Thai Basil Chicken

Sometimes I just need to try things outside my comfort zone.   While I love spicy food, and I love chicken, trying a Thai dish was a little intimidating to me.   Because I don't eat Thai very often, I was nervous to make something that I wasn't sure how it should taste.  But I saw this recipe in Cooks Illustrated and new I had to try it.

The spicy, herb-y flavors of this were a definite hit.  I am not even 100% certain I made it correctly.  Cook Illustrated had said to use "hot basil".  They were specific to not use Italian basil, or Thai basil.  But I could not find hot basil, so I bought Thai basil.  Also, they said to stem the Thai chiles.   It didn't say anything about seeding the chiles.   It also said it was a mild spicy, not too spicy.  So I figured maybe Thai chiles just aren't very spicy.   And I only took the stems off and didn't seed them.  HOLY HOT!   It was more than mild spicy.  Next time, I will seed the chiles.

I made a few other mistakes along the way.   The recipe said to reserve one cup of the basil to stir into the finished dish at the end.  I forgot to do that and ended up chopping both cups of basil into the base of the sauce.   It may not have made that much a difference in flavor.  It was definitely full of sweet basil flavor that finished with the spicy chile.  Finished with the armomatic Jasmine rice, this is sure to become a new family favorite.  (Well, a hit among the adults, anyhow.  I made the kids a safety dish, since this was so spicy.   But Liam took a try of it and seemed to not mind the heat.)

I thought it was a lot of prep work to get it together, but it came together quickly in the skillet.   And while it was hot the first night (I ate mine with a glass of milk to cool the capsaicin), I thought the leftovers were much more mild.   When Nico finally took the last bit of it one day for lunch, I was jealous.   Guess I'll just have to make more!

Thai Basil Chicken
recipe adapted in procedure only, courtesy of Cooks Illustrated January/February 2010

2 cups fresh Thai basil leaves, tightly packed
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
6 green or red Thai chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 Tablespoons fish sauce (can be found in international markets or online)
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce (can be found in international markets or online)
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2 inch pieces
3 medium shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
red pepper flakes for serving (optional, I did not use it because it was hot enough!)

Process basil leaves, garlic and chiles in a food processor until finely chopped, 6 to 10 one second pulses.  Scrape down the bowl and pulse some more if needed.  Transfer 1 tablespoon of basil mixture to a small bowl and stir in 1 Tablespoon fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, and sugar.  Transfer remaining basil mixture to 12 inch heavy bottomed skillet.  Do not wash the food processor.

Pulse chicken and 1 tablespoon fish sauce in food processor until meat is chopped into approximately 1/4 inch pieces.  Transfer to a medium bowl and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Stir shallots and oil into basil mixture in skillet.  Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until garlic and shallots are golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the chicken, increase heat to medium, and cook, stirring and breaking up the chicken with a wooden spoon until only traces of pink remain.  Add reserved basil-fish sauce mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly until chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute.  Serve immediately with jasmine rice and pass extra fish sauce and red pepper flakes to sprinkle on top.