and even roast duck pieces. All are very tasty!
While I think this recipe is a good starting point, I added soy sauce because using only fish sauce was too strong. I also added fresh lime juice, ginger, and siracha sauce for more flavor. In the future, I might keep the seeds or add more hot peppers to give it more punch.
The flavor of this is good (I followed the recipe exactly), however, it has little to no sauce to it so I found it a little dry, especially when combined with rice. Not sure I would make again.