I have plenty of basil right now, which put me in mind of all these good things I could do with it.
Thai Basil Chicken
from Mark Wiens at Eating Thai Food, serves one. Previously diaried here.
The recipe calls specifically for Holy basil, a.k.a. Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum), which is different from either Thai or Italian basil (both Ocimum basilicum). I’ve seen that at the nursery in spring but have never grown it. Substitute Thai or Italian basil.
It also calls for “dark soy sauce”, which you may be familiar with if you do a lot of East Asian cooking. I just use more regular “light” soy sauce.
You can also add vegetables to this; other recipes I looked at mentioned onions, bell pepper and green beans. I added diced red bell pepper.
1 chicken breast (or any other cut of boneless chicken, about 200 grams)
5 cloves of garlic
4 Thai chilies (maybe 1 Serrano chili)
1 tablespoon oil for frying
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
½ teaspoon light soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
1 splash of dark soy sauce
1 handful of Thai holy basil leaves
- Make sure your rice is cooked and ready to be served before you start cooking the meat.
- Cut the chicken into small bite sized pieces.
- Rinse and peel the garlic and chilies, and pound them in a mortar and pestle (alternatively you can just mince them with a knife). They don’t need to be super fine, you just want to bring out the oils and flavors from the garlic and chilies.
- Pluck a good sized handful of basil leaves off the stems.
- Now it’s time to start cooking. Heat your wok on high heat, and add about 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan.
- When the oil is hot, add the chilies and garlic. Stir fry them for about 20 seconds or so until they get really fragrant, but don’t let them burn or get too dry.
- Toss in your chicken and any vegetables. Keep stir frying continuously. At this stage you want to continue to stir and cook your chicken until it’s just about fully cooked all the way through (depending on the size pieces of chicken and how hot your fire is, it should take about 2 – 3 minutes). If it starts to get dry, add just a tiny splash of water.
- Add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar, and finally a splash of dark soy sauce. Keep stir frying for about another 30 seconds.
- Grab a handful of basil, toss it into the pan, fold it into the chicken, and then immediately turn off the heat (if you’re using an electric stove, you’ll want to remove the pan from the burner). The basil really only needs to cook for about 5 seconds, and it will continue to wilt and cook from the existing heat of the chicken. This step is important because if you cook the basil for too long, it loses some of its glorious flavor and gets slightly chewy.
Pesto
The classic Italian preparation of fresh basil with garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and cheese.
Pesto alla Genovese 1 (esquimaux’s recipe)
Pesto alla Genovese 2 (ninkasi23’s recipe)
Caprese Salad
You don’t need a recipe for this, just good tomatoes while they’re still in season. Tomato, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, vinaigrette.
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I’m out tonight with my German band doing an Oktoberfest gig. We’re supposed to get dinner there, it will probably involve wurst, potatoes, and sauerkraut. What’s for dinner at your place?
What’s for Dinner? is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions. We also have a handy post with links from our archives here: Master Index 2014-2021
We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23!
