Thai Chicken With Mushroom and Capsicum

Chan Rak Xahar Thiy ~ I Love Thai Food 

I got the idea of making this dish when I read the MX newspaper in the train last week. The idea was to mix fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar as the seasoning sauce. Fish sauce is probably the most popular sauce used in Thai cooking. I usually add fish sauce and oyster sauce gradually while cooking, but the recipe in MX suggests mixing them together. So when I got home, I digged into my fridge to see if there's anything I could possibly use to make a delicious Thai dish with this special sauce.  

 

Lucky, I still have some good ingredients I could use. I found some chicken fillet, capsicum, garlic, onion, fresh chillies and mushrooms. Thanks to the special sauce, this dish came up unbelievably easy and delicious.

Ingredients:

- 3 garlic cloves (minced)

- 1 red capsicum (cut in to long strips)

- A bowl of button mushrooms (sliced thinly)

- 1 Onion (cut into thin slices)

- 4-5 chicken fillet (cut into desired size)

- Handful of fresh chillies (deseed and cut into thin long strips)

- Cooking oil

- Cornstrach solution (Mix corn flour with water)

Seasoning Sauce:

- 2 tbsp oyster sauce

- 2 tbsp fish sauce

- 1 tbsp sugar (or according to taste)

Mix all seasoning ingredients in a bowl.

Method:

1) Heat up the wok with cooking oil. Add in garlic, give it a quick stir then add in the chicken.

2) Cook for 2 minutes, then add in half of the seasoning sauce. Dish up and set aside once chicken is cooked.

3) Heat up the wok again with cooking oil. Add in the onion, give it a quick stir. Add in the capsicum, give it a quick stir. Then add in the mushroom. Add in the remaining seasoning sauce. Stir well.

4) Add in the chicken, then fresh chillies. Stir well. Add water if necessary 

5) Add in the cornstarch solution.

6) Stir well and dish up once ready (Just make sure capsicum is not overcooked).

Larb Gai (Thai Minced Chicken Salad)

Gourmets rank Thai cuisine among the best in the world, for its subtle curries, imaginative use of herbs and spices, textural contrast, and above all harmony in taste. The Thai food is a blend of Asian and European influences adopted through centuries of trade and diplomatic exchanges. (Hrayr Berberoglu)

Larb Gai is a popular classic Thai salad. It's fragrant, slightly spicy with an interesting mix of flavours.  Low in fat and low in carb. The core flavour elements are the lime juice and fish sauce. This delicious warm salad can be eaten on its own or with steamed rice.

This recipe is actually an easier version of Larb Gai. I excluded the roasted rice powder which is commonly added in the salad. Please increase or decrease any of the ingredients according to taste.

Larb Gai

Ingredients:

- 400 Gram minced chicken (breast preferred)

- 1 chopped tomato

- 1/2 chopped red onion

- 2 cloves chopped garlic

- 1 chopped cucumber

- Handful of chopped chillies

- Handful of chopped Kaffir lime leaves

- Handful of Mint leaves

- Fish Sauce

- Sugar ( I used brown sugar)

- Fresh lime juice

- Fried onion (optional)

Method:

1)  In a big bowl, add in the tomato, red onion, cucumber, garlic, 1/2 portion of kaffir lime leaves, mint leaves, chillies and fried onion.

2) Heat non-stick pan, add cooking oil, add in chicken, stir for 2 minutes, add in the other half of the kaffir lime leaves. Add in 1 teaspoon of fish sauce. Stir chicken until cooked. Remove from heat.

3) Add in chicken into the bowl and mix well.

4) Add in sugar, fish sauce and lime juice until you get your desired taste.

Note: Chopped lemongrass and chopped coriander can be added to the salad too.

Thai Chilli Chicken Basil

 

"One cannot  think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well". (Virginia Woolf)

My friend (AL) requested that I post some recipes on my blog. So here is my first recipe on Mydatewithfood. My cooking tend to be a quick and easy one, so it suits people that doesn't have much time on hand to prepare for their meal but still want something tasty.

I had the similar dish from one of the Thai restaurants before (can't recall which one exactly), so I try to make my own version at home.

But please note that I don't have exact measurement for the recipe, when I cook I tend to estimate and try first then I add more if it's not enough. But I will provide an approximation on this recipe. You can always add or put less according to your taste preference.

Since there's no undo button in cooking, I suggest add in small amount first and then add more if it's not enough.

You will first need to prepare the chilli paste. This chilli paste recipe is very handy to use. It can be used for a lot of different recipes too. I pre-made mine and stored in the freezer. It could be stored in the freezer up to 3-4 months.

  

 

Chilli Paste recipe:

Ingredients:

- A Hand full of red chillies (if you can't eat too spicy then it's better to use the big red chillies, but if you like spicy then you can add more small chillies)

- 1 tomato

- 1 red onion

- 5 garlic cloves

Method:

1. Blend all the ingredients in blender.

2. Heat the wok, add approximately 8 tablespoon of oil and with low fire cook the chilli paste until it fragrant.

3. Ready to be used in cooking.

Thai Chilli Chicken Basil recipe:

-400 Gram chicken mince

-1 Tomato

-1 Red onion (if you are not a big fan of onion, you can opt this one out)

-Half bunch of fresh basil leaves.

-2 tablespoon cooking oil

- A quarter slice of fresh lime 

- 4 tablespoon of pre-made chilli paste (please put less if you think you can't handle spicy)

Marinate:

3 tablespoon sweet soya sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 tablespoon soya sauce

  

  

 

METHOD:

1. Marinate the chicken mince while you are preparing the other ingredients

2. Cut tomato into bite size pieces and set aside.

3. Cut red onion into bite size pieces and set aside.

4. Pick the basil leaves out of the stem and set aside.

5. Heat the wok and add in the oil. Add in chilli paste and stir fry for a while (approximately one minute). Add in the tomato and onion piece, stir for 3 minutes. Add in the chicken mince, stir until the chicken is cook, try if taste is enough, if it's not sweet enough then add sweet soya sauce, if it's not salty enough add more fish sauce, but if you don't like the fishy smell of fish sauce, you can add more soya sauce. When the taste is enough, add in the basil leaves, stir until it soften. Squeeze in the fresh lime. Give it a quick stir and Dish out.

This recipe is so delicious! The aroma of the basil is heavenly.

Serve it hot with steamed rice. 

The only thing to be aware of! "Don't cook too much rice",coz you will probably end up finishing all of it =). 

AL, Happy cooking!