Thai Basil, Chicken & Cashew Stir Fry With Coconut Rice
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
-
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/1.1 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
Coconut Rice
-
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.
Step 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.
Step 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.
Step 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:
Step 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.