Ingredients
Total Time: 30 minutes
1 Chicken Breast – sliced into ¼” slices max, or is also served sometimes chopped or ground
6 to 8 fresh red bird’s eye chilies – thinly sliced on the bias (May be packaged as “Thai Chilies”)
1 to 2 Cups Holy Basil leaves. (You may not be able to find Holy Basil because it grows terribly in the U.S., but if you can find it, use it. Otherwise Thai Basil is the next best option. Don’t use regular western Basil.)
1/2 yellow onion – Sliced and halved once
1/2 green bell pepper – sliced length wise, then in half
8 to 10 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
1 large shallot – finely chopped (you want roughly equal parts shallot and chopped garlic)
4 or 5 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Thai Thin Soy Sauce (Golden Mountain Brand)
1 Tbsp Thai Black Soy Sauce (Dragonfly Brand)
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce (Squid Brand is best, and easy to find)
3 Tbsp Thai Oyster Sauce (Maekrua Brand)
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
Cooked White Rice (Jasmine rice is Thai rice, but I prefer a shorter grain Japanese rice with a higher starch content to soak up the extra sauce better. To learn more about Japanese rice click here)
Optional – Fried egg. (fry Thai style in the wok with vegetable oil before cooking the dish)
Procedure
Heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in wok over med-high heat.
When oil is hot, add garlic, shallot, and chopped chilies. Fry for 1 – 2 min until fragrant
Add Chicken and cook / stir
Once chicken turns white and cooks a bit, add the sliced onion, and bell pepper and stir.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, make a small area in the center of the wok and add the brown sugar. Stir around until it melts a bit and stir into the Chicken.
After the sugar has been incorporated and caramelizes, pour in all of the sauces and mix. (it helps to pre-mix the sauces in a smaller bowl then just dump it all in at once)
Continue to cook for a few minutes, until everything has caramelized, the sauce has thickened, and the vegetables and chicken are cooked through
Add the basil, stir until just wilted. You don’t want to cook this for too long, as the longer it cooks the more it will lose its flavor. This is one of the primary flavoring agents of Chili Basil, so sauté just until wilted then remove from heat, or turn off the heat then add the basil, about 1 – 2 minutes max.
Serve with Rice and Sambal Oelek sauce for added heat.
If eating traditional Thai style, add the fried egg on top of the chicken when serving.
Quick, easy, and legit. Cook over med-high heat the whole time. Street vendors in Thailand slam this out in 3 minutes over a blazing hot wok. You can get away with two chicken breasts instead of one, with a whole onion and green pepper instead of half with this recipe while using the same amount of sauce if you wanted. If using two chicken breasts, I recommend pulsing in a food processor a bit to coarsely grind the chicken so that the sauce can be absorbed and dispersed more evenly. That’s how it’s usually served in Thailand anyway; minced, with a fried egg on top.