Freestylin' Thai Beef Basil

Yep this is the comeback of the comeback, if there is such a thing.  I'm trying really hard to restrain myself from spouting promises, like I did in my previous entry which was, embarrassingly enough, erm more than a year ago the last time I checked *cringe*.  I never thought I had commitment issues until, well, now I guess.  Let me stop there.  This time there will be no promises.  I've decided to just gently ease into this again and prove to myself and to you guys that I'm back for good.

Here goes nothing.

Yuri and I have our issues in the kitchen.  In the three years we've been married, we've discovered that we don't work all that well together in the kitchen all the time.  Sometimes it goes pretty okay, but on days when our control issues are at their peak it can turn ugly.  Our prep and cooking styles are just on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.  The food just comes out way better when one of us is out of the picture.  Plus, it's just more peaceful that way.

Anyways, It's been weeks since Yuri and I last cooked anything for ourselves.  We had a rare lazy Sunday yesterday and Yuri took it upon himself to cook dinner for me and my brother-in-law.  We're kind of nearing the end of our pantry supply so he put together an adaptation of his favorite Thai Basil Chicken dish, but he used ground beef instead, added tofu, and some red bell peppers as well.  We're calling this dish *drumroll*... Thai Basil Beef with Tofu.  Harhar. :p 

In the spirit of marital harmony I have decided against nagging him about recalling the exact measurements he used, so please adjust everything to your taste.   This was after all a kind of freestyle home cooking session.

Ingredients (a.k.a. what we had left in fridge)
Serves 3-4 persons

• 500 g of ground beef
• 3/4 C of fresh basil leaves
• 1 piece red bell pepper, julienned
• 1 T dried chili (put less if your tolerance for spiciness is low)
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 T water
• 2 T patis or fish sauce
• tofu, slice into cubes or into whatever shape you desire
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stalk onion leeks
• 2 -3 T vegetable cooking oil

Lightly pre-fry the tofu in cooking oil and then set aside. You could pre mix the sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, and water together if you're feeling unsure but you may opt to to just add it into the wok directly after searing the beef later.  You can adjust the saltiness of the sauce by adding and balancing it with water. The sauce can be as dry or as plenty as you please.  He prefers a drier version of this particular dish he created, as do I, because it just tastes better for us that way.   Let your taste buds guide you.  Once you've pre-mixed your sauce, heat up about two tablespoons of vegetable cooking oil in a wok on medium-high heat, and add the garlic.  Right before the garlic turns brown, go ahead and add the ground beef.  Keep tossing the wok until the beef is seared and cooked through.  You may then add the sauce, the bell peppers, and the onion leeks to the beef.  Keep mixing and turning everything until the bell peppers have wilted slightly, which will take about 3-5 minutes only.  Add the tofu mixing gently for about a minute or two and just enough to toss the tofu with everything else so that it absorbs the flavor of the sauce.  Finally, add the basil leaves and toss for approximately 30 seconds.  As you can see, this recipe is by no way exact.  At all.  This is just to give you an idea of the flavor profile of the dish.  Since you're cooking with medium to high heat this dish should be completed in 15 minutes or less.  Plate it up and...

Voila!  You're done.

This is Yuri's Thai Beef Basil with Tofu sans food styling.  We're keeping it realistic.  Besides, it wasn't even an option since we were too hungry.  

~Mich :)