Finish Off Your Surplus of Summer Basil With This Thai Stir Fry Recipe
It’s practically second nature to hop on a food delivery app of choice and order in some Thai food after a long day at the office. However, we promise it can take the same amount or less to make it yourself, plus you know you’re using quality ingredients. We playfully nicknamed this dish “15 minutes to Thailand,” and we make it on the regs.
We first discovered gai gra pow years ago on the streets of Bangkok and fell in love with the copious amounts of aromatic Thai basil in the dish, used almost like a leafy vegetable. Ideally, purple Thai basil is what you want, but if your garden (like ours) is overflowing with sweet Italian basil, it works equally as well. Just a few other ingredients make this dish a savory masterpiece: Serve it over steamed jasmine rice, and go the traditional route by serving it with a fried egg on top.
Chicken With Thai Basil RECIPE (Gai Gra pow)
Recipe Notes: *Mince garlic and chilies together in food processor to avoid making your hands burn.
(Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil, such as grapeseed, sunflower, canola, or rice bran oil, divided
- 6 cloves garlic, minced*
- 1-4 Thai chilies or 3 serrano peppers, minced* (more or less depending on your spice tolerance)
- 1 medium sweet onion, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
- 2 pounds ground chicken
- 1 ½ tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 handfuls Thai basil leaves (1-2 bunches depending on size)
- 4 eggs, fried sunny-side up, optional
- steamed jasmine rice for serving
Instructions:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over high heat. Add minced garlic, chilies, onion, and bell pepper. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once onions and peppers have softened and browned a bit, remove them from pan.
2. Add the remaining vegetable oil and chicken to the skillet. Stir-fry, stirring frequently, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
3. Return onions and pepper to the pan, and add the tamari, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and salt. Cook for about 10 more minutes or until sauce absorbs/evaporates into the meat.
4. Just before serving, add the basil leaves and stir to incorporate.
5. Serve over steamed jasmine rice and top with a fried egg.
Tell us which of your favorite takeout dishes you’d like to learn to make at home by tweeting us at @BritandCo !
(Recipe and photos via Ashley Bare / Brit + Co)
