Family Dinner Swap

Amy of Park City Girl is doing a Recipe Swap and I thought I would add my two cents to the list.

I love love love Thai food and stir-frys. I'm always hitting up my friend Lily (who's from Thailand) for interesting new recipes. Here is one of my favorites.

Chicken Basil (Gai Pad Gra Pow) This recipe was put together from info from both Lily and Thaifoods.com

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
4-7 Thai chili peppers (minced or crushed)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1-2 pkgs fresh Thai Basil
1/2 lb. ground chicken (or bite-sized chunks of chicken)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3Tbsp fish sauce


Method:
Mince garlic and chili peppers together. Clean and pick basil from its stems. It may appear like a lot of leaves, but they will shrink when cooked and this dish's flavor comes from the leaves. Fry garlic and chili in oil over high heat. When garlic starts to turn brown, add ground chicken. The juice will start to come out. Keep stirring until all the juice is gone. It might take a couple of minutes. Add sugar and fish sauce. Then add the basil. Quickly turn over a few times to mix the leaves with the meat and then remove from the heat and put in serving bowl. Serve with hot rice.

Notes:
You can substitute ground turkey or pork for the ground chicken. Some people like the meat cut up in bite sizes pieces rather than ground. You can also add Sliced green peppers and onions just before adding the sugar and fish sauce.

PS: If you haven't tried the Thai Basil, you really should. It is much milder and more flavorful than the regular 'italian' basil that we tend to use here in the US. I've also done eggrolls and Coconut Chicken soup and you can get those recipes by clicking here.

Enjoy!