Thai basil is sweet basil's spicier, kickier cousin. It has all of that lovely licorice flavor and aroma that we love, but with a little something more. What do you cook with it?
The leaves of thai basil plants are flat and blade-shaped with a purplish tinge that can spread over the entire leaf depending on the exact variety. Like sweet basil, thai basil is as aromatic as it is tasty. Lots of peppery, anise-like, and warm spicy flavors in this herb.
Thai basil stands up to cooking a little better than sweet basil, making it a good choice for soups, stir-fries, and curries. It can also be eaten raw sprinkled over salads or cold noodles dishes, and used interchangeably with sweet basils in most recipes. Thai basil has been showing up in a lot of gourmet cocktail recipes of late, a trend which we heartily support.
A few recipes for your basil-icious enjoyment:
• Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)
• Coconut and Thai Basil Ice Cream
• Fish Steamed in Banana Leaves
• Vegetarian Pho
How do you like to use Thai basil?
Related: Beyond Basil: Fresh Ideas for Pesto
(Image: Flickr member choking sun licensed under Creative Commons)
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This is the one herb that's thriving in my garden (must love all this heat), and I have been at wit's end trying to come up with ways to use it up! My favorite so far has been subbing it in for regular basil in the sugar based Tomato-and-Basil-Jam recipe from Liana Krissoff. (Also, my first canning experience and it went GREAT!)
I recently(ish) had a frozen yogurt that involved coconut milk, cinnamon, and thai basil. It tasted a bit like a play on a curry, but in the very best possible way. I'm regretting not asking for the recipe!
My favorite Chinese restaurant makes this Szechuan dish with meat (chicken, beef, or lamb), leeks, Thai basil, jalapenos, and garlic in a chili bean sauce. It's my favorite Chinese dish and they are the only restaurant that seems to make this dish. The basil is an integral part of the flavor.
I crave Thai Basil in berry smoothies. Taim in NYC has a Thai Basil/Strawberry smoothie that's quite possibly the most refreshing thing I've ever drank.
Oh, I love Thai basil!
Thai basil and cashew-nut chicken:
- chicken breast in strips
- large bunch thai basil
- 3 red chillies
- 1/2 cup of cashews
- thumb-sized chunk of fresh ginger
- bunch of fresh coriander roots
- juice of 1 lime
- 3 cloves finely diced garlic
- 3 stalks fresh lemongrass (finely diced, white ends only)
- couple of tbs fish sauce
-1 1/2 tbsp shaved palm sugar
- steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Stir-fry cashews in an oiled wok until golden. Remove.
Toss chicken strips in a bowl with garlic, ginger, chilli, lemongrass, coriander root. Stir-fry chicken strips in batches.
Return cashews to wok
Add lime juice, palm sugar and fish sauce, Thai basil. Cook for about 1 minute, or until basil just starting to wilt.
Stir in 2 tspns cornflour mixed with one tbspn water (to thicken)
Serve with fresh steamed jasmine rice.
This is the only kind of basil I typically find in stores here (Singapore) and so I use them in recipes that call for basil - from pasta to Thai dishes.
An amazing steak salad. My mother makes it all the time in the summer. Thinly sliced rare steak, thinly sliced onion sauteed enough to get the bite out, cukes, tomatoes, and ribboned Thai basil, all over a bed of leaf lettuce. The dressing contains lime juice, black pepper, fish sauce, sugar, maybe some thinly sliced Thai chiles. I'm going off of memory here.
I also use Thai basil in all my stir fries and curries, as well as in spring rolls and on all noodle soups. Tastes great in basil fried rice.
I use it whenever I make a stir fry. One of my broke-ass college meals involved white rice, chinese sausage, over easy fried eggs, cucumber and thai basil.
One of my favorite dishes of all time is crispy basil duck, a thai dish that knocks your socks off when done properly. Spicy basil chicken is also incredible with an over easy egg on top.
I started growing Thai basil so I can make my own Pho. SO GOOD!
LOVE! So good to finish off a curry with some fresh thai basil!