Thai Basil Chicken
Instructions
Mash together a clove of garlic, a wedge of ginger, a chilli, the zest of half the baby lime and some sesame oil into a paste. Cut the chicken and mix it into the paste. Leave in the fridge for a little while to let the paste flavour the chicken.
Heat some oil in a wok. Soften up some chopped red peppers and add the chicken. Move it about a bit, then add a dab of chilli bean paste and a dash of kecap manis - not too much as you don't want to darken the colour of the dish. Add a couple of stalks of lemon grass. Season with a little salt and white pepper.
Add chopped garlic shoots and the cashew nuts. Throw it about a bit for another minute or so. For a saucier dish, you can add half a cup of chicken stock before this step.
Remove the lemon grass stalks. Turn off the heat and scatter over some roughly-torn basil leaves. Don't let the basil "cook" as it will go dark and look rubbish.
Plate up, squeeze over a little of the lime and serve. Optionally drizzle some chilli oil for a bit more fire / colour.
Side-Note: I just started using my 60mm macro lens to take food pics and have noticed a staggering improvement in the quality. It hadn't even occurred to me to use the macro as technically the 50mm I was using is supposed to let in more light, so I thought that the macro would make the pictures too dark. I was wrong! They come out much more naturally-lit and I hardly have to mess with the levels unlike before. So if you're looking for a good food lens for a Canon dSLR, the 60mm EFS macro is pretty sweet.
