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Thai Basil Chicken for a Weeknight Dinner

Thai Basil Chicken for a Weeknight Dinner

Thai basil chicken stir-fry: ground chicken, garlic, chiles, fish sauce, and Thai basil — a quick weeknight home adaptation.
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Servings: 4
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp neutral oil (vegetable or canola)
  • 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 3 Thai bird's eye chiles, thinly sliced
  • 1 lb (450 g) ground chicken
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce (regular, not dark)
  • 2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 cup loosely packed fresh Thai basil leaves, picked from stems

Method
 

  1. Pound the garlic and chiles into a coarse paste with a mortar and pestle (or finely mince with a knife). Stir the fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar together in a small bowl.
  2. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add the garlic-chili paste and stir-fry about 30 seconds, until fragrant but not browned.
  3. Add the ground chicken and cook, breaking it into small pieces with a spatula, until no longer pink. Do not crowd the pan or stir constantly — let the meat brown a little.
  4. Pour in the sauce mixture and stir-fry 2 minutes, until the sauce has mostly cooked down and coats the chicken. This dish should not be soupy; the meat absorbs most of the sauce.
  5. Turn off the heat, add the Thai basil, and toss until just wilted — seconds, using residual heat.
  6. Serve over cooked jasmine rice. A fried egg on top is the standard accompaniment in Thailand.