Thai Chilli Basil Chicken | Pad Ka Prao Gai
Author: 
Recipe type: Side
Cuisine: Thai
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 Servings
 
Ingredients
  • Chicken thighs – 500 gms, boneless & skinless
  • Fresh Thai basil – 2 cups, loosely packed (or 1 cup sliced)
  • Onion – 1, small, finely chopped
  • Garlic – 8 to 10 cloves, minced
  • Fresh red chilli – 4 (or less), finely chopped
  • Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp
  • Light soy sauce – 2 tbsp
  • Oyster sauce – 1 tbsp
  • Fish sauce – 2 tbsp
  • Brown sugar – 2 tbsp
  • White vinegar – 2 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Chop the chicken thighs into very small pieces but do not grind them. I would not recommend using minced chicken for this recipe as that would not work here.
  2. Slice the fresh basil leaves into thin slices and then cut into smaller pieces lengthwise. Reserve few fresh basil leaves for later.
  3. In a bowl, mix together all the sauces – soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce. Also add the vinegar and sugar to it. Do a taste test and adjust any of the ingredient as per your liking. Set it aside.
  4. Heat a skillet and add the vegetable oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add the minced garlic and quickly fry it on medium-high for 10 seconds.
  5. Then add in the chopped onion and fresh chilies. Sauté everything on medium-high flame for 5 minutes until the onion turns translucent but not brown. You won’t need to brown the onion for this recipe.
  6. Next, add in the chopped chicken, sauté the chicken on medium-high flame for 5 to 6 minutes or until they turn opaque and fully cooked. Since the chicken is chopped very finely, it won’t take much time to cook.
  7. When the chicken starts to stick to the bottom, add half of the prepared sauce and stir-fry the chicken on high flame for about a minute or until the sauce is completely absorbed by the chicken.
  8. Then add all of the remaining sauce and continue to stir fry on medium high. The sauce will be eventually absorbed by chicken giving it a nice glossy shine.
  9. Now add the sliced basil leaves and keeping the flame at minimum, stir everything well so that basil leaves are uniformly mixed and combined with the chicken.
  10. Switch off the flame and do a final taste test for seasoning. Since all the sauces are already salty, I haven’t added any additional salt. You may adjust as per your taste at this stage.
  11. Finally sprinkle the reserved whole basil leaves and let them wilt into the hot chicken; give a final stir. Your delicious spicy Thai chilli basil chicken is ready to serve with sticky rice on the side! Enjoy!
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at http://www.flavorquotient.com/2020/02/thai-chilli-basil-chicken/