Refreshing Spicy Summer Dish
Vietnamese or Thai food is ideal for hot summer days. Here's a recipe that serves as a basis for all kinds of dishes. We usually use it with shrimps and / or fish, but it works just as well with veg. We never tried meat, but I don't see why that shouldn't work also.
Thai Basil
Ingredients (serves 2-3 people):
- 3-5 cloves of garlic
- 1-3 fresh small thai chili
- 1 tablespoon cane sugar
- 1 fresh ginger root (roughly sized 60 x 30 mm)
- 1 fresh lime
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 5 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 3 teaspoons thai or malaysian curry or spice mixture
- 20 - 50 leaves of fresh thai basil (depending on the size...)
- 10 - 20 leaves of fresh mint (again, depending on the size)
- 1 handful of unsalted peanuts
- Your choice of fish, shrimps, other seafood or alternatively vegetables
Preparations:
- Peel and chop the garlic cloves into small bits.
- Chop the chili into thin slices, don't throw away the seeds, - use them. Wash your hands thoroughly after this!!!
- If you have large basil and mint leaves, rip them up into smaller bits and put them in a bowl to have them at hand when needed.
- roast the peanuts in a pan just like that, no oil or fat needed for this. Keep stirring until nicely brown. Put them to the side and have them ready for later.
- Chop your fish or vegetables into dices (maybe 30 x 30 mm) or make sure your shrimps are unfrozen and ready to go in the pan.
Cooking:
- Put the oil in the pan and turn on the heat (1 notch below maximum)
- While the oil heats up, you can already add the garlic, chili, cane sugar, salt and the curry or spice. Let it sizzle while stirring until the garlic starts to turn brown.
- Throw fish and / or seafood or alternatively vegetables in the pan - cook for about 10 minutes (depending on your choice). Depending what type of fish you chose, it may crumble into tiny bits - that's just fine, especially when using fish alongside shrimps.
- Put what you've cooked into the bowls you will serve the food in, add thai basil, mint and peanuts to the servings, squeeze lime over it and mix it up a bit. Remember that you're using the basil and the mint more like a salad than a herb in terms of quantity, so give each serving plenty of it. Enjoy!
Tip: Goes well with the "Sensational Soup" as starters and a green papaya salad alongside.
