A big trend lately is Thai/Vietnamese restaurants. They are all over and provide a food broadly between Indian and Chinese, with some of the spices of Indian cuisine and the sauces of Chinese. Like most restaurants, I've been generally pretty disappointed with them. They lack much complexity or flavor, though frequently the springs rolls are pretty yummy.
This recipe is a versatile base for whatever you want to cook up. Toss in some snow peas, green beans, carrots, napa cabbage, whatever.
I loosely based this on a recipe I found in Mai Pham's "The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking". The recipes are a bit hit or miss. I jacked up the amount of sauce, as everyone loves sauce. Her recipes tend to be a bit dry.
The basil is added with the heat off to preserve the delicate aroma of the basil. If you heat basil too much, it kills the flavor. When you preserve the basil flavor, the dish is oh so good.
Key ingredients that I keep around the house more or less constantly:
Fish sauce (nam pla in Thai, nuoc mam in Vietnamese): They soy sauce of SE Asia. Very delicious, but make sure not to throw it directly into a hot pan or oil. It will stink terribly. It's made basically by stuffing a barrel full of fish, filling it from brine, and letting it age for a while. Doesn't sound very appetizing, but neither does sausage making, but it still tastes great. Buy some without any MSG or other artificial ingredients. Squid brand is a safe bet. Soy sauce is an OK replacement.
Fresh chili paste (Sambal Oelek): Basically, ground chilis, vinegar, salt, and maybe garlic. Super delicious, but hot. Not fermented, like chinese chili paste. Good fresh on top of anything or yummy stir fried. Huy Fong (the makers of Sriracha) make a tasty variety that is widely available. Pretty flipping hot, so be careful with it.
Quorn: great veggie replacement for meat. Tastes like a chicken crossed with a mushroom. Kroger seems to have 2 for 1 deals once in a while on this. Much better than a lot of the meat replacements, which tend toward execrable.
Basil: key in this recipe. Thai or regular work fine.
Oyster sauce: great source of umami. Not fishy like fish sauce. They have mushruoom oyster sauce without oysters as well. Seems to taste fine.
I seem to recall adding Recaito to this, but I can't remember anymore. I would have been about a tablespoon. The cilantro/pepper flavor would be appropriate.
Basic Thai Stir Fry:
1 lb Quorn or chicken
2 Tbsp cooking oil (canola, etc)
1/2 - 2 Tbsp chili paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 shallots, chopped
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup broth (veggie or chicken)
1 chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped basil, Thai or Western
Optional: lemongrass (add with sauce), snow peas, other veggies in place of pepper. Precook them so that they are ready to go when you add them.
1) Heat oil over medium heat (if you heat it too hot, the chili paste might gas you).
2) Add garlic, shallots, and chili paste and cook ~30 seconds
3) Add onions and fry a couple of minutes, until softened.
4) Add protein and fry until cooked. You might need to dial up the heat.
5) Deglaze the pan with the broth.
6) Add the rest of the sauces and heat through
7) Turn off the heat, mix in the basil.
8) Serve over white rice.
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