Thai Basil Chicken
This recipe comes with a YouTube video (see next paragraph).
Thai basil chicken (Gai Pad Grapow) is a popular Thai street food dish. It is delicious, spicy and one of the easiest stir-fries around. It can be served as a side dish to accompany any Asian-theme meal, but I love it the most street style: as a one-dish meal with rice, fried egg and cucumbers. To me, that is convenience and pure bliss in a plate. This recipe, which was a result of many tweaks, is a winner in my family. It is fail-proof and always satisfying.
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The biggest secret to making this dish is to mince your own chicken using chicken thighs with a bit of fat on – the cooked chicken is unbelievably tender. I discovered this by accident when my supermarket ran out of minced chicken. I bought fresh chicken thighs, removed the bones & skin and minced the meat, grumbling throughout the process at the “extra work”. To my surprise, the end result was such tender chicken mince which I had never eaten before. I never looked back and I will always prep the chicken this way.
You also need the right type of basil, i.e. Thai holy basil, if you are going for the authentic taste found in Thailand.
To make this dish, I am more than willing to make my way to the Thai supermarket at Golden Mile Complex (Singapore), just to buy the basil! The trip is well worth it, as you will be rewarded with the quintessential heavenly taste of holy basil in this classic Thai dish. Although a one-to-one replacement for this herb is impossible, you can replace holy basil with any type of fresh basil (and even a bit of mint).
Thai Basil Chicken Recipe
You may substitute chicken with pork or beef. Adjust the quantity of chilli used according to your heat preference.
This recipe is for cooking a single person’s portion, though you can easily multiply the ingredients if cooking for more – example, double up the ingredients and seasonings if cooking for 2.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1/4 onion sliced thinly
- 70 grams minced chicken if mincing your own chicken, use boneless chicken thigh with some fat on
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 3 chilli padi to taste; sliced to small wedges
- 2 long bean sliced to 1.5 cm
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 cup loosely packed Thai holy basil leaves
- cornstarch solution dissolve 1 tsp corn starch mix in 2 tbsp water
(A) Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Thai fish sauce to taste
- 1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
- 50 ml water
To serve as a one-dish meal
- Thai-style fried egg
- cucumber slices
- steamed rice
- sliced chili padi
Directions:
- Heat oil in wok. Stir fry onions, garlic and chilli until aromatic.
- Add minced chicken. Stir fry chicken until half cooked on surface, while constantly breaking the meat to smaller bits with a spatula. Add long beans and stir fry until chicken is totally cooked on surface.
- Add sauce (A) and sugar. Let the sauce bubble briefly, then thicken with cornstarch solution.
- Add basil and turn off the stove. Stir through while the sauce is bubbly hot, until the basil is just withered.
- To serve as a one-dish meal, serve with a fried egg, sliced cucumbers, steamed rice and chilli padi.