Super fragrant, a little spicy...
And very very easy to make.
This stir fry is one of those game changers.
This is my weeknight Spicy Thai Basil Stir-fry.
One of the questions you guys ask me a lot, and I mean a lot.
Is how do you make a better stir fry at home?
And I have one very very simple answer.
Less is more. That's it.
That's all it is, my friends.
Let's get into it with this one and I'll show you what I mean.
Because I think with stir fries, we tend to abuse them a little bit.
We're kind of chucking a whole bunch of stuff, whole bunch of sauces,
whole bunch of vegetables, whole bunch of things that you just don't need.
Let's get on to a very, very simple starting point for a stir fry.
And that is some garlic and chilli.
So a bit of garlic here.
I want about 4 or 5 cloves here.
I like a garlicky stir fry.
And then just go into my mortar.
Yes. Skins and all because it's so much easier to take the skins off by just giving them a little tap.
And then just peel the skins off.
Let's talk about chillies now.
You could totally just leave the chillies out, add a little bit of capsicum or just go for a really mild chilli.
I like to do a two chilli combo.
So I go with these smaller ones.
These are actually are really large birds and chillies.
But here in Australia, they seem to be a lot larger than in Thailand.
These ones are spicy.
I'm going to go about 3 of those.
And then these larger ones, literally, they're just like capsicums.
I mean, they're so mild.
But I still want them because I want some colour.
I want some colour, but not all...
You know, chilli heat.
That's why I'm using both.
Small ones go straight into my mortar and pestle.
Or just mortar.
Actually, I always say into the mortar and pestle.
But the big part is the mortar. The pestle is the other part.
With these big ones, I'm just going to chop them really roughly.
And now, you know, paste probably isn't even the right word here.
What I kind of want is just like...
The chilli to break down a little bit, the garlic to break down.
And that's pretty much what you're looking for.
Just like that.
Let's talk about the meat and vegetables for the stir-fry.
This is where we're going with the list is more kind of vibe here.
All you need for a really good stir-fry...
Pick one vegetable.
I'm going with zucchini today.
You just kind of want some nice little chunks here.
You'll notice that I'm kind of cutting these and kind of odd shapes.
I really like it, not just because aesthetically I like it, but also you see,
like, you know, by chopping it this way in an odd, uneven kind of fashion, you have way more
sides of the zucchini there that can come into contact with the pan, that can get
some searing, that can soak in some sauce.
So, you know, there's method to the madness, everyone.
And because there are a few ingredients here, the devil really is in the detail.
Let's talk about protein.
I'm just going with a pork and beef mixture here.
Because that's what I had in my fridge.
But you could do just pork, just beef, just chicken, just turkey.
Or you could just add way more zucchini and just keep it all meat-free.
So there's your options there.
Now, let's get onto the stir-fry sauce.
Because this one again, less is more.
So what I need to start with is some oyster sauce.
This is a Thai-style kind of stir-fry.
So I'm using some fish sauce here.
You can easily just use soy sauce if you wanted to.
And then always for me, I find with a stir-fry sauce, you just want a little bit of a sweet balance to the salty element.
So I like to add a little dash of sugar.
A little bit of honey would be great here as well.
And that's it.
You don't need a million sauces to make a good stir-fry sauce.
Just give it a mix.
Now we are ready to get sizzling.
Very simple.
Just some oil.
When the oil is hot, I want to add in my chilli and garlic.
That smell already, like the chilli and garlic, so good.
Simple ingredients and yet the flavour and the fragrance and everything. Epic.
Now I want to go in with our meat.
Just going to stir-fry that until the meat is just cooked.
And do you know the other thing that I love about using minced meat during the week is that,
no slicing.
You don't have to slice up the meat.
You just dump it straight in the pan.
Just little things like that can really help out when you're in a rush, particularly when
you've got like a two and a half year old running around wanting your attention.
Now we want to add in our zucchini.
Just toss that around.
I want to keep zucchini.
I want to keep its shape and integrity.
So I don't want to cook down too much.
So I'm going to go streight in with my sauce.
Toss that around.
Here's what kind of gives us another very Thai accent, and that is Basil.
For me, basil in a Thai stir fry...
It's almost like another vegetable.
And it's a great way to use up basil that might not be at its best in your fridge because
it's going to wilt down in the stir-fry anyway.
So I've got a mixture of Thai and Italian basil here.
That's going to go straight in.
Woah. Already that beautiful basil smell, and that's just
going to permeate the whole stir-fry and it's really kind of what makes it very special.
A little more special than usual.
I'm just using some brown rice today.
Any kind of rice or noodles is good for this one.
Pile up a nice mounty and wow, it is smelling so good.
And there you go guys. An amazing stir-fry really does not have to be very complicated.
In fact, the less complicated, the better, I think.
So let's get into this, because it is smelling so beautiful.
That basil is game-changing. Try it.
Let's have a look.
For so few ingredients, I mean, the sauce flavour is intense.
The basil is intense. The garlic.The chilli.
You don't have to make it as intense as me, but I like it spicy.
You guys know that by now.
And then the whole thing just works together so well.
It tastes like it literally tastes like a really good quality restaurant stir-fry.
But you did it yourself at home.
So there you go.
Hope you guys love this one as much as I do.
So good.