Culinarily Chic: Thai Basil Black Pepper Chicken

Thai Basil Black Pepper Chicken

I have a problem with not finishing off ingredients that I buy to make specific dishes, so I challenged myself to create a dish using the ingredients that I already had in my kitchen. So, here's my take on a classic Thai street food dish- Basil Chicken! It's traditionally served with a fried egg, so that's the story behind that seemingly random pairing.

This dish includes about 8-10 crushed cloves of garlic, 4 hot peppers, and nearly a tablespoon of black pepper, so needless to say it's flavorful and SPICY.

THAI BASIL BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN
(Makes about 3-4 servings)

Ingredients

4 large chicken breasts, sliced thinly across the grain, excess water dried off (IMPORTANT!)
8-10 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
4 hot peppers
10 sprigs of Thai basil, leaves plucked
4 tbsp. of Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce* (or other dark soy sauce if unable to locate)
4 tbsp. of sweet soy sauce* (this is a thick, very sweet soy sauce)
3 tbsp. of oyster sauce
2 tbsp. of fish sauce
1 tbsp. of freshly ground pepper
4 tbsp. of oil, canola or peanut, separated
1/2 tsp. of white pepper salt
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
Steamed jasmine rice for serving
1 egg for frying, served as a side

Directions

Combine Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and freshly ground pepper in a bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

Using the flat side of a large knife, crush garlic cloves and then roughly chop. Chop hot peppers as well, keeping the seeds. Season chicken pieces with white pepper salt and garlic powder.

In a wok (or skillet if you don't have a wok), heat the two tablespoons of oil over medium high heat. Once heated, add the chopped garlic and hot peppers and sauté for about 45 seconds until fragrant.

Add thinly sliced chicken pieces to the wok and continually move around for 3-5 mins, until chicken is nearly cooked through. Turn the heat up to high and add the sauce mixture, stirring to make sure the chicken pieces are evenly coated.

Once the chicken has fully cooked in the sauce, add basil leaves, stirring once. If using a gas stove, turn off the stove, and if using an electric stove, remove wok from heat and place on another eye. The basil will continue to cook from the heat of the chicken.

While the flavors pf the dish continue to meld, fry 1 egg in 2 tbsp. of oil. Once the egg is fried to your liking and the yolk is cooked through, serve alongside the Thai Basil Black Pepper chicken and jasmine rice.

Enjoy!

*Try to locate Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce and sweet soy sauce as these both have flavors very distinct from regular soy sauce. Look for Asian markets in your area, which are almost certain to carry these products.