Thai Basil Chicken ~ Pad Kra Pao Gai

Thai Basil Chicken Recipe, pad kra pao gai Recipe

Delicious, simple-to-cook and so comforting..

It’s Thanksgiving Week and I love Asian food. With these two facts established, this is an easy dish for your Thanksgiving table, or when you want a quick yummy something after all that shopping on Black Friday!
Given an option, I can have Asian food every other day. And given that it’s officially ‘Turkey Week’ there may be some of you (just like me) who prefer good ol’ chicken! So this time instead of going out to get Thai food, I made Thai Basil Chicken at home. The ingredients are readily available in any store that stocks Asian goods.

This dish is will go very well with plain steamed rice, just by itself or with the Thai Fried Rice. (See my Fried Rice recipe here)

{Serves 2-3 adults}

Ingredients you will need:

1 ½ lb boneless chicken thighs or breast, cut into bite size pieces
2 tbsp canola oil (or vegetable oil)
5 Thai chilies, slit
5 dried red chilies
5 cloves garlic, chopped
3-4 green/spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp regular soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce or oyster sauce
3 tbsp water
a generous amount of thai basil or holy basil, stems removed and washed
½ tsp sugar

Method for cooking:

1) Heat oil in a large pan or wok on medium-high heat. Add chopped garlic, Thai chilies and dry red chilies to it. Let it fry and flavor the oil for a few seconds or till chilies change color.

2) Add chopped shallots now and stir fry for a few seconds. Add chicken pieces at this point with a dash of salt and sugar. Let the chicken cook on high heat. Stir frequently, ensure that it doesn’t burn. It may release some water.

3) When the chicken is half-cooked, add the regular soy sauce. Stir and cook.

4) Chicken should turn light-medium brown. At this point add the water, oyster/fish sauce and dark soy sauce and stir well and cook.

5) Lastly, add the Thai basil and turn down the heat to low. Let the basil be slightly fried. Ensure not to overcook the basil. Turn off the heat and serve it with steaming hot jasmine rice and a crispy fried egg!

You can make the dish as spicy as you want it to be. More chilies mean more spice!