Basil Fried Rice with Beef
October 3, 2011 § Leave a comment
I have been on a Thai-kick lately! I mean, really, what’s more satisfying than a plate of spicy, delicious, rice/noodles/curry?
I used my creative thinking cap the other day to come up with this dish. Do you ever feel strangely proud when you’re able to use your imagination, past the age of 10? I remember when I was little, I could literally spend hours creating this magical world with my friends or by myself, and only recently realized that it is much harder than it seems! Whenever I babysit or look after little kids and they ask to play or tell them a story, I start getting a little nervous because nothing seems quite as cool or fun as the stories I used to make up. So HUGE kudos to the parents and nannies that have to do it every day. 🙂
Notes:
1. You don’t have to use an expensive cut of beef. I think the one I used was just chuck/stew meat, but the KEY THING IS to cut it as thinly as possible AGAINST THE GRAIN. Then it’ll be nice and tender and easy to chew. To make it easier to slice, you can freeze the beef a little for 1 hour before use.
2. I like a lot of egg in my fried rice, but if you don’t like it as much, you can cut down the number of eggs.
3. Depending on how spicy you like your rice, adjust the hot chili peppers accordingly. I put 3 in, with the seeds, but it wasn’t spicy at all! I think next time I will put in 5.
4. Use day-old rice, preferably chilled. It will be easier to mix.
Basil Fried Rice with Beef Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb chuck stew meat, sliced thinly against the grain
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced finely
- 3-5 jalapeno peppers, sliced thinly
- 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon Golden Mountain seasoning sauce (or substitute 1 tablespoon soy sauce)
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4-5 cups of day-old cooked rice
- 1 cup of loosely packed basil leaves, rinsed
- 2-3 eggs, scrambled with 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- Sriracha *optional
Directions
- Heat oil in a large wok on medium heat. Add garlic and chili peppers and cook until fragrant and lightly browned, about 30 seconds. Add onions. Cook 30 seconds.
- Increase heat to high. Add the beef, and stir until it is well mixed with the garlic, onions, and chili peppers. Then add the fish sauce, seasoning sauce, black pepper and oyster sauce, and cook until beef is cooked through, about 3-5 minutes.
- After the beef is cooked through, add the rice and break apart clumps and incorporate well into the beef and onions.
- Scramble the eggs in a separate saucepan and mix into the rice after they are just-cooked through.
- After the rice is well mixed and hot, turn off the stove and immediately add your basil leaves. Mix well, and serve! Enjoy. You can add sriracha on top if it’s not that spicy.
my golden hour 
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