Today I spotted some lovely lemon basil (Indonesian: daun kemangi) and I have been craving for this Thai stir fry chicken with basil and chili for some time, so I scoop up the loveliest bunch, along with a packet of chicken breast, and some chilies. I have the rest of the ingredients at home in my pantry, so I was totally ready and a bit impatient to make this for my dinner tonight. 😉
Thai Stir Fry Chicken with Basil and Chili
Author: Daily Cooking Quest
Cuisine: Thai
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 red anaheim chilies (Indonesian: cabe merah besar), thinly sliced
- 500 gram skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into bite sizes
- 3 tablespoon fish sauce (Indonesian: kecap ikan)
- 2 teaspoon dark soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap hitam)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup lemon basil leaves (Indonesian: daun kemangi), reserve 10 leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté garlic and chilies until fragrant. About 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.
- Add fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Cook until the sauce is boiling and the chicken is fully cooked.
- Stir in the lemon basil leaves. Turn on the heat once the leaves are wilted. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with the reserved lemon basil leaves.
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This looks delicious. Basil is one of my all time favourite flavours. But I haven’t heard of lemon basil – how does it differ from other basils?
Hi Caroline, lemon (Thai) basil has a different taste compared to the sweet (Italian) basil. Lemon basil has a distinct licorice flavor to it. If you cannot find this herb, my suggestion would be to substitute with cilantro, or mint. True, both taste completely different than lemon basil, but both are also herbs commonly used in Thai cuisine.
Ah. We call it Thai basil in Australia. It gets so confusing with all the different names for things – cilantro is coriander in Australia. Coriander is used for both the leaves and the seeds.