Thai Style Chilli and Basil Stir Fry

I got this recipe whist travelling round Thailand in 2006. I was in a remote village called Pai and bought a book that was written by an old Thai woman who runs a cookery school there. This remains the only recipe I have tried from the book, but when you're onto a winner why worry!

This is so easy it's ridiculous, it takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and it just fabulous. It supposed to be quite dry and sticky rather than swimming in sauce so bear that in mind when cooking it.

You can use any kind of meat, the old Thai woman say to use chicken, but I find that good rump steak is the best. Any cut of frying steak works ok - just don't go cheap and nasty and under no circumstances use braising or stewing steak, you'll be chewing it for hours! Pre-cut "stir fry" packs are fine, but you'll get a better deal (and a better quality) if you're prepared to cut it yourself.

Ingredients:

• Some meat.
• 2 chillis
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• Light soy
• Dark soy
• Oyster sauce
• Brown sugar
• Basil
• Fine green beans
• Baby corn

To Serve:

• Noodloodloos

Method:

This has to be cooked fast. I almost always forget to put the noodles on in time, so my advice is to get a pan of water on the boil before you begin so as you're ready to go.

• If you have an electric whizzer then peel put the garlic and the roughly chopped chillis in it and give is a quick whirl. If not then you'll have to finely chop them instead :(
• Chop your meat into fairly thin strips, if you are using a meat that is going to release a lot of liquid (like lamb) then you'd better pre-fry it for a few minutes in a different pan and then drain off the fluid.
  
• Put some oil in the wok and put the heat on maximum. Throw a pinch of your chilli and garlic mix in, when it starts to sizzle add the rest
  
• You need to cook this mix until it is fragrant, which should take no more than 1 minute. Don't stand too close or you'll end up coughing all over it!
• Add the meat and stir fry. Add 1 tblsp of dark soy and move the meat around to evaporate any excessive liquid. Some meat juice is good, but too much will mean you are boiling it rather than frying it!
  
• Give it a couple of minutes to cook and then add 1tblsp of light soy, 1 tblsp of oyster sauce and 1 tblsp of brown sugar
  
• Add the chopped baby corn and green beans and stir fry until you think the meat is cooked, add a splash of light soy if it gets too dry, or even a little water if it's getting very dry
• Put your noodles in!
• Just before the end stir through a handful of roughly chopped basil. I also find a tube of "Gourmet Basil" you can get in supermarkets is quite a handy thing to have in the fridge for these occasions.
• Stir it through and take it off the heat, dish up your noddles with the stir fry on top and enjoy!

See how easy that was. Trust me, once you learn this off by heart you will be having it twice a week and you'll never buy another crappy stir-in sauce again!