Confessions of a Sugar-Free Foodie

All Thai-ed Up

October 17, 2017 at 6:53 pm 1 comment

My sister often teases me and says I’m Blasian. That’s a Black Asian. She does that because I absolutely love Asian food.  You name it: Beef Pho, Sushi, Bulgogi, Galbi, Tom Kha Gai, Pad Thai, Tika Misala, Singapore Noodles, Hoh Fun w/ Beef, Lettuce Wraps and the list goes on.

I love trying to create these delicacies at home. It gives me the chance to embellish the dish to highlight the flavors I like most.  My recent creation came from a wild hair on a weekend where I was home alone. It was the perfect opportunity to create without fear of failure.  No one was there, so if I royal screwed the pooch, I would be the only witness.

So several Google clicks later I found a version of a dish Stephen and I discovered at our local Thai restaurant Sweet Basil in Florence, KY. The dish is a spicy fried Thai rice with basil and beef. I couldn’t find a written recipe on line, but did find a YouTube video showing it prepared. Perfect! This way I get to decide how much of each ingredient to use.

After treating myself to a facial, off to the brand new Marketplace Kroger across the street I went. As I stood at the meat counter, I gave into my feeling of pampering myself and selected almost a full pound of filet mignon for my creation.  Why not, right?

Once at home, I put the Jasmine rice on to cook, sliced up a few veggies and the meat. Several minutes later I was delighted by the savory treat I had prepared.  It tasted EXACTLY like the dish from the restaurant.  The only difference is my bell peppers were cooked super tender; just how I like them. My husband always orders his rice without the bell peppers because they are still pretty crunchy. Yes ….. I know, we cook all of the vitamins out when we cook them soft.  But that’s how we like them.  Salads are for crunch.

The only variation to the recipe I found on YouTube was the added cilantro and lime. These two items are a staple in most Thai dishes. I had to add them. And I’m glad I did.

When my husband came home from his trip, I prepared him a plate of leftovers. He agreed, I hit the nail on the head for flavor. I do admit, I over cooked the rice.  It was a bit mushy. So I added a note to the recipe to cook the rice slightly al dente so that it can finish up during the pan frying.

Here’s the recipe. I hope someone will give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.

Thai Basil Rice with Beef

Ingredients:
1 cup Jasmine Rice
1 egg
1 Medium Onion
1 Yellow Bell Pepper sliced in strings
1 Red Bell Pepper sliced in strings
6 Cloves of Garlic minced
3 Thai Chili Peppers (or Serrano Peppers) diced
1 pound of high quality beef sliced in bite size strips
1 bottle Kroger Thai Style Stir Fry Sauce
½ cup Cilantro Leaves minced (no stems)
1 cup Whole Basil Leaves (no stems)
1 Lime (optional)

Directions:
Cook rice slightly al dente using 2 cups of water (do not over-cook)
Using a few table spoons of cooking oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat, scramble one egg
Add onion and bell peppers and sauté to desired tenderness
Add garlic and chili peppers; stir for about a minute
Add Basil, Cilantro and beef; cook to desired wellness
Add rice and stir in Kroger Thai Style sauce; cook for a few minutes
Remove from heat
Squeeze lime over individual servings

Picture of my ingredients (sans egg and rice):

Glamour Shot of the finished dish (from Google)

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