Sweet Thai Basil Chicken

I bought a large bunch of thai basil [not to be confused with summer basil; thai basil has a sweeter, more licorice tinted flavor] from the asian market, and I wanted to use it up because it was wilting quickly, and I did not want to let it go to waste. I love the flavor it adds to my cooking, especially in thai and indian dishes, and i thought i could come up with something simple and flavorful.  Unfortunately, most of the leaves were very shriveled and had gone bad, so I was only able to salvage about 1/4 cup's worth of basil. If i make this dish again, you can be sure I will be much more generous with the basil, but in this instance, I just added a little baby spinach which did very well as a stand in. I like the color it added..

I was surprised at my husband's response. Of course he is used to me placing all sorts of questionable looking concoctions in front of him, and he is always very supportive and honest. If he doesn't much care for a dish, he won't say much about it, but he will always eat the dish clean. If he does find some sort of favor in the dish, he is vocal and it is very obvious that he likes it. This was one of those times. He was so encouraging and said he loved the bit of heat and felt like it had tremendous flavor. He even went on to say he felt like it should be served in a restaurant..oh nathan. you make me blush;)
It sure made me happy that he was so pleased, i even gave him the smaller portion because i am not the most confident in offering my new dishes, and i didn't want to make him eat a ton just in case..He asked for more and ate some of mine:) yay. he looked me in the eye and said, "you need to make this again."

wowzers. I am humbled that the dish made the cut. I will share it with you and you can test it for yourself. please let me know what you think! 

you'll need:
2 boneless chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into small pieces

olive oil
1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of red curry paste
1 tsp madras curry powder
1 tablespoon fish sauce, [i use Hong Dai fish sauce, from my local asian market]
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup sweet thai basil leaves [but for future reference, i would use about 1 and 1/2 cups] stems removed
1 cup baby spinach leaves [optional, i only subbed these due to lack of basil]
1 tsp sriracha sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt to taste

2 cups rice noodles [i used banh pho dai rice noodles, again, from my asian market]


In a large pan, cook chicken pieces [after a quick sprinkle of salt] in olive oil.

add garlic.

season with curry powder, fish sauce, curry paste, along with brown sugar.

drop in red bell pepper and continue to mix and cook and combine.
squirt in rooster sauce.

add thai basil leaves and/or spinach leaves. allow them to cook down a bit.
[if the pan gets too dry, add a tablespoon or two of water]

in a separate soup pan, bring water to boiling and cook rice noodles for about 5-6 minutes. Drain.

Add rice noodles basil chicken mixture and stir fry for a couple minutes. 

remove from heat and serve in bowls.