There's a Chinese restaurant next to the Instructables office that has the best basil chicken - of course I had to try to copy it and make it at home. :D I'm really happy with how it turned out - only had to make it a few times to get it perfect!

Basil chicken is a really simple dish - you can honestly have dinner within 20 minutes or so. Serve it with rice or noodles and you're all set. I tend to like mine really spicy, but you can make it nice and mild, too!

Step 1: Ingredients:

1 pound ground chicken
2 tablespoons grated or minced ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
a jalapeno or serrano pepper, minced, de-seed it if you want to!
handful of basil
1 tablespoon chili/garlic sauce (optional)

If you can find Thai basil, use that! I have a hard time finding it at my local grocery store, so I go for normal basil. I think that this is best when it's spicy, so if you'd like a little kick, add some chili/garlic sauce at the end. It'll also give it nice color. :)

Step 2: Do Your Prep Work

Because everything comes together so quick, make sure sure have everything minced and measured out.

Put the pepper, garlic and ginger in a bowl together and measure out the soy sauce, hoisin and rice vinegar into another bowl and mix.

Step 3: Stir Frying!

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and pour in a tablespoon of sesame oil. When it's really hot, dump in the peppers, ginger and garlic.

Stir these around for a minute or so, until nice and fragrant. Then add in the ground chicken and break it up into smaller pieces. You won't want to cook it through all the way here, because we're about to simmer it for a few minutes. Cooking it all the way through here will make it tough!

As soon as the chicken is all in 1/2 inch or smaller pieces, turn the heat down to medium low.

Step 4: Simmer!

Add in the liquids, stir it well, and let it simmer for a few minutes. I like to cover it but you don't have to. Stir it every so often, until most of the liquid is gone.

Step 5: Add the Basil and Serve!

Turn the heat back up to medium high, and add in a handful of basil. (I've attached a photo of what I mean by "handful of basil") I like to rip it into slightly smaller pieces!

Stir this around just until the basil is wilted and then turn off the heat. Add in your chili garlic sauce now if you want it. Serve it hot over rice or noodles - it's perfect that way :D