Thai basil recipe

Make this quick and easy Thai basil recipe so you will have a complete meal ready in less than 30 minutes and only 1 pot in the dishes afterwards, so you can enjoy the rest of your evening.

When you have a ricecooker, you can let it simply cook some rice meanwhile you are cooking: basmati rice serves well with this curry recipe. Another fast extra is serving a crunchy loaf of bread (baguette or ciabatta).

Thai basil is a bit different than western basil: the Thai herb stands cooking temperatures better and the taste is more sweet and spicy than the basil you are used to. An acquired taste for some which explains why it is served separately in Vietnam with soups or savory pancakes, so everybody can add it to their personal taste.

Thai basil recipe ingredients

The little vase on the right top of the picture holds a few stems of a flowering Thai basil plant with cute purple stems and little flowers

This dish combines the typical combination found in Thai cooking of sweet, sour, salty and spicy. It’s more like a Thai twist on an Indian Aloo Gobi with ingredients I had available (and the basil needed to be cut as it was flowering already
in my pots in the garden):

For 2 persons:

• half a pound (250 gr) minced meat (I love to make my own minced meat with a mixture of pork and prawns chopped with 2 cleavers… ideal to get some agression out, a good workout and you know what meat went into your minced meat! When you rare your own chicken, you can use chicken meat in stead of pork, just add a bit of extra oil in the mix)
• 4 organic potatoes from the garden
• 3 small (spicy) green chilies, also from my garden
• a big bunch of potgrown Thai basil leaves
• a small organic cauliflower (if you put your 2 fists together in the form of a heart, that’s the size of those organic small cauliflowers)
• 1 teaspoon cumin

Ingredients for a simple curry paste:

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 to 2 teaspoons organic brown sugar
• 3 green chilies (as tall as my pinky)
• juice of half a lime
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 inch (2.5cm) fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• some water (1/3 cup)

How to make a simple Thai basil curry

1. Put some oil in a pan and add the cumin. Leave on the fire for 1 minute.
2. Then add the minced meat
3. Meanwhile peal the potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch (1.25cm) cubes and add to the frying pan
4. Make the simple curry paste in an electrical blender: add all ingredients and mix.
5. Add this curry paste to the meat and potatoes and stir-fry until the aroma of the spices fills your kitchen.
6. Simmer for 5 minutes with a lid on.
7. Meanwhile wash and cut the organic cauliflower in florets.
8. After your potatoes and meat have been simmering for 5 minutes, add the cauliflower and simmer for another 10 minutes: make sure you simmer until the potatoes are done.
9. Meanwhile squeeze some healthy oranges to make fresh orange juice.
10. Serve this Thai basil recipe as a 1 meal dish, or add bread, rice and/or salad.