I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit quiet of late. You see, I’ve been busy with my head down doing the final edit on my new book and battling the flu. And I know what you might be thinking – it seems like it has been a long time coming and it has! Unfortunately my book won’t come out in April as there was a delay internally at Penguin so I’m now frantically editing it and then we will get a new publishing date. I’m so sorry to the people that pre ordered it for the April release date but I promise you as soon as we get the release date once it goes to “pages” then I will pass it on. I just want it to come out! 
I can’t say that I’m particularly good with long spells editing and staring at pages of text. One day, after five solid hours of editing I left the house. Everything looked weird. The trees looked unfamiliar and it was all I could do, not to high tail it back to the comfort of home and sit in front of my glowing computer monitor bug eyed, watching the black words dance across the white screen.
Another day I did a few hours of editing and perhaps it was too much when combined with being ill. I even started to feel a bit tipsy. I rang Mr NQN at work. He sits in an open plan office and he is always very serious on the phone.
“Why helllooo sailor!” I said to him.
“Er hello, what is it?” he asked before whispering “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, happy as a cat. Can you meow like a cat?”
“No” he replied, quite rightly I suppose, “ but thank you” he added as if I were a telemarketer that was trying to sell him something. No matter how I begged, he wouldn’t meow like a cat. He’s soberingly adult that way.
To give myself a break and to make my way back into the world of the sober I thought I would prepare dinner a bit earlier. It was an easy dish and one that I have made a few times. The key to a stir fry, and indeed much of Asian food is to have all of the ingredients ready before you begin i.e. your mise en place. Stir fries are fast and cooked on high heat ideally in a wok which gives even heat on all sides and the food is moved around quickly around the wok to cook it quickly and seal in the flavour. So there is no time to chop or prepare while furiously frying so you’re best to do it all beforehand.
This is one of Mr NQN’s favourite dishes which are fabulously easy and he says is like what you could get in a Thai restaurant. He is perhaps being polite but everyone that I’ve served this to has eaten up every single piece and there is never any leftovers. Even better is when I serve it with coconut rice, which is very easy and just requires coconut cream and desiccated coconut mixed in with rice instead of water.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to meowing like a cat.
So tell me Dear Reader, are you good at concentrating on things for periods of time or do you like variety in your tasks? And would you consider yourself patient or impatient?
Thai Basil, Chicken & Cashew Stir Fry With Coconut Rice
- 2 tablespoons kecap manis sweet soy sauce (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
- 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar, chopped finely to help it dissolve (you can use regular white or brown sugar)
- 3-4 tablespoons oil
- 2 golden eschallots, sliced (or one brown onion)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup green onions, sliced
- 2 large red chillies, chopped into rounds
- 500g/1 pound chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1 small red capsicum pepper, sliced into strips
- 150g/5 ozs green beans, topped and tailed and cut in half
- 1 whole bunch of Thai sweet basil or holy basil
- 1 cup Thai jasmine rice
- 1 1/4 cups coconut cream
- 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
- pinch of salt
Buyer’s tip: Kecap manis or Indonesian sweet soy sauce can be found in the Asian section of supermarkets. It is a thick, viscous version of soy sauce. Thai basil or holy basil has a delicious aniseed aroma to it and regular green basil cannot be substituted for it. You can find it at Asian grocery stores and greengrocers.
Chopped palm sugar
1. Firstly, if you are making the coconut rice to go with this dish, start that before the stir fry as it takes up to 30 minutes (see recipe below). For the stir fry, make the sauce at the beginning as you want the palm sugar to dissolve as much as possible. Mix the sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and palm sugar in a small bowl. Stir to combine and set aside.
2. Like most Asian food, once you have everything sliced up and ready to cook (your mise en place) everything is a breeze. The key to a wok is to have it on a high heat and keep the ingredients moving in the pan so having everything prepared beforehand in important as you’ll be busy frying things. Heat a wok onto high heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of oil. Fry the eschallots, garlic, green onions and chilli for 1-2 minutes until the eschallots soften. Remove from wok and place in a large bowl or container.
3. Add another tablespoon of oil and then, in two batches, fry the chicken until browned on the outside. Remove from wok and place in the bowl with the onions, garlic and chilli. Scrape off any residue from the bottom of the wok that may remain from the chicken and then fry the cashews until golden and then add the capsicum pepper and the beans and stir fry these for a minute. Then add the chicken and onion mix back into the frypan along with the Thai basil. Drizzle over the sauce and keep frying until chicken is cooked through. Serve with coconut rice.
