Thai Basil Chicken with Chic Pea

One of my favorite Thai dishes and frugal dish to make is THAI BASIL CHICKEN. It's so easy and really adds a kick to my meal plan.  It's also a great way to use my summer Basil.  One thing I added to the traditional recipe is chic peas, it helps to stretch out my chicken to reduce the cost of this meal.

Ingredients

1.5 lb Chicken Breast or Chicken Thigh

1/2 cup of Basil (or two handfuls its too your taste)

1/2 cup of chic peas

2 TBS Thai Chilli Paste with Sweet Basil Leaves

2 TBS Thai Fish Sauce

Salt and Soy Sauce to taste

Optional: I added the last of my red bell pepper and green chilli pepper for heat and to sneak in some veggie

Lime Juice

Directions

1. Chop your chicken, excess veggies into bite size for faster cooking.
2. Oil up your work or pan, let it warm up on high heat and then toss your chicken in first to cook.  Stir around till chicken is almost cooked.  
3. Then add your Chilli Paste and stir until chicken is all cooked.
4. Then add your chic peas (and peppers if you have any) to the wok/pan, then the fish sauce and soy sauce.  Stir for 2-3 minutes, check the salt and spice level and adjust if necessary.  If its too spicy or salty if you have lime juice handy add and check levels again.  If you don't have lime, just add some water and turn heat down to low.  
5. Add half of your basil leaves and put lid and let simmer for about 3 minutes to allow flavors to combine.
6. Turn heat off and toss in the rest of your basil and stir for a minute.
7.  Serve with rice and ENJOY!!!

Note: Recipe easily serves 4 people.  This dish is one of the few that actually tastes really good with Brown Rice. It also freezes well.

****If you don't have Maesri's Chilli Paste with Thai Basil leaves.  You can substitute with plain Chinese Chilli paste, some grinded garlic and chopped basil leaves.

This is what it looks like inside the can and it lasts for a long time.

OTHER SERVING SUGGESTION

It's common to add a fried egg along with this dish and white rice.  You can cook it after the chicken, that way some of the lingering flavors of the dish can go to the egg.
Also, I would normally use chicken thigh but chicken breast is healthier and more often on sale in my area.