One of our favorite meals is Thai Basil Chicken over Rice Crust (a Persian food called Tahdig in Farsi check wiki here). It was a wonderful thing to be able to go out to the back of the house and pick a bunch of Thai Basil from our yard to make the meal!!!
I collected a bowl of the Basil for our recipe. Although, we normally use more basil, but this was all I could take from the plants. The amount worked out okay.
Our Thai Basil Chicken is our own version of Gai Pad Gra Pow. Ours is different in a few ways. First, we cut up the chicken very small and R likes to cook it until it is crusty making the mixture a bit crunchy. We serve it on top of R's fantastic Rice Crust which is both soft and crunchy rice. And lastly, we make our own sauce instead of Fish Sauce which is traditionally used in Gai Pad Gra Pow.
Here's our recipe if you'd like to try it. You can use regular Bastami Rice. Someday, I'll ask R to help me with a post on how to make Rice Crust (or if you are dying to know or try it you can check My Persian Kitchen's rice crust recipe here, although you don't need to use yogurt or saffron for cooking Rice Crust (although Saffron is always nice ;). In fact, you can use potato or bread or other things at the bottom of the pan. But sometimes, it might be best just to make it simply with rice and oil. R uses a different method which appears easier than My Persian Kitchen's). Be warned, rice crust is addictive!
K and R's Basil Chicken
2 Servings
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1½ -2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
2 Red Chili minced very small
2 Green Chili minced very small
1/4 to 1/2 Head of Garlic minced very small
1 Large Bunch of Thai Basil (cleaned and the thicker stems taken off, you can leave the flowers if your Basil has some)
Sauce (the sauce we make below is a substitute for fish sauce)
1 Tablespoon Sugar
Basmati Rice for two
Instructions:
Start your rice.
Make the Sauce by mixing the following ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Fresh Squeezed Lime (or one whole lime which is a bit more)
Set Sauce aside.
Cut the chicken into very small pieces. In a Wok heat up the oil on med-high and add the chicken. When the chicken is nearly cooked add the chilies and the garlic and cook for a minute or two longer. Stir constantly over med-high heat. Do not burn the chili or the garlic. R likes to cook the mixture long enough that it gets brown and crispy. He let’s the mixture stick to the bottom of the wok and scrapes it off forming crispy bits in the mixture. But you don't have to cook the chicken that long.
When mixture is cooked, lower the heat and add the sauce and sugar cover the chicken mixture then add the basil Leaves into Wok. Turn off the heat and lightly toss all items together.
While someone is tossing the basil, someone else should be dishing up the rice on to serving plates. The basil leaves will wilt down to a smaller size and start to look like cooked spinach very quickly. Try to get the mixture out of the Wok and over the rice on the serving plates before the leaves get too wilted (they will continue to cook down on the rice).
Serve with Fresh Lime halves.
B has completed the two white Sculpture Bases for the empty spaces in the Entryway and upstairs (mentioned before here). I've placed a couple of my middle-eastern Silver pieces on the bases for now, and will keep an eye out for some larger vases or sculptures to place on them. We think they look great!
Doesn't look like much for sale from the outside, but the plants are in the place behind the fence and building. This is where we bought the water bowls and the other planters.
The Master Bathroom is looking more like a bathroom, just have to get the pendant light over the mirror installed.
I bought an Orchid for a planter. The orchid isn't anything spectacular, but that's all the nursery had and I wanted something. When the flowers fall, I'll move to the pseudo greenhouse and fill with another in bloom. The planter was 6 RM and the orchid 8 RM, so both for under $5 US dollars.
I decided to do another paint test for the blue in the second Guest Bedroom on the main floor. The color to the right is the Nippon Porcelain Blue we think is too bright. The color on the left (only one coat) is Nippon Seclusion Blue which we think is much better.
The other morning our cat T was very excited over by the window. I thought it was a gecko, he loves to hunt geckos. But when I looked out the the window I saw a frog! You can barely make him out in the photo above... he is on the left side of the window. After I took the photo he jumped off the window back into the water bowl! At least I know that there is life in the water bowl keeping the mosquitoes away.
The plants I bought awhile ago for the front two planters weren't doing so well (see them in their glory here). I had to take the flowers off every day and they dried out and grew too high. I should have known because I had similar plants as annuals back in New York and by the end of summer they were always overgrown and looking scraggly. So I bought these orange flowering plants which I hadn't seen before.
As I was potting them my neighbor stopped by, she told me they are sometimes used for Indian prayer and that they are always flowering and grow a bit taller.
One of our favorite meals is Thai Basil Chicken over Rice Crust (a Persian food called Tahdig in Farsi check wiki here). It was a wonderful thing to be able to go out to the back of the house and pick a bunch of Thai Basil from our yard to make the meal!!!
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