To make coconut rice:
4. Wash and drain the rice well. Stir through the desiccated coconut and coconut cream as well as a pinch of salt and bring to the boil and then turn down to a slow simmer (I use setting 1 on my cooktop which is the lowest it goes) for about 25-30 minutes. I find I get the best results with stovetop rice is when I do it low and slow and keep the lid on and just give it time to evaporate the water away. The rice will have tiny flecks of lightly toasted coconut which go beautifully with the stir fry.
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97 Comments | Add your own
A wonderful stir-fry! Exactly the kind of dish I’d make on a weekend.
Cheers,
Rosa
I like the sound of this recipe; basil and cashews:)
That looks delicious and I didn’t even know you were working on a book – I had to pop over and check it out. Now that I know it’s coming, I’m so excited – I hope it will be available in the US.
And I definitely need variety in my tasks. I think I’m slightly ADD and even as I read blogs (like now), I’ve got the TV on and I’m listening to music
Ohh that’s annoying about the delay of your book
i was so excited about getting it in April ~ but i understand these things aren’t within your control.
Hope you’re feeling better now and get well soon!!!
I’m pretty good with doing mundane tasks over and over again but the from time to time I need a break and do something totally different hehe
This stir fry definitely looks easy and yummy!
I love how you change up your dishes for the particular cuisine, Lorraine. That dish looks wonderful, so fresh and flavourful. Are those actually hot chili peppers in there? I do love hot things but that may even be a bit too hot for my taste. I usually have everything mise en place when I cook, you tend not to forget an ingredient that way
!
I need a break every so often if I concentrate heavily on something. It’s good for your eyes to get a break and focus on far away things.
Thats fun, I haven’t done this in a long while, calling people and making conversations knowing they can’t speak freely:) On the other hand I have received calls and that was not always fun:(
Not sure if my first comment saved, but this looks devine, and I hope you get well soon.
Best of luck on finishing your book. I must say, I cannot wait! No pressure though
This stir fry is just my kind of meal. Looks so scrumptious and I have no doubt it tastes delicious too. I, especially, am a sucker for cashew nuts.
Take care.
So fresh looking, and lots of chillis too! Looks like I’ve got dinner sorted already, thanks to you Lorraine
I have great depths of patience yet to be delved into- some may say that shows I’m quite impatient, but I prefer to believe I’m keeping them in reserve
Ps. Hope you feel better soon, and your editing wraps up quickly!
Yum stir fry’s are the best! Good luck with your editing, what an exciting time for you!
That is a really delicious looking stir-fry and so good for you. What a great meal for Mr NQN to come home to. I’m so sorry to hear about the delays with your book. That must be so frustrating. And editing is not something where you can take short-cuts – it’s a long, painful process. And you have the flu as well? It’s too early for flu season. Hope you feel better soon xx
Presentation–A+
Colours——-A+
Blog Content–A+
Mr. MQN——-A+
Delectability-A+
Interaction w/ Readers–A+
–You have it all, Lorraine.
And I love love love visiting & savoring.
PS. Can you meow like a cat?”
oh, & Humor—A+
Can’t wait to buy your book. xxx
This recipe looks yummy, will definitely try! I am very impatient – my husband balances me out as he is very patient (ying/yang).
Meow!
I am supposed to be editing a document at the moment….
If I have to and I am interested I can do a job for hours, like last night I wanted some insperation to draw frogs, so I was looking on the internet for nearly 3 hours.
Lorraine, thanks for this brilliant Thai chicken recipe, always my fav pick at Thai restaurant. I tend to use Thai basil in my pesto as feel it gives it that extra zing!
Have just been given a Holy Basil plant as gift. Never without Kecap Manis in fridge, has a thousand uses and so cheap if bought in the asian stores.
Looking forward to your book being published, well done. You have more patience than me, I was born impatient according to my Mum….
this looks delicious! Love thai basil chicken.
Im a very impatient person. Especially when it comes to food
Miaoooowwwww!
Yum, one of my fave Thai takeaway dishess!
oh yum, this sounds delicious, and easy – my family will love it!
Yummy yummy recipe. I love Asian food but sometimes I find the vast amount of required ingredients too hard to organise to whip up a meal. So resort to store-bought dishes. But I think I will need to visit the local Asian Grocery store soon and stock up on some staples!
I laughed while reading your post this morning..I can totally relate to the meowing! I have recently gone back to studying and sitting for hours reading and at the computer has a similar effect on me – it is such a good feeling to go outside and enjoy the sunshine but it takes a while to adjust. Now…. tonight I will be cooking that recipe – looks delicious!
