Feb 17 2011
Spicy Beef with Thai Basil
Here is a really simple recipe that is quick to make and tasty to eat! Our friends are always asking us for really simple go-to recipes that doesn’t require a lot of fancy ingredients or complicated steps. All you need is some beef, veggies of your choice, ingredients for the sauce, and of course, thai basil leaves. That’s what makes this dish so refreshing. The herb has small leaves, purple stems and a subtle licorice or mint flavor, which is commonly used in many Thai and Vietnamese dishes. We had planted Thai basil in our garden before, but it never grew to its potential. We are determined to grow a bigger yield of Thai basil this summer so we can make many more dishes with this exotic herb.
Luckily we had some spicy Thai chilies growing in our garden, so we picked two of them for this dish. If you know your chilies are extremely spicy, just use one!
We used about 1 lb of flap meat, but use whatever stir-fry beef you prefer. Cut it into thin strips. Saute the meat for 3 minutes, then add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 3 shallots, and 2 chilies.
Since we had some mini bell peppers left in the fridge, we used this to add color and texture to the dish. Here we used about 1.5 cups of sliced bell peppers. Toss this together with the rest of the ingredients for another few minutes until the meat and peppers are just tender.
In a separate bowl, mix together these ingredients to create the sauce: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1.5 tsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp mirin, and 1 tbsp cornstarch. Mix it well and then pour it into the pan to coat the meat and vegetables. You will see the sauce thickening up. Add some cracked pepper.
Turn off the heat and toss in about 1 cup of Thai basil leaves. Don't cook the basil or it will turn black.
This is a great dish to serve with rice. Use this recipe as a template for your own stir fry adventures in the kitchen. You can change up the meat and use chicken or shrimp, and use broccoli and carrots instead of bell peppers. The cooking time is ridiculously fast so you can have dinner ready in no time. Hope our friends who likes fast and easy recipes enjoy this one!
To view or print-out this recipe, click here: Spicy Beef with Thai Basil
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Oh yummy! I have not had Thai food for quute some time now, and I’m definitely craving it.
Always one of my favorite dishes! Beautiful presentation.
Oh my this looks tasty! I love Thai basil. Grew some last summer, and boy, am I missing it right about now!
Ooh, this is definitely one of my favorite Thai dishes! Can’t wait to try it out!
Hi, Krissy and Daniel. I always enjoy this dish but have yet to try it at home. It’s so easy. Lucky you to have the Thai chilis in your garden, too!
Thanks,
Dan
Oh! my…..this is the recipe that I really needed. I just went Saladang yesterday and had Basil chicken. Can I just use chicken instead of beef with the same method?
I love this dish and will definitely try to make it with your recipe. Never made it at home, but your recipe sounds great. Saving it.
This looks absolutely fantastic. I love stir fry but haven’t used basil in any yet, which is obviously my loss! Thanks for introducing this wonderful dish to me.
Thai basil makes that dish pop! And the sauce sounds great. Congrats on Top 9!
YAY!
LL
This sounds wonderful! Now, we have to try to find Thai basil!
This looks amazing. I love this type of recipe. Congrats on the Top 9.
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This looks amazing. I love this type of recipe. Congrats on the Top 9.
We invite you to share this post and some of your favorite posts on Food Frenzy.
Please check out our community.
A fantastic top 9 dish!
This looks delicious! It was fun meeting you two at the Top Chef Korea show. – mary
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The dish looks incredibly gorgeous. The plates you are plating it on, as well are lovely. I have a very funny story about those lovely little HOT Thai chilis. When I was in University, I was gifted a Thai chili plant. I was going to make a spicy sauce, and thought this would be perfect! I had many “fruits” on my little bush, so decided to “test” one for flavour and heat. Was I crazy? When I phoned the emergency at the hospital to ask what I could do, the nurse could not stop laughing. I just wanted to throw myself over a bridge somewhere it was so painful.Bread helped.
Valerie
Oh that looks so yummy! But I think I’d use chicken for mine. Beautiful pictures too.
Love Balsamic on strawberries with sugar, Love Balsamic on salad. Looking for other ways to use Balsamic will try the asparagus recipe sounds very tasty.
Some people like the meat cut up in bite size piecesrather than ground…In Thai restaurants in America Sweet basil or Thai basil is usually used for this dish. It may appear like a lot of leaves but the leaves will shrink when cooked and this dishs flavor comes from the leaves…Fry the garlic and chili pepper in oil over high heat.
Some places you’ll find what you refer to as Thai Basil sold as “Holy Basil”.
And, to really give this a bite, I’d recommend using larger hot chillis.
First slice them into long strips as-opposed to small pieces. But, then assault them in the mortar and pestle.
So much Thai food is a million times better if you ditch the food processor or other Western implements and use the old-fashioned tools. Bruising the seeds in the chillis and releasing some of the essential oils gives a far more authentic taste – as well as more of the real bite you should get from spicy food.
[...] Thai Basil” http://prettypeasrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/08/spicy-beef-with-thai-basil.html http://thefoodaddicts.com/spicy-beef-with-thai-basil/ (I don’t know why they say the basil will turn black if you cook it… mine didn’t [...]