Thai Basil Grilled Salmon

 

THAI BASIL 

Basil is one of the main ingredients in this recipe.Thai basil can be found at specialty Asian grocery stores. It tastes like normal basil but with more of a fresh, herbal-licorice flavor and crisp pungency that’s slightly more peppery than the sweet kind. While sweet basil lacks the slight aniseed flavor of Thai basil, it still works great in this recipe as the sauce is so flavorful.  Chicken is a good substitute for salmon and with the sauce a stir-fry meal can be created.  Great add-ins for chicken stir-fry or grilled salmon include: broccoli,carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, zucchini, asparagus, bean sprouts, spinach and bok choy.
Taste test the sauce and add additional chili sauce if want it spicer and/or lime juice for tangier taste. Serve grilled salmon or stir-fry chicken over basmatic or jasmine rice.  

Thai Basil Salmon
Recipe serves 2 and was adapted from carlsbadcravings.com
Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets or 2 chicken breast fillets, diced in chunks

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Asian sweet chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce like Sambal Oelek
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon fish or oyster sauce 
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch 
• 1/3 cup water or orange juice
• 1/3 cup torn basil leaves 

Directions:

• Mix cornstarch with water or orange juice 
• In a small saucepan add all sauce ingredients plus cornstarch mixture. Whisk to combine and heat on low until thickened. Stir in torn basil leaves.
• Place salmon on foil and grill salmon at 350 degrees, depending on the thickness of the fillets about 8 minutes per side. Brush salmon with sauce twice during grilling time.    

Thai Chicken 
Cook's Notes: The same sauce for Thai Basil Salmon was used to create a stir fry chicken meal. 
Directions: 

• Heat in small fry pan, 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Add chicken pieces with diced mini sweet peppers and onions. Saute chicken, peppers and oniions. Mix in prepared Thai Basil Sauce. Add in snap peas and heat the stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Serve over rice. Top with cashews.

On Friday I noted Roxie was all set for some weekend fun.  She just needed to get her boat across the street and into the lake.