I love Thai food! So I have a few Thai cookbooks.
There are slight variations on this Thai Chicken Stir-fry recipe around. The main difference in recipes are the amount of chillies used.
Oh, you make me laugh! Perhaps it’s the crazy cat lady in me coming out.
Dish looks delicious, I’ll have to give it a try.
BTW, the picture of the Lilydale chicken packaging reminded me of something odd I discovered this week.
We can’t recycle plastic meat trays. For years I’ve been rinsing and putting them in recycling (when I haven’t gone to a butcher of course).
Then I read the official recycling guide sent out by Sydney City Council and it says no meat trays. I asked them why, they said they could be contaminated by meat residue.
Seems odd to me, considering what plastic would go through to be recycled.
But anyhoo, that’s my recycling / cooking trivia for the week!
Amanda
So easy and delish! Im trying this one night this week! yummo Thanks Lorraine! x
I know what you mean. I often feel like I’ve been drained when I step away from doing something for a long period of time. I think staring at the computer does it to you too!
I love those bowls you have the rice in. They’re gorgeous!
You must be itching for the book to be finished and out! It’s hard when the anticipation has been building to sit back and be patient but I am sure it will all be worth the wait. Can’t wait to see it out!
A book, how exciting! Definitely looking forward to that one. Oh, and this stir fry looks amazing, I’m not surprised it gets gobbled up.
Oh I do hope you feel better soon Lorraine.
Love the fresh look of this dish and I always order Thai Basil Prawns when I eat out but will definitely be trying this chicken dish at home very soon. I made your 10 minute soy glazed Salmon recipe for dinner a few nights ago, OMG it’s delicious and so quick the whole family loved it, thank you.
Sad news about the book, I had my daughters lined up to buy it for my Mother’s day gift, never mind all good things come in due time, it will be even more special when it’s released!
I consider myself a very patient person , love to dabble in anything crafty and of course love to bake and cook but my mum must be the Queen Bee of patience. At 82 years young, she’s onto the second of four cross-stitch panels, each comprising of 135,000 tiny, tiny stitches!!
Ok, just went to Fishpond and read the blurb and now I’m REALLY excited about the book!!
An absolutely delightful version of one of my favourite dishes
! Problems with publishing seem very much to be par for the course: four of my friends have published/self-published just recently and each has multiple incredible stories for the dinner table 
! I do a lot of editing for other people and some for myself. Am not particularly patient and do take a 10 minute walk every hour, but oft have to go 8-12 hours straight 
! Then you breathe a sigh of relief!!!
Oh, I hope you feel better soon Loraine! You and Mr NQN are so funny!
Thai Basil Chicken with cashews is oe of the dishes we always order when we have Thai. I always feel a bit unadvanterous ordering the same food. I can’t wait to try your recipe, because Thai is one of the foods I’ve given up trying to cook at home.
Good luck with the editing!
Yum, I love coconut rice because it’s a bit naughty and delicious.
Can’t wait for the book to come out. How exciting for you!
HeHe, Part of why I read your lovely blog every day is to get away from staring at the computer at work
Great recipe!
Look forward to the book,can not wait for anything !soooo impatient to get things done,my way of course!!!hope the cold clears and the publishers speed things up for you,lots of luck,pity its not a full moon,you then would have an excuse for meowwing!!!!!
Thanks for sharing this Lorraine! My boys love this dish, although my 20 year old cooktop won’t heat anything long and hard enough to sizzle
It’s my turn to cook the weekly housemate dinner and this is perfect! Would this be enough for 3 adults or should I double it and have (maybe) some leftovers?
Hi Laura-I would double it, just in case (but then again I love leftovers
). Mr NQN polished it off so quickly and I suspect he would have eaten more if I had cooked more 
That book is like having a baby!
My husband works at home and if I called and said, “can you meow like a cat?” He would say, “Maureen, do I need to come and pick you up?”
No sense of humour.
