Thai Basil Chicken

My husband and I recently visited our favorite “specialty” grocery store.  It was an impromptu “date” after visiting a friend in the hospital.  (We’ve been married a long time)  Wandering through the produce section I noticed they had fresh Thai Basil and Lemongrass.  In my mind I was immediately taken back to Bangkok Wok, a quaint little Thai restaurant around the corner from our house in Pennsylvania.  They served the BEST Thai Basil Chicken and Lemongrass Soup!  

At Bangkok Wok the food was as authentic as it can get here in the states.  The owner was a Thai gentleman and his American wife.  They had lived in Thailand (and I think owned a restaurant there) a number of years before moving to Pennsylvania.  Water was served in these beautiful little ornate metal bowl type “glasses” and the Thai coffee….OH.MY!  I’m pretty sure this is where our oldest daughter got the beginnings of her love for coffee.  I heard the owners did occasional cooking classes at the restaurant but my children were young and I didn’t take the time to go…figuring we’d be there forever so I could do it later.  Well, now we live 1,400 miles away and …

The Thai Basil and Lemongrass were really inexpensive so I decided to get some and look for a recipe.  I found a recipe that looked good, made a few adjustments and my whole family said it tasted almost identical to our favorite Thai restaurant!  

About the Dish:

This is a low-calorie, flavorful, quick and easy recipe.  More peppers can be added to increase the heat for those who like it spicy.  It’s best served over rice. 

Complete the Meal:

A side of Edamame Coleslaw, Asian Salad, stir fried vegetables or Lemongrass Soup (recipe coming soon) rounds out this meal nicely.

Here’s the Recipe:

• 2-3 Tbsp vegetable oil (I use canola)
• 1 tsp garlic chili sauce (found on the Asian isle)
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 medium onion – chopped
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce (also on Asian isle)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 cup fresh Thai basil leaves 

*See possible substitutions below if you can’t find some of the ingredients

*I doubled the recipe (except the onion) in order to serve 5 adult-sized people.  We had a little left over.

Start by mixing soy sauce, sugar and oyster sauce in a small bowl and set aside

In a large skillet or wok, heat oil and saute onion until soft and translucent

Add garlic, red pepper flakes and chili sauce and continue to saute about 1 minute 

*Watch carefully, garlic can burn easily if your heat is too high

Add chicken and cook until no longer pink

Add soy mixture and continue to cook until sauce thickens slightly and chicken is completely done

*We like our sauce a little thick so I mixed a teaspoon of corn starch with a little water and added once the chicken was done.  This will thicken your sauce nicely, just make sure there are no lumps in your corn starch before adding*

Add basil leaves and stir

Remove from heat once the leaves “wilt”

Best served over rice.  We prefer Jasmine or Basmati

Possible substitutions:

Regular basil subbed for Thai basil

Dried (or diced green) Thai chili peppers subbed for red pepper flakes

Fish sauce subbed for oyster sauce

Sriracha subbed for garlic chili sauce

This recipe is linked up at Weekend Retreat Link Party, Wake Up Wednesday Link Party, and the Wednesday Rounnd up.