Thai Basil Chicken Recipe

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Ingredients

• chicken breast
• red pepper
• garlic shoots / green garlic
• a fresh chilli
• a dab of chilli bean paste
• ginger
• garlic
• lemon grass (dried is fine)
• sesame oil
• kecap manis
• one of those little baby limes
• fresh basil (handful)
• cashew nuts

How to make Thai Basil Chicken

This is a clean-tasting Thai-influenced dish that isn't too spicy and has lots of texture, with the moist chicken and crunchy cashew nuts.

For one. (sigh)

1. Mash together a clove of garlic, a wedge of ginger, a chilli, the zest of half the baby lime and some sesame oil into a paste. Cut the chicken and mix it into the paste. Leave in the fridge for a little while to let the paste flavour the chicken.

2. Heat some oil in a wok. Soften up some chopped red peppers and add the chicken. Move it about a bit, then add a dab of chilli bean paste and a dash of kecap manis - not too much as you don't want to darken the colour of the dish. Add a couple of stalks of lemon grass. Season with a little salt and white pepper.

3. Add chopped garlic shoots and the cashew nuts. Throw it about a bit for another minute or so. For a saucier dish, you can add half a cup of chicken stock before this step.

4. Remove the lemon grass stalks. Turn off the heat and scatter over some roughly-torn basil leaves. Don't let the basil "cook" as it will go dark and look rubbish.

5. Plate up, squeeze over a little of the lime and serve. Optionally drizzle some chilli oil for a bit more fire / colour.

Side-Note: I just started using my 60mm macro lens to take food pics and have noticed a staggering improvement in the quality. It hadn't even occurred to me to use the macro as technically the 50mm I was using is supposed to let in more light, so I thought that the macro would make the pictures too dark. I was wrong! They come out much more naturally-lit and I hardly have to mess with the levels unlike before. So if you're looking for a good food lens for a Canon dSLR, the 60mm EFS macro is pretty sweet.

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  Judy says

  mmm, this looks good. It might also be interesting using coconut-infused rice and adding the lemongrass into the cooking rice?

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  yongfook says

  funny you should mention that...I had a previous attempt at this on my flickr account [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/yongfook/364462317/) that used coconut-infused rice! It was definitely a good accompaniment.

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  sgtoca says

  kecap manis, you sure love that stuff as it's in a few of your recipes :) i like this, need to find chili bean paste though.

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  jameshill says

  oh yeah.. i'll be giving this a whirl this week.. looks top

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  caccy46 says

  You definitely have another profession in your back pocket - photography. Is there nothing at which you're just mediocre? Daaamn!

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  alvito says

  This seems tasty and is a variation from BBCGoodFood. Nice.

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  aberweger says

  yummi...!! will try this with some tofu.... thanks... looks delicious

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  denisbkk says

  one fresh chilli only??? ok. fair enough. i saw some other recipes on here that didnt even have one. no pad krapao without chilli. standard rule. kind of interesting variation to the original putting cashew nuts, lemon grass and sesame oil.... might just try that sometime.

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  kimmallari says

  love thai food! i would definitely give this a try!

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  alvito says

  I just tried this .. and its nice ! Thank YF

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  Angadishere says

  Cooked this today...it was okay but overall the concept was good. It needs some more flavor...the marinade was good.

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  speckiss says

  looks so tasty!!! I would try it myself :)

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  avflox says

  I made this last night and it was amazing. You're inspirational in the kitchen.

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  sunshine87 says

  this is amazing!

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  asianstylist says

  It's a beauty!

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  dnomyer0810 says

  Good 4 me am here in Thailand now:) am going 2 try this one...aloi...

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  canamich says

  Yummy, I am growing Thai Basil and it tastes fantastic in this dish.

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  Fernie says

  I know the recipe is called " Thai Basil Chicken", but I substituted the basil for Spinach because my girl doesn't like basil. Still, it came out really good. Thanks for the recipe.

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  cocorico says

  I'm testing the recipe tonight with all the "proper" ingredients...results later

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  GardenGazer says

  This is a great recipe - I've made it several times now and recommend it.

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  julio says

  this was ummm ummm umm, chicken chackan licking, thanks dude, loved it like my US visa, nuff love x

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  Jessieling says

  Wow!

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  Adobo says

  Gai Pad Krapow!!! Yum yum!

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