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| Fresh basil added for artistic verisimilitude. |
This is a work in progress. One of our favorite dishes at the local Thai is the Basil Duck and while there is no chance of me frying up duck breast, I can at least try the sauce, so I found a basic recipe here and added vegetables. Other than garlic, shallots, and a serrano chile - oh, and basil - there's no veg in the recipe. Also, I felt the ratio of soy sauce to fish and oyster sauce was not quite right, so I've cut back. And I eliminated the chicken broth altogether and doubled the sauce because the chicken and veg create enough juice on their own and all the veg requires more sauce. So here's what I did:
Mix: 2 Tb oyster sauce
1 1/2 Tb fish sauce
1 Tb soy sauce
2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp brown sugar
2 Tb Huy Fong chili garlic sauce (or a minced serrano below)
Prepare: 1/4 cup sliced shallots
4 cloves garlic, minced
(optional minced serrano chile in lieu of chili garlic sauce)
Chop: 1/4 of a head of cabbage
1 bell pepper (red is prettier)
Steam 1/4 - 1/2 cup string beans (I used frozen beans and broccoli)
lightly: 1 cup broccoli florets
and the cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced basil leaves
1 chicken breast (a half, in other words), chopped, sliced, however you like.
Minimal amount of oil for frying.
1 cup brown jasmine rice, cooked. Brown rice needs to be soaked for 20 minutes, drained, and then cooked in 1 1/4 cups water or less. Or use whatever rice you want. White rice is a waste of calories.
Fry chicken in 2 T oil on high heat until pink disappears. Time will depend on size of chunks, 2 - 3 minutes.
Add shallots and garlic (and serrano if you are using that instead of chili garlic sauce) and cook 2 - 3 minutes.
Add 1 T of the sauce mixture and cook one more minute.
Add the rest of the sauce and the vegetables. Toss and cook 1 - 2 more minutes.
Remove from heat and add basil leaves - toss them around.
Serve over rice.
