Thai Chicken with Basil Leaves

Copyright 2012 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

This is a chicken dish I concocted out of necessity again. I had a bunch of basil leaves and as much as I would like to make pesto sauce, there is nowhere for me to get walnuts moreso pine nuts. There is a sunflower version of the pesto sauce so I might actually give that one a go later this week. This dish I found uses basil leaves with chicken marinated in an Asian sauce. The dish is quite simple so I'm not hesitant to give it a try. I'm a bit worried about the use of red chiles being a Thai dish so I'm using some sweet peppers instead. It uses a good amount of basil leaves so make sure you have enough. I also ended up cooking it a bit longer so it is more of a braised dish than stir fried. It was still good, healthy and quick.

Thai Chicken with Basil - Adapted*

1-2 lbs chicken breasts, skinned and diced into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 sweet peppers, julienned
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cup basil leaves

1. In a bowl, marinate the chicken in the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and
    water. Set aside for 30 minutes.

2. Heat a wok or a large pan and saute the garlic and onions. Season with salt
    and pepper. Add the sweet peppers and cook for another minute.

3. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned and almost done. Pour the
    marinade sauce and cook until thickened. Add a cup of the basil leaves
    and stir well.

4. Serve and garnish with the remaining basil leaves.

*Thai Chicken and Basil recipe, Food and Wine.