Thai Basil Turkey

By admin on April 3rd, 2008

Thai basil turkey I traveled to Thailand early this year and I made it a point to sample as many dishes as I could. Heres a simple twist on the authentic Thai dish Kai Pad Bai Kaprow (a.k.a stir-fried chicken with basil). I’ve substituted the chicken with ground turkey and the Thai chili peppers with your standard run of the mill red peppers found in any supermarket. If you have trouble finding some of the more obscure ingredients, I’ve included links to where you can purchase these online. I’ll be posting more Thai recipes in the days to come and they all use the harder to find ingredients, so don’t worry that they will go to waste and just collect dust in your cupboards!

Ingredients:

1 lb. of ground chicken or turkey
Garlic - 5 cloves, chopped fine
1/2 red pepper, diced fine
1 shallot, chopped fine
Dark soy sauce - 2 tbsp
Fish sauce – 1 tsp
Oyster sauce 2 tsp
Palm Sugar - 1 tsp
White pepper - 2 pinches
basil leaves - 2 cups torn
1 tbs oil

Directions:

Heat a wok until hot. Add the oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the garlic and shallot. Stir-fry on medium heat for about 30 seconds, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the red pepper and stir-fry another minute.

Add the minced chicken or turkey and stir-fry until the meat has browned. Drain the liquid after the meat has browned. Then add the dark soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, palm sugar and white pepper. Stir-fry for a few more minutes to allow the sauce to thicken. Next, add the basil leaves. Stir until the basil wilts, about 1-2 minutes.

Serve this dish on top of white steamed jasmine rice. Top with a few sprinkles of Thai red pepper flakes!