Category: Thai

Ankitha Gadag’s Spicy Chicken Stirfry

An Ankitha Gadag original recipe – learn how to make a super delish Asian inspired stirfry !

Hey guys, welcome to Ankitha Gadag Recipes!

This recipe gives me life, seriously. It’s the perfect weeknight entree or side and it’s great for getting rid of those veggies in the back of your fridge, going bad. You can throw anything you like in there, I chose to stick with the basics – bell peppers, broccoli and jalapeno peppers.

I am going to let you all in on a little secret. The secret to a great Asian-inspired stir fry lies in 4 basic ingredients – soy sauce (duh), rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, and sesame seed oil. These 4 ingredients paired together can make any stir-fry taste uhhhhmazing.  For more Thai style dishes, I always mix in some fresh Thai basil leaves. You can learn more about my obsession with them from one of my previous posts here.

Without further ado…

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb Chicken breasts (cut against the grain, into strips – this is important!!)
  • 2-3 jalapeno peppers (thinly sliced)
  • Veggies of your choice (broccoli,  bell peppers)
  • 1-2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 inch ginger scraped
  • fish sauce ( few splashes )
  • rice wine vinegar ( few splashes)
  • sesame seed oil (few splashes)
  • soy sauce (1 cup)
  • lightly dusted Arrowroot Starch
  • S & P
  • toasted sesame seeds (optional)
  • thai basil leaves (optional)
  • 1 cup chicken broth

 

  1. Pat chicken breasts dry, cut against grain into strips. Add S&P and dust with arrowroot starch
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the broth, fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame seed oil
  3. Warm a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the chicken and stir–fry for 5 minutes until lightly browned.
  4. Add the veggies and cook an additional 5 mins. 
  5. Whisk the sauce once more and pour it into the pan. Bring liquid to a boil and let simmer until it reduces by half, about 3 more minutes.
  6. Stir in the basil and cook until it is just wilted.
  7. Serve immediately.

For step by step deets, check the video below:

As always, thanks for watching. See y’all next time.

XOXO,

Ankitha Gadag

How to make your herbs last longer!

This technique will help your herbs last over 2 weeks in the fridge!

I hate buying fresh herbs.

I mean, for nearly the same price as you would pay for an ounce of herbs in the refrigerated section, you can buy an ENTIRE PLANT. Kinda ridiculous, isn’t it? Dried herbs just don’t do the trick for me since they lack the robust flavor and plants die when you don’t water them… so I end up falling for the grand scheme – refrigerated herbs.

Sometimes, it truly makes sense to buy herbs, especially when they are hard to come by fresh. Take for example, Thai Basil. Extremely rare herb to find fresh, and can completely alter the taste of your Thai dish (if you’ve been cooking Thai all this time without FRESH Thai basil – you’re not doing it right, FYI)

Recently, I came across Thai Basil at the local Central Market, and  I was thrilled to say the least. I grabbed the remaining bunches and brought them home to save for another week, without the fear of them dying on me.

Normally, herbs last 4-5 days in the fridge (if you’re lucky). With this technique, I have had herbs last me for over 2 weeks.

Lets get started!

Fresh-Thai-Basil
Look at this beauty…
  1. Start by prepping your fresh herbs. This means, remove all the dead leaves and pat them dry.
  2. Find a nice little container to fit them. Nothing fancy, but nothing you will need any time soon. Fill it up with 3/4th’s water Thai-Basil-storage
  3. Now find a plastic bag to cover. You can normally use the same plastic bag that came with the herbs in the grocery store. Loosely cover the herbs with the bagRefrigerated-thai-basil
  4. Voila! Now you are ready to refrigerate your bouquet of herbs until you use them next.

 

Hopefully, this helps increase the longevity of your fresh herbs! Let me know how long you manage to make them last 🙂

Thai Green Curry Chicken

Thai food is my second favorite cuisine (next to Indian, for obvious reasons). The dishes have complex layers of flavors that are packed with heat, saltiness, tanginess and subtle sweetness.

Luckily, not all of this complexity needs to be made from scratch. A lot of the ingredients used in a traditional green curry paste are rare and hard to find. This is why I will be sharing ready made, all natural sauces and pastes that you can “cheat” with.

Ingredients:

Method:
  1. Heat up some coconut cream (about 1/4 th cup). The coconut cream naturally floats to the top of the can if you don’t shake it
  2. Blend the chilies, garlic and ginger into a fine paste
  3. Once the milk starts to boil, add in the green curry paste and the chili paste from step #2
  4. Once it cooks in, the oil starts floating to the top. At this point, add in the chicken
  5. Cook until opaque. Then add in the rest of the coconut milk
  6. Boil for a bit, now add in the soy sauce and the sweet basil chili paste. The soy sauce makes a great substitute for the salt, so you don’t need to add any additionally
  7. Add in the quartered thai eggplants
  8. Cook for a few mins, and add in the fish sauce. This is up to your taste, but it gives the curry such a great flavor so I tend to go overboard with it. I use up to 4 or 5 tbsp, but you can use less if you prefer
  9. Serve with thai basil leaves as a finishing touch. This is rather hard to find, especially when it’s out of season. I used cilantro as a substitute and sprinkled some lime juice for additional flavor!
  10. Enjoy!
Pro Tip: When you cook the jasmine rice, throw in about 2 tbsp of butter and a sprinkle of salt. I promise it makes all the difference 🙂
Leave comments and share please…
%d bloggers like this: