I Like My Thai

If I were told I could only have one cuisine forever...I would likely choose Thai. I love the flavor profile - the subtleties of the heat, the sweet and the salty - in all presentations, from papaya salad to Tom Yum soup to Kee Mao, more commonly known (when Pad Kee Mao) as Drunken Noodles. This dish features the fresh flavor of Thai, or Holy, Basil (pictured left) with chiles and garlic. While it certainly has some heat, it has a lovely, balanced mix of flavors.

This week my CSA had an abundance of Thai basil, so I helped out by taking a few large handfuls! It was perfect for making some Drunken Noodles, and I knew I could also use my baby onions and some garlic scapes.

By now you've noted my interest in mise en place, having all my ingredients ready to go before I turn on the heat of the stove top. With a stir fried dish like this, it's even more important to have everything ready to go.

I started by cutting up three Thai chiles (often called Bird chiles). One, I sliced into thin strips, and the other two I chopped and crushed a bit with the side of my knife. I then chopped and crushed five cloves of garlic, and thinly sliced the soft stems and bulbs of two garlic scapes. These are the flavorful aromatics that form the base for this dish.

I then sliced up a milder chile - I used an Anaheim pepper - in thin strips. I cut a plum tomato into wedges, and thinly sliced three baby onions. These are additional vegetables for the dish.

I measured out the sauces. In one bowl I added oyster sauce and light soy sauce. In another I measured out fish sauce. A bit of lime zest and an equal bit of sugar were also prepared.

Finally, I laid out the ground chicken meat (though any protein, from ground pork to cubed tofu, will work!) and separated a small (at least I tried for it to be small!) portion of rice noodles.

I put on some water to boil and salted it. This was on a back burner, to be out of the way. In a large frying pan or wok, some oil was heated and then the garlic, scapes and hot chiles were added. Over medium heat, they rendered down a bit. When the garlic started to turn golden and the mixture was very aromatic, I quickly added in the oyster and soy sauces, swirled the pan, and added the chicken.

After stirring to ensure the chicken breaks apart enough and mixing the sauces and spices into it, it was almost cooked through. Overall, this was about 6-8 minutes; no need to rush it! When the chicken was almost cooked through, I added the tomatoes, onions and mild chile and stirred so they could soften.

When the vegetables have softened a bit, the fish sauce, sugar and lime zest are added and mixed in. After about 30 seconds of sautéing, the basil went into the pan. I adore basil, and love the flavor it adds here, so I added lots.

After a few more minutes of stirring to wilt the basil, the dish was complete. Total cooking time was about 15 minutes - manageable on a hot summer night.

This picture makes me hungry, and I just ate this!

This dish was delightful! While I think I'll adjust the amount of sauces added (downward) next time, the flavors were wonderful, and I ate all of it...and loved it! I even enjoyed in with a Brooklyn Brewery Pennant Ale '55, in honor of my favorite Brooklynites.