Thai Basil Chicken

Thai Basil Chicken

I’ve written up my Thai Basil before with fish and rice noodles, but tonight has a two new things. #1 Chicken. #2 Cantonese Egg Noodles. All of these are Food Lion available items.

Start with your chili/garlic paste. Cut up few dried chili peppers, I like it spicy, so I used 6. For medium, make it 3. I don’t focus on saving all the seeds. Smash up some garlic, 4 would be fine, I did 6. Smash these together using a mortar and pestle.

In a pan over medium/high heat (I used a cast iron pan, I need to get a wok) up some olive oil. Add the chili/garlic paste and cook for 30 seconds or so. Add a tablespoon or two of red curry paste. Drop the heat and stir till fragrant.

Add a cup of water and a tablespoon of fish or oyster sauce. Dribble in some sesame oil too. If you have it, put in a hint of ginger. Stir till well mixed. I also threw in a handful of grape tomatoes just because I had them and thought they’d look great with the upcoming basil. Cook this down for a few minutes, burst the tomatoes with a spoon. Thin slice a red bell pepper and a sweet onion and add. Stir well.

Add a pound or so of bite-sized chicken breasts. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often. Get your water boiling at this point, and put in your noodles. They take 4 minutes.

Add a pile of basil. 1 cup would be adequate. I used about 3 cups because I wanted my garden-fresh basil to be the star of the meal. Cook down till the basil begins to wilt.

Plate the noodles, ladle on the chicken/veggies. We like to toast up some sourdough bread to soak up the wonderful sauce.

This is as good as any Thai Basil Chicken that I’ve gotten at any restaurant. And Thai Basil Chicken is my go-to at every new Thai restaurant I’ve gone to. Of course, I would love to be cooking with Thai peppers. But…this is Colonial Beach.

Enjoy!