Somehow, my basil plant that I acquired at Cub over a year ago is still thriving! I recently repotted it with some new soil, and it’s been going through a growth spurt. It has received a place of honor in my kitchen, right by the window, and I am quite proud of it. However, I have felt like I need to get more creative with how I use it. I make a fair amount of pistachio pest, and I went through a phase of baking with it last year. But I want to use it more for actual food! It’s so convenient to just be able to harvest what I need right there in the kitchen. I just need to acquire some more recipes for it! So when I saw this Chicken Basil Stir Fry in Bon Appetit, I jumped at the idea.
I made a few modifications to it (added red pepper, didn’t use fish sauce, stir fried the rice as well as the chicken, etc), but I kept the basics. It’s based off of a Thai dish, because apparently there’s Thai basil. It’s sometimes called holy basil, and it tastes slightly different than sweet Italian basil. I just used sweet Italian basil, because… obviously I’m using my plant. So I’m not totally sure what Thai basil tastes like! I may have had it unknowingly at a Thai place before, but I couldn’t tell you. Accordingly to what I could tell online, the taste isn’t so different as to ruin a dish if you use the other kind.
I was surprised that Thai food has basil in it until I learned about Thai basil though. And I was also surprised to see the sauce ingredients combined with basil before I realized it was Thai! So this was a learning experience all around – for both new flavors and techniques. And now I have some niche ingredients, so I’ll either keep making this, or try making some more recipes with them. Stay tuned!
In addition to wanting to use my basil, I’ve also been in a bit of a cooking rut. I’ve just been making a lot of the same old stuff, and definitely nothing worth posting on here. And it’s been a while since I’ve done a real food recipe! So I’m going to try getting out of the rut and trying new recipes. If that means using oyster sauce, then that means using oyster sauce. You have to try new things to get out of a rut!
I left out the fish sauce because I didn’t want to buy too many new ingredients and end up not liking the flavor, or knowing what to do with it all. I want to get out of my cooking rut, but I don’t want my pantry to burst! But this was a success, so I at least have some ingredients to focus on as I continue looking for new things to cook.
This recipe also uses a whole lot of basil, so it was useful in pruning my plant back a bit. I’ve got time to find other basil recipes while it grows back!
Print
Print
PinDescription
Makes 3-4 servings.
Ingredients
- 3–4 servings rice of choice, prepared
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup hot chili paste (like sambal oelek or gochujang)
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 3 shallots
- 1 red bell pepper
- 6 oz basil leaved (either holy basil or regular, sweet Italian basil)
Instructions
Prepare your rice, and set aside.
Stir together the chicken, baking soda, 1 tbsp oil, salt, and 2 tbsp water in a medium bowl until the mixture is smooth and beginning to stick to the sides of the bowl. Set aside.
In a small bowl, stir the oyster sauce, chili paste, and brown sugar together. Set aside.
Heat the remaining 3 tbsp of oil in the a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Cook shallots and bell pepper, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or rubber spatua, until softened and golden in spots, about 4 minutes. Add the chicken mixture and spread it out into an even layer. Cook, undisturbed, until beginning to set, about 4 minutes. Break up the meat with a spoon into small pieces. Pour the oyster sauce mixture over and cook, stirring often. Once the chicken is cooked through, add in the rice, and keep stirring. Cook until most of the liquid from the sauce has evaporated and the sauce is clinging to the meat and rice. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the basil. Stir until the basil is wilted. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
Serve with lime wedges if desired.