Thai Basil Stir Fry

Hellooo, it’s me again, back with another cooking recipe 🙂

I am missing Thai food and so I think why not try to cook one my favourite: Thai Basil Stir Fry!

The ingredients you will need:

• Ground meat (any meat, I use pork here, around 300gr)
• Garlic (minced; I use 2 small heads, it depends on how big it is, mine is pretty small, so I go all out)
• Red chili (minced; I use 2 big ones, so it is less spicy, but you sure can change it to spicier one)
• Basil (around 20gr)

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Water
• Sweet soy sauce (several recipes I checked are using it, but I don’t have it available so I skip, it has sugar already so I think it should taste more or less the same)
• Salt (if you want it tastes saltier, I put in little)
• White pepper (I almost cannot make one dish without it 😅, but it’s up to you, I mean it)

In some recipes, they recommend to smooth (crush/grind) both garlic and red chili first so they become some kind of paste. But it’s too troublesome for me 😬 so I choose these steps instead:

1. Add cooking oil to heated wok, after the oil is heated, put in garlic and red chili. It is said that adding garlic and chili to oil will make the oil flavoured, so it will be tastier. Wait till it becomes golden and fragrant.
2. Then add the meat, stir until it whitens (changes colour).
3. Add all the sauce. Stir fry.
4. Till it’s almost heated through, add basil.
5. Continue stir frying and soon you’re done!

From all the research I’ve done, I realized that Thai basil stir fry is best served with sunny side up egg (Thais even deep fry the egg). I try it for the first time this time, and find out that it’s true! The egg makes the dish tastier 👍👍 

Again, my recipe post is lacking photos 🙄 Got no kitchen in the moment, and still have no idea how to tackle cooking and photographing at the same time 🤔

Well this is it, I hope you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for reading. If you love it, leave a comment!

Cheers to life,

b

Temple of Dawn (Bangkok part 3)

“Dawn is the time when nothing breathes, the hour of silence. Everything is transfixed, only the light moves.” — Leonora Carrington

Next stop after Grand Royal Palace, we went to Wat Arun, aka Temple of Dawn, by boat via the famous Chao Phraya River. Wat Arun has different style compared to Grand Royal Palace. The Palace’s main colour is gold, while Wat Arun’s white. Unfortunately, I could not take many pictures there, because it is still renovated. 

On the other side of the compound, I found a temple. There were several monks holding some kind of ritual with locals. There were also some other young monks I guess still in training. The last picture above (with many Buddha statues) it was actually a kind of altar where people put the ashes of the deceased.

By the way, during my time exploring the site, I found a couple shooting for pre wedding photos. So I think that Wat Arun is not only a place adored by tourists, but also by locals. Oh, like Grand Royal Palace, you have to follow the dresscode. Given that, I suppose it’s a good idea to visit both respectively.

Well, it was only day 2 of the travel, but I realized that I am running out of photos to make it as long as the first and second part 😱 So I decided to put them together in this post.

1. Taken at Sriracha Tiger Zoo, during the circus perfomance. 
2. An elephant at Nong Nooch Tropical Garden and Cultural Village. There is also a show of Muay Thai.
3. I forget what the name of the place is. We visited it for just a little while after going to Buddha Mountain because it was raining.

1. Thai green papaya salad, bought it in Platinum Mall’s food court. So fresh!
2. Sticky mango rice, really curious about this dish, that I decided last minute to buy at the airport. Have to have it if you visit Thailand!
3. Red curry, also got it at the airport, nevertheless satisfied with the taste! It was soooo good! Recommended! 

To summarize my trip, it was awesome. The good point in joining a tour is that we got to cover a lot of places in a short amount of time. But the downside is that you have to follow the schedule, and you got only the safest kinds of food everybody loves: Chinese food. And with the exact meal time provided, it was almost impossible to try other local dishes 😭 They were generous with the food, though, so you would be full till the next meal. If I have the opportunity to visit Thailand again in the future, I will make sure to try everything!

Till next time, cheers to life,

b

Grand Palace Bangkok (Bangkok part 2)

“Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” — Benjamin Disraeli

Second day of Bangkok, we visited the georgeous Grand Palace. If you have never been there before then I recommend you to, even though it was scorching hot and packed with tourists. Grand Palace used to be the residence of the King of Thailand. Inside the complex, there are several buildings, including the Temple of Emerald Buddha. The main colour inside the complex is gold. There are gold ornaments, gold statue, gold rooftop, you name it. The Temple of Emerald Buddha has intricate jewelled walls. In the other part of the complex, I also found buildings with European style inculturation. 

By the way, there is a dress code for visiting the palace. No shorts, no sleeveless tops, no sandals. And to get into Temple of Emerald Buddha, you have to take off your shoes. Inside, you should not take pictures. 

Well there is that for Grand Palace Bangkok. I took more pictures than what I uploaded here in my blog, make sure to head over to my instagram account (simplyme_b) to find more pictures! See you on my next post.

Cheers to life,

b