As I have mentioned in previous posts I really love chilli. Fried chilli, minced chilli, sambal, chilli flakes, hot pepper paste….any type. I like food really spicy. However, surprisingly even with three types of chilli this dish was not hot. We did get runny noses though so something must have been happening.
Now I think about it, it was because it was all of the long variety. The longer a chilli the more likely it is to be milder. Although this is not always the case which does confuse me when at my local veggie shop as I sometimes bring home fiery long chilli. Check out this guy for more info on chilli.
I used to find that the fresh chilli I purchased sat at the bottom of the crisper and went bad. I now get around this by putting the chilli in a bag in a plastic container in the freezer. The bag stops the chilli getting freezer burn and the container is convenient to keep in the door. This way you can use the chilli when you need it and it lasts for ages. Kaffir lime leaves go in this container as well as I found they had the same problem.
Ingredients for this dinnerlastnight were fresh basil, chilli oil, fresh long chilli, dried long chilli, chicken, capsicum, long beans, onion, ginger, garlic, choy sum, rice noodles (vermicelli), fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce. It is an easy wok stir fry dish which took about 5mins prep and 10mins cooking.
Preparation:
Cut half a kilo of chicken breast into chunks. Soak 4 dried long chillies in hot water until soft (about 5mins) and soak about ¼ of a 250gm pack of vermicelli in cold water for 10mins. Slice 2 long red chillies (more if you like it spicy or try birds eye chilli instead), 2 segments of garlic and a thumb of ginger. Cut a red capsicum into about 1cm by 3cm pieces, one onion into slim segments like a mandarin and half a bunch of choy sum and a handful of long beans into about the same size as the capsicum. Keep the leaves and the stalks of the choy sum separate as the leaves cook faster. Tear up about a loose cupful of fresh basic leaves.
Add about a tablespoon of peanut oil and the same of chilli oil to a hot wok. Once smoking add half the garlic and ginger till fragrant, then stir fry chicken till brown. Add the rest of the vegetables, basil, chilli, garlic, ginger and half the basil but save the choy sum leaves. Cook until the vegetables are cooked but still crispy and the chicken is cooked through. Stir in a squirt of fish sauce, a couple of lugs of oyster sauce and soy sauce. Add drained vermicelli and the choy sum leaves and stir till wilted.
Serve the stir fry in deep bowls topped with basil leaves and fried shallots. I didn't serve with rice as I had run out.
dinnerlastnight rating: 7/10
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