I love your rendition of chiken with basil, chilli and the excellent addition of cashew nuts. Very nice and your recipe is already printed for Friday evening’s dinner. Concentrating! Your eyes get tired, you get tired and you so need to go out in the sun for 5 mins every 2 hours or you may end up sleeping on your keyboard. You described your 5 hour effort so well. Good luck with the editing, thank you for making time to post here in between your book effort and do keep in touch with your publication date. Oh, and enjoy the gorgeous sunshine, occasionally, while you can
x
Can you make your coconut rice in a rice cooker? This seems like such a small amount of liquid – and does it have to be jasmine rice or is long grain rice acceptable Lorraine? Oh, and meow …
Hi Merryn-Absolutely, I’m sure you could (although I don’t have one but I always find a rice cooker makes great rice). Long grain rice is fine for it too
I usually use 1 1/4 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice but if your rice cooker uses a different ratio, I’d use that perhaps. And I’d love to know how it goes in the rice cooker! 
Thank you Lorraine. I will try your ratio as I’ve never used coconut cream before which will be interesting. (As always 2:1 water/rice ratio.) I will let you know how it goes after the weekend. Thanks again for great inspiration
Happy editing and enjoy your day x 
Miow?
That looks lovely, and I will be making it. Just one question…can I cook coconut rice in a rice cooker?
Hahahaha love it! I def like a bit of variety. I dont like to concentrate onone thing for too long either. I’ll break it up with a random chat here and there
Hi Di-I’m sure you could do it in a rice cooker although to be honest I haven’t done it myself in one as I don’t have one. I think just use the same ratio of coconut cream to rice that you normally do
And I just want to say thanks to everyone for the meows! You guys are the best! I should ring you instead of Mr NQN
Love this recipe! The flavours and colours are fantastic, and even though there are a lot of ingredients, you just know that it will taste amazing.
This looks delicious, always love chicken and cashews. My favourite “take-away” recipe that I just discovered is Mongolian Lamb (or I make pork too) at Pod and Three Peas http://podandthreepeas.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/mongolian-lamb.html. Its even better than the local Chinese!
Sugar, I was so busy I forgot to ‘meow’ – meow: can you hear me now
!
that looks delicious..
i wouldnt mind that for lunch now!
hmm wonder if i can make a whole load and freeze it for lunch
Focus Nydia, focus Nydia…that word sound in my head all the time, sorry but I cannot concentrate too much time in just one thing, I have to switch time to time to refresh my mind and my eyes.
Stir frys are a fave of mine for an after work meal. Usually pretty quick and easy. As you said all the time is in the preparation.
I love your little coloured serving bowls – and the colourful stirfry – I am quite into cashews in stir fries lately – and think this would probably work well with tofu
And I am looking forward to your book – am sure you will be pleased when all that editing is finished
I’ll use this recipe.
Meow, meow, meoooooooow
Meow meow meow back!!!
I am impatiently waiting for your book to come out.
Yum! I’m going to make this over the weekend.
I hate editing, usually because I keep adding instead of culling! Good luck with the book
I work in publishing so know all about the joys of editing…it may be a struggle but I promise it’ll be worth it in the end!
This stir fry looks delicious – just the kind of thing I like to whip up on a weeknight for something fresh, quick and tasty.
I love your stir fry! I also love your flower rice bowl (are they ceramics or plastic? If plastic, I want those for my kids!)
Writing a book sounds a lot of work. I give so much respect for people who publish a book. They deserve to be called “book author” for good reason! I’m sure you wrote very well – just like your blog posts! Good luck, and looking forward to it!
Meow – great looking dish, Ketchap Manis is a staple in this house, so Mr Glam and the Glam Teens would be delighted with this. Hopeless on the concentration front unless I lock myself in my work room, candle lit and chill out music playing. Congratulations on the book, I had no idea. Can’t wait to read it. GG
Basil and cashews. I’m in. a lovely stir fry. one I think would be perfect for a mid week meal.
Hope you feel better soon, L!
Oh I love editing! Of all the million tasks I’m finding it impossible to fit into my work days, editing the articles for our magazine is my favourite. I’ll come edit your book AND meow like a cat for you any day, darling!
P.S. I’m big into delayed gratification, so after April really just makes me happier.
Sorry about the delay in your book being published. I’m sure the wait will be worth it. This recipe should help to while away the time. Can you make the coconut rice in a rice cooker?
Funny enough I am an inpatient person who can patiently sit doing one thing for hours on end.
Meow!
Yum, I think the coconut rice would make this dish perfect!
Once i’m focused on a task I can be ok – but it has to be interesting! If not or I lose focus then I also go a little mad
Yum! This looks perfect. My boys have finally decided they like spicy food and chicken and cashews are their favourites. Just bought a bottle of kecap manis for the Soy Glazed Salmon which was brilliant. Thanks for another great recipe, Lorraine! PS I’m very easily distracted and not good at “staying on task” for extended periods…unless it’s something like watching Mad Men
PS I think you need a copy of the Dr Suess book “Mr Brown can MOO! Can you?” (he can even make a noise like a goldfish kiss….now there’s one for Mr NQN
Hi Cathy-I’m pretty certain you can make it in a rice cooker. I’m hoping someone will try it out and let me know!
