Chicken with Fresh Sweet Basil

Basil Chicken, originally uploaded by Kim De.

I am one lucky girl! I have a husband who not only is a great cook, but he also likes to cook!! I am the main cook in our house, but every once in awhile he will ask me to set a night aside for him. He digs into the cookbooks and comes up with something I dont usually make - Chinese, Indian or Thai.

Last night is was Thai. He bought me a Thai cookbook for my birthday and quickly found a recipe he thought might mimic one of our restaurant favorites, Chicken with Fresh Sweet Basil.

He didnt need help. I didnt know what to do with myself - I tried to read a book, but soon the aromas coming from the kitchen began to distract me. Aromatic and spicy are how I would describe them. And the recipe was quick and easy. It would be great for a worknight meal, the hardest part being chopping the chicken and pepper. After that, it cooks in about 10 minutes.

It tasted wonderful over a bed of brown rice. We are already talking about variations to make it even more like our favorite dish. I'm sure we will be making this again soon!

Chicken with Fresh Sweet Basil (Adapted from Keo's Thai Cuisine)

1/2 pound Boneless chicken breast
3 tablespoons Oyster sauce
2 tablespoons Oil
2 Red chile peppers, chopped
3 Garlic cloves (chopped)
15 Thai Basil leaves
3 Kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup mushrooms


Thinly slice chicken into 2-inch strips. In a wok heat oil, garlic and lime leaves on high heat until the oil bubbles. Add chicken, mushrooms, oyster sauce and red chile peppers. Stir fry for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

Mix in basil and serve on rice.

Thai Green Curry Shrimp

This night of cooking is courtesy of Bo and I served as sous chef to his direction.

We have wanted to make a good green curry ever since we met. after trying numerous store-bought pastes, we decided to break down and make our own curry paste after visiting with friends who gave us some Thai basil.

Now you should know, this dish was made the night before. When we make Indian curries they are always made the day prior to eating them. This way the flavors have time to set and meld. We did the same with this dish.

Finally! A decent green curry. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. We both thought it was missing a “sweetness” from using the light coconut milk. Like anything you try for the first time, it takes awhile to find the correct nuances. But that just means we get to make more Thai curries!

Oh, and in case I hadn't mentioned it before, my husband can COOK!!!!

Green Curry Shrimp (Adapted from Tyler Florence)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, cut in 8 wedges
1 green bell pepper, cut in 8 wedges
1 stalk lemongrass, white bulb only
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh ginger
3 tablespoons Thai green curry paste, recipe follows
2 kaffir lime leaves
3 cups unsweetened coconut milk, 2 (13.5 ounce) cans (we used light as it is what we had)
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 lb shrimp
Sea salt
1 lime, juiced
Fresh Thai basil leaves
Fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges, for garnish

Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. Saute the onion and green peppers for 3 minutes to soften. Split the piece of lemongrass down the middle and whack it with the flat side of a knife to open the flavor. Add the lemongrass, ginger, curry paste and lime leaves to the skillet and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and chicken broth; add a pinch of salt. Stir together and simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Lay the shrimp in the mixture to poach for about 5 minutes or until pink. Squeeze in the lime juice and shower with basil and cilantro; serve in dinner bowls with lime wedges.

Thai Green Curry Paste
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
8 fresh Thai green chiles
2 shallots, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, smashed
Small handful of fresh cilantro sprigs
2-inch piece galangal, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 lemon grass stalks, white part only, coarsely chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
2 teaspoons dried shrimp paste
1/2 cup water

Heat the coriander, cumin seeds, and peppercorns in a small dry skillet for 2 minutes until fragrant. Put the seeds in a clean coffee grinder or spice mill and buzz the spices to a powder.

Put the spice blend and remaining ingredients in a food processor, and pulse to combine. Pour in the water to help grind everything down into a paste.

Thai Night

Red Curry Shrimp, originally uploaded by Kim De.

I want to make Thai food that is as good as at our favorite restaurant. I have tried, really I have. Most other food from our kitchen is MUCH better than that at a restaurant - Thai food we just cant seem to replicate.

Last night I made Red Curry Marinated Shrimp a Bobby Flay recipe from his Boy Meets Grill tv show. Step one, mix the coconut milk with the red curry paste. Taste. Add the onion, cilantro and lime juice. Taste. Add the oil - decide the sauce isnt hot enough, add 1/2 a chopped serrano pepper. Taste.

So far, everything tastes great. I only added 1/2 pepper, not knowing how much heat it would add. I poured enough sauce over the 1 lb of shrimp (it called for 2) to cover it, then put the shrimp in the fridge to marinate.

To the rest of the sauce I added chopped yellow pepper and carrots. I tasted one more time, decided to add the rest of the serrano, then put it in the fridge untl ready to cook *NOTE this would be good with broccoli, green pepper etc. The recipe didnt call for veggies, this was my own addition and I used what was in the fridge**

Thirty minutes before dinner, I put the veggie mixture on the stove to quickly boil, then simmer until the veggies were slightly cooked, but still crunchy. It was raining, so I pan cooked the shrimp before adding it to the veggie mixture. This was spooned over brown rice and served with a nice dry martini.

We both took bites, nicely said it was good, took more bites, then agreed there was a flavor we didnt care for. I mentioned vinegar, he mentioned sour - so the conclusion we came to was the lime juice. It was too prevalent. The sauce wasnt as rich tasting as at our restaurant (plus we really would have liked to have had fresh thai basil at the end, but none to be found.)

This recipe will go into the archives as a "do not use again" and the Thai search continues.

Red Curry Marinated Shrimp (Adapted from Boy Meets Grill)

* 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
* 2 tablespoons red curry paste *One of these days I intend to make homemade paste*
* 1/2 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
* 1 lime, juiced
* 2 to 3 tablespoons canola oil
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 2 pounds shrimp, shell and tail left on *I used 1 lb and added veggies*

Heat grill to high. Whisk together coconut milk, curry paste, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and oil in a large bowl. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Place shrimp in the bowl and toss to coat. Cover and let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.