Khao Pad Kra Prao Gai Recipe

My dear friend Liesl made this dish for us (remember this post) back in April, and we loved it.  She sent me the recipe a few weeks ago and although I had to wait an extra week to make it because our grocery store was out of Basil, it was well worth the wait!  This will be a staple in our dinner rotation from now on (as long as the store has basil). :-)  For us fresh vegges come once per week on a Tuesday flight from Honolulu.  

Let me know what you think if you try it out!

(Photo courtesy of Liesl's kitchen)

Thai Basil Chicken Fried Rice
(Khao Pad Kra Prao Gai)

Ingredients for 4 servings

4 cups "already cooked" jasmine rice or long grain rice (let the rice cool before using it in the fried rice recipe)

6 big cloves garlic (crushed)

2 to 4 Thai red and green chili peppers or 1 to 2 Serrano peppers (crushed)

¼ cup cooking oil

1 to 1 ½ lbs chicken meat (cut into bite sizes)

3 tbs oyster sauce

2 tbs fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 medium size red bell pepper (julienne)

2 cups fresh sweet basil leaves

1 cucumber (cut into bite sizes) *optional (garnish)

½ cup cilantro sprigs *optional (garnish)

First, heat the oil in a deep pan or wok over high heat. Wait till the oil starts to smoke. Add crushed garlic and crushed chili peppers. Stir quickly (don’t let them burn). Then immediately add sliced chicken meat. Stir. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Stir until the chicken is cooked through. Add already cooked rice. Stir quickly until sauces are blended with rice (a couple of minutes). Stir in red bell peppers and keep stirring for few seconds then add basil leaves. Turn the heat off. Garnish with sliced cucumbers and cilantro sprigs. Serve Immediately.