Hi Jaqi-YAY so glad that you liked the soy glazed salmon and hehe I love multi purpose ingredients so I’ll make sure to post more recipes using kecap manis!
LOL I shall definitely look out for that book- thank you!
I will most certainly make this one! Shame about the book! It WAS going to be out on my birthday and I was going to treat myself. Not to worry, we can wait and we just know it will be perfect once it comes out ! Hang in there Lorraine.
This looks so yum, Lorraine! Hope you’re feeling better.
Sending you lots of good energy about the book. Can only imagine how draining it must be.
Looks delicious this Thai chicken dish, I love the combination of spicy, sweet, salty…and lots of basil…I definitely will need a few bowls of rice to go with this yummie dish.
Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe and hope you are having a fabulous week Lorraine
What a great home meal this would be
and i still can’t wait for that book of yours to come out 
I made this last night – it was amazing!
Hmm this looks delicious! I’d love to try making it – but for some reason I get nervous about the idea of cooking with chilli. I have no idea how much to put in and I’m afraid that it’ll turn out too hot. I’ll have to overcome my fears one day and make something with it though – maybe this
Hi Lena-I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! We had it again last night but a vegetarian version
HI everyone! Thank you so much for the lovely wishes and good vibes for the book-I can definitely feel them all
xxx
P.S. Claire, Johanna and Nami, the bowls are ceramic and I bought them from Victoria’s Basement
I adore Thai food, I am sure I would leave no leftovers. And regarding your question, I am good at concentrating on things I like doing for long periods, not so much on tasks I hate…
This post made me laugh… and made me hungry! Sorry about the book delay. We’re all keen to get our hands on a copy. In the meantime, this recipe will have to tide us all over!
meow like a cat. lol u r evil! XD I am pretty much like u in that case, I ll tease my husband on the phone but he wont play along. anyway your stir fry is all my kind of food. I ll be happy to make that soon!
Those red chillies looks so good, it’s red color makes me hungry. Lovely meal, I need to learn how to make more thai food: saving the recipe.
yum! love this dish too. hahaha you’re absolutely hilarious. I go delirious too, I NEED to mix things up. Hope you’re all better now, lovely.
Heidi xo
i certainly don’t have add, but i can usually only focus on something for about an hour before i need a little break. if i’m really into something, though, i can work until my stomach growls.
A great & truly divine stir-fry! I hope you will be feeling better soon, my friend!
Good luck with your book! xxx
Your stir fry chicken dish sounds terrific and must have been delicious with the coconut rice. I hope it made you feel much better.
Looks delicious and wonderful and I am sure it didnt make mr NQN meow as good as it was!
An outstanding looking and sounding dish. Would the coconut creme brûlée be the purrrrfect dessert?
Oh Leesa, that’s a great idea!
One of my favourite dishes! Sorry to hear about the book delay but hopefully that will be sorted soon!
Finally, on Tuesday I tried your coconut rice in an electric rice cooker. It was amazing! The dessicatd coconut strands crisped up with a light, lovely golden colour. The rice was just cooked without being starchy or mushy and with such a delicate flavour! Considering I had customers and the rice stayed in the ‘warm’ stage for an additional 20 mins after the 25 mins cooking time – it was simply superb and to be recommended. Thank you for sharing this recipe (p.s. I cooked the Thai Beef and Basil version with great family success last week)
xx
I had this recipe saved in my Favourites and finally got around to cooking it last night…SO YUMMY! This is going into the regular repertoire. I tried three stores for Thai basil but couldn’t find any so had to make do with regular basil, it was fine, but I can imagine it would be so much better with the real deal. Coconut rice was so good too. Thank you so much!
I couldn’t find any Thai basil which was a shame, so I kind of winged this with coriander and lemon grass. I added these chopped and fresh in the last step (just after sauce) and it was great (I did a miniature practice run first). Can’t wait to test on the boy tonight.
I just wanted to say that I cooked this recipe for dinner tonight and it was seriously Yum! My other half stated “that was absolutely disgusting don’t ever cook that again” roughly translated as “ooh my taste buds are tingling that was awesome can we have it for dinner again tomorrow” lol this recipe is definitely a keeper thank you
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