Gai Pad Gra Po (Thai Basil Chicken) and Sticky Rice

recipes from  - http://www.thaitable.com/

Chicken Basil, or Gai Pad Gra Pow, is one of the classics of Thai food and is surprising easy to make. You know you've made Chicken Basil right when the heat from the chili peppers plays just under the flavor of the gra pow and the fish sauce. Don't be afraid to use what seems like an excessive amount of gra pow leaves - they make the dish.

3 tablespoons veg oil
4 - 7 Thai Chili Peppers - you can use jalapenos in a pinch
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pkg Thai Basil or plain basil if you can't find the Thai
1 lb ground chicken
2 tablespoons minced garlic
6 tablespoons fish sauce

Mince garlic and chili pepper together. Clean and pick basil leaves from their stem. It may appear like a lot of leaves, but the leaves will shrink when cooked and this dish's flavor comes from the leaves.

Fry the garlic and chili pepper in oil over high heat. When garlic starts to turn brown, drop the ground chicken in. Stir constantly. The juice will start to come out. Keep stirring until all the juice is gone. It might take a couple of minutes. Add sugar and fish sauce. Then add Thai basil. Quickly turn it over a few times to mix the leaves with the meat and then remove from the fire and put the gai pad gra pow in the serving plate or dishes. Serve hot with rice.

Normally in Thailand, gai pad gra pow is served with a small bowl of chili pepper in fish sauce.

Sticky Rice

When you choose your rice, make sure you buy and use Sticky Rice, also called Sweet Rice.  Sticky rice is not jasmine rice. If you try to cook jasmine rice this way, it will cook, but it will not taste or feel like sticky rice.

The ratio to cook is one cup rice to a little over one cup water

The Microwave Method:

Soak the sticky rice for 10 minutes in warm water in a bowl. Soaking the rice is very important. I have tried this method without soaking the rice first and it was disastrous. The rice was undercooked and inedible. The water level should be just above the rice, which comes out to be 1 cup of rice and a little over 1 cup of water (about 10% more). I recommend using a non-plastic container because you may melt the plastic in the microwave. Cover the bowl with a dish and cook in microwave for at full power 3 minutes. Stir the rice around to move the rice from the top to the bottom. You will notice that some of the rice is translucent or cooked and some still has white center or the uncooked portion.

Heat it up again for another 3 minutes. Check and see if it is done. When cooked, all the rice should be translucent. If it needs more cooking, I recommend heating up and checking every 3 minutes or so. How long it takes to cook really depends on your microwave.

Sticky rice is frequently eaten with a meat dish and then a broad variety of vegetables.

Enjoy!