Kitchen Caliente!

Mmm...three cup chicken. I love three cup chicken (san bei ji) because of the intense flavors.

The recipe is straightforward. Cut chicken into large chunks, brown the pieces on all sides, then throw in at least three cups of loosely packed Thai basil for every cup of chicken that you have. The rest of the recipe is about keeping a 1:1:1 ratio of soy sauce:rice wine:sesame oil, but here's what I did for two whole legs and two wings.

Brown the chicken in some oil, making sure there are at least five thick slices of ginger in the oil to lend flavor. When the chicken's brown, add the basil. You can kind of see what the ratio's like above. I used 1/2 cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine. You want it to cover the chicken halfway, so add more of each until you can do that. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and taste the mix to see if you like it. Simmer over low heat until the sauce turns slightly sticky and caramelizes all over the chicken. Serve with rice. I know I'm missing ingredients, but this is the simplest way to get a simple chicken basil dinner.

The photo above is of the chicken right after I added the wet ingredients, so when it's done it should look a lot darker brown and more dry all over.

If you're feeling frisky, light the rice wine on fire! Obviously I was trying to be careful while doing this, so I had to wait for it to die down before grabbing the camera. A few seconds before this, the fire was actually burning blue. Aren't my matching red pots cute? I love ROSS.

I also made these today and devoured five not fifteen minutes after they came out of the oven. I know, I'm bad news for the waistline (plus, cookies should be allowed to cool a little). But I'm going on a road trip, and that means we need car food! I'll report back on my food adventures when I return. Til then, ta ta loyal readers. Happy eatings and drinkings.