Thai Style Chicken Soup With Basil Recipes

THAI-STYLE CHICKEN SOUP WITH BASIL

Steps:

• Cut off and discard top of lemongrass, leaving 6-inch stalks, then finely chop. Cook lemongrass, shallots, and garlic in oil in a large heavy pot over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Add stock, reserved tomato juice, tamarind, fish sauce, chiles, lime leaves, and ginger and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes.
• While soup simmers, freeze chicken breast just until slightly firm, 20 to 30 minutes, then thinly slice crosswise.
• Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large saucepan, pressing hard on and then discarding solids. Return to a simmer and stir in chicken, diced tomatoes, snow peas, and basil. Gently simmer just until chicken is cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with additional fish sauce and salt.

THAI CHICKEN BASIL SOUP

Steps:

• Heat oil in a 6-quart dutch oven until hot. Add onion and chile, and cook 10 minutes or until lightly browned and tender, stirring occasionally.
• Add ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and 1 tablespoons fish sauce. Cook one minute.
• Add broth, water, and half the basil; heat to boiling on high.
• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Uncover, increase heat to medium-high. Stir in chicken and uncooked noodles and heat to boiling. Boil 1 minute.
• Remove dutch oven from heat. Skim off fat.
• To serve, stir in lime juice, remaining fish sauce, and basil. Garnish with sprigs.

THAI-STYLE CHICKEN WITH BASIL (COOK'S ILLUSTRATED)

Steps:

• Process 1 cup basil leaves, garlic and chiles in food processor until finely chopped, 6 to 10 1-second pulses, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed (turn off processor first!).
• Transfer 1 tablespoon basil mixture to small bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar and sugar; set aside. Transfer remaining basil mixture to 12-inch heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet. Do not wash food processor bowl.
• Pulse chicken and 1 tablespoon fish sauce in food processor until meat is chopped into approximate 1/4-inch pieces, six to eight 1-second pulses. [ NOTE: I used a blender and it started to make the chicken mushy, which was *not* what you want here. I stopped immediately and ended up hacking away at the remains with a cleaver. :o) ] Transfer to medium bowl and refrigerate 15 minutes.
• Stir shallots and oil into basil mixture in skillet. Heat over medium-low heat (mixture should start to sizzle after about 1 1/2 minutes; if it doesn't, adjust heat accordingly), stirring constantly, until garlic and shallots are golden brown, 5-8 minutes.
• Add chicken, increase heat to medium, and cook, stirring and breaking up chicken with potato masher or rubber spatula, until only traces of pink remain, 2 to 4 minutes. Add reserved basil-fish sauce mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly until chicken is no longer pink, about 1 minute.
• Stir in remaining cup basil leaves and cook, stirring constantly, until basil is wilted, 30 to 60 seconds. Serve immediately, passing extra fish sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes and vinegar separately.