Home | Directory | Contact | FAQ | Recipes | Restaurants | Vietnamese Recipes | 100 Vietnamese Foods | Subscribe

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 1

A 5-minute meal for when you're starving and want a yummy homemade dinner right away.

OK, I lied.

It technically took me six minutes, but that wasn't nearly as catchy. I needed that extra minute to slice the shallots and mince the garlic.

That's not counting the cooking time for the rice, but if you have leftover rice that you could quickly zap in the microwave, then you're good to go. If not, this Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry goes great in lettuce wraps for those who want to eat right away or are watching their carbs.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 2

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry

For 2 servings as a meal, or 4 servings as a side, you'll need:
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, sliced thinly
1 lb ground beef
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese Fish Sauce)
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp  Indonesian Kecap Manis or substitute with 1 tsp dark soy sauce and 1/4 tsp sugar
4 or more sprigs of Thai basil, as many as you'd like, plucked and washed
1 tblsp chili garlic sauce, or less according to your spicy tolerance

Optional: Serve with a fried sunny-side up egg on top.

Nuke or cook a fresh pot of jasmine rice if you want to eat this with rice. Or if you want to eat the stir-fry in wraps, wash lettuce leaves and set aside.

Cook the sunny-side up egg ahead of time if you wish it add it on top. Set aside.

Quickly slice 2 shallots and mince 2 cloves of garlic. In a frying pan on medium-high heat, drizzle a bit of oil and saute the alliums until softened.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 3

Add in the ground beef and stir to cook. If you haven't done so ahead of time, you can pluck the basil leaves while the beef is cooking.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 4

When the meat is starting to brown, add 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsps oyster sauce, and 1 tsp kecap manis. If you don't have kecap manis, you can substitute with 1 tsp dark soy sauce and 1/4 tsp sugar.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 5

When the seasonings are evenly distributed and the beef is cooked, add as many basil leaves as you like and a generous tblsp of chili sambal, or less if you have a lower spicy tolerance.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 6

Stir until the basil leaves are just wilted.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 7

That's it!

Plate and serve with rice or a sunny-side up egg. Drizzle the sauce over the rice and egg. So yummy.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 8

Or serve as lettuce wraps if you wish.

Thai Basil Beef Stir-Fry 9

Enjoy!

Similar stir-fries:
Chinese Lettuce Wraps with Chicken, Water Chestnuts, and Bell Peppers

*****
1 year ago today,
2 years ago today,
3 years ago today, Canh Cai La Xanh (Vietnamese Collard Greens Soup).
4 years ago today, Nearly Wild Rose.
5 years ago today, Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus.
6 years ago today, J&J (Jin Jian) Restaurant - San Gabriel.

6 comments:

  1. Oh! You are making me hungry! This looks YUMMY.

    Could it be done with ground turkey to be a bit lighter in these hot days?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oddlyme,
    Sure you can. You can use any meat really. I've made it before with pork too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful! I have all the ingredients at home. Thanks for giving me idea for dinner tonight! Ha! I wonder how many minutes will it take me, 6 and a half minutes???

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello! I just found your site and enjoy it very much. Can you please tell me where you get Thai basil leaves? I have been on the hunt for them for quite some time. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Arowana,
    You can find Thai basil at most Asian grocery stores. If not, just use Italian basil. It's not quite the same, but good enough.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by. I try to respond in a timely manner, but am not always able to do so. If you're awaiting a response, check the post in which the comment is made or click the "Notify me" option.

If you're not a blogger and you'd like to leave a comment, you can do so using your Google/Gmail account.

I welcome questions, discussions, and feedback, but please be mindful that this is my home online. I reserve the right to delete any comment that is anonymous or unknown, rude, promotional, or has a link.

Thank you for reading!