Hot Thai Stir-Fry

This week, I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) is cooking with Nigel Slater. He is our featured chef for this week's theme "Monthly Featured Chef : Nigel Slater!".  A few months ago, I've added one more of Nigel's cookbook, Real Cooking, to my cookbook collection. I now have five of his books. And the first recipe that I've tried from this book is a chicken dish, Hot Thai Stir-Fry. 

I have a pot of Thai basil plant, which needed to be pruned, and found just the recipe to use up the leaves. This stir-fry chicken dish comes together pretty quickly, so get everything chopped up and ready. The only part that takes a bit of time is to cook and brown the chicken pieces in oil for a few minutes, which really did not take long at all. Remove the browned chicken pieces to a plate. In the same pan, saute the spring onions, ginger and garlic till fragrant. Add the chopped chillies, then return the chicken pieces to the pan. Stir for a minute, add in the dark soy sauce. Seeing that there is no mentioning of any salt or seasoning in the recipe, I have added a dash of fish sauce and light soy sauce to taste. 

This is quite a fairly dry dish as there are no sauce, but it was delicious, we had it for dinner with rice along with some other dishes. I love simple stir-fry like this!

Fragrant Thai basil leaves.

Hot Thai Stir-Fry
(adapted from "Real Cooking", Nigel Slater)
For 2
a generous handful of basil leaves (at least 20)
groundnut oil
350gm chicken, cut into small pieces but skin left on
4 spring onions, roughly chopped (separate the white and green parts)
small lump of ginger, about the size of a walnut, peeled and shredded
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 hot red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce (my addition)
1 teaspoon light soy sauce, to taste (my addition)

Tear the basil leaves up a bit. Heat a wok or deep frying pan and then pour in enough oil to cover the bottom, probably about two tablespoons. When the oil starts to shimmer and smoke, drop in the chopped chicken. If it lands skin-side down so much the better. Do not touch until the bottom side is golden, then move the chicken around in the pan. Chopsticks are as good as anything for this and will seem appropriate, though any old spoon is fine. Cook until the meat is golden on all sides, Test a piece; it should be juicy and only just cooked through. Tip out into a dish (anything will do, it is going back in the pan later).

Add a little more oil to the pan if there seems little left. Throw in the spring onions (I use the white part of the spring onions), ginger and garlic. Shake it all about a bit. It should sizzle and spit. If it doesn't then your pan isn't hot enough. Add the chillies. When they soften, return the chicken to the pan, throw in the basil and stir for a minute. Slosh in the soy sauce (fish sauce and light soy sauce to taste, with the remaining green parts of the spring onions) and serve on hot plates.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week,

"Monthly Featured Chef : Nigel Slater!"