My First Gai Pad Gra Prau

My First Attempt

Servia finally found some Holy Basil as I mentioned yesterday. I took a bunch of recipes off line but I made my own combination based on my memory of my favorite Thai restaurant in the city of my Alma Mater. This was my favorite dish. My version of it was way way too salty because the fish sauce we got was insanely salty. I really needed oyster sauce but I couldn't find any at the store where I got the chicken and the peppers. Here is a version of my recipe (serves 4-5 people):

Ingredients

• 1 lb of chicken breast, cut into bit-sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 6 sections of garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, sliced thinly
• 5 dried jalapenos with seeds, minced
• 3/4 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced medium-thin
• 2 red chili peppers (small), sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 a green bell pepper in thin slices
• 1/2 a red bell pepper in thin slices
• 1/4 cup holy basil leaves, fresh
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fish sauce-- this was a complete disaster because of the salt. My suggestion would be 1/4 cup rice wine instead
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cooking sherry (optional)
• 1/4 lime's worth of juice

Directions

• Do all preparations.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a wok
• Add in the dried jalapinos, garlic, and shallots and cook for 1 minute.
• Add in the mushrooms and cook for one minute.
• Add in the peppers and cook for two minutes.
• Make a whole in the vegetables in the center of the wok. Pour in the sesame oil and then stir in the chicken and the holy basil. Cook the chicken until it is white on all sides but not brown.
• While the chicken is cooking, mix the sauce together
• Pour the sauce into the wok and cook for 3-5 minutes (until chicken is cooked through).
• Serve over jasmine rice.

Anyway, I will continue to experiment. It is my favorite dish and I will make it work eventually.