Chicken and aubergine stir-fry with Thai basil
Written by Estelle & Alice for The Wok House
Raw aubergine soaks up the oil in a wok in a matter of seconds, and the urge to pour in more gives you a greasy dish. Instead, I salt it a quarter of an hour ahead, then cook it in three stages: under a lid so the steam softens it, turned over with a drizzle of oil, then uncovered over a high heat until it browns. It comes out meltingly soft inside and brown on its cut sides. Allow 40 minutes, rice included.
This stir-fry draws on two cuisines. The chicken is prepared the Chinese way: massaged with water then coated in cornflour, it stays tender over a high heat, and Shaoxing rice wine and the two soy sauces form the base of the seasoning. The fish sauce and Thai basil come from Thailand; aubergine stir-fried with basil is also cooked in Taiwan, where it's called ta xiang qiezi. The basil goes in twice, half with the garlic and the rest off the heat, to keep its aniseed scent.
Chicken and aubergine stir-fry with Thai basil
Aubergine steamed under a lid then browned, chicken marinated in cornflour and seared over a high heat, all stir-fried with garlic and Thai basil, fish sauce and soy sauces.
For 3 or 4 people, use a 32 to 34cm wok with a lid. The chicken goes in 2 batches, the aubergine in one go.
Ingredients
For the rice
For the aubergine
For the chicken
For the sauce
Aromatics and cooking
Equipment
- 32 to 34cm wok with a lid
- Wok spatula
- Colander and a clean tea towel
- Saucepan with a lid, for the rice
- 2 small bowls
Method
Start the rice
Rinse 300g jasmine rice under cold water until it runs almost clear. Put it in a saucepan with 450ml water, bring to the boil, then cover and cook for 12 minutes over a very low heat. Turn off the heat and leave it to stand for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Prepare the rest in the meantime.
Cut and salt the aubergine
Cut up 500g aubergines, leaving the skin on, as it holds the flesh together while it cooks. Cut long aubergines on the diagonal into 4cm chunks, giving them a quarter turn between each cut. Cut a regular aubergine lengthways into quarters first, then into 4cm chunks. Put the pieces in a colander, sprinkle them with 1 tsp fine salt, toss and leave them for 15 minutes: beads of water appear on the flesh.
Marinate the chicken
Cut 450g chicken into 5mm-thick slices. Put them in a bowl, pour 3 tbsp cold water over them and massage the meat with your fingers until it has absorbed all the liquid: it turns sticky. Add 2 tsp light soy sauce, 2 tsp oil and 2 tsp cornflour, then mix until every slice has a thin coating. Leave to rest until the aubergine has finished salting.
Prepare the sauce and aromatics
Pour 1 ½ tbsp Shaoxing rice wine into a small glass. In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 ½ tsp light soy sauce, 1 ½ tsp dark soy sauce, ¾ tsp sesame oil and ¼ tsp white pepper until the sugar has dissolved. Heat 90ml stock in a small saucepan. Thinly slice the garlic. Cut the spring onions on the diagonal into 4cm lengths, keeping the whites separate from the greens. Pick the basil leaves and divide them into two piles. Put everything next to the wok: once the heat is on, the cooking runs without a break.
Cook the aubergine under a lid
Pat the aubergine dry in a clean tea towel, pressing lightly: the water takes some of the salt with it. Heat the wok over a medium-high heat, pour in 2 tbsp oil and spread the aubergine out in one layer; if it doesn't all fit, cook it in two rounds, with half the oil each time. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Take off the lid, turn the pieces over and drizzle 1 tbsp oil down the side of the wok. Cover again, lower the heat to medium-low and give it 2 minutes more: the tip of a knife should slide into the flesh without resistance.
Brown the aubergine
Remove the lid and turn the heat up to high. Stir-fry the aubergine for 2 minutes, until the cut sides are golden brown and the flesh slumps. Set aside on a plate.
Sear the chicken
Keep the heat high. Sear the chicken in 2 batches: for each batch, pour in 1 tablespoon oil and wait until it shimmers and just starts to smoke, then spread the slices out in one layer. Leave them untouched for 1 minute, turn them over and give them 30 seconds to 1 minute more, depending on how powerful your hob is: they should be white and golden in places. Add each batch to the plate of aubergine as it's done. In a non-stick wok, don't wait for the oil to smoke: shimmering is enough.
The aromatics
Lower the heat to medium-high. Pour in 1 tbsp oil, then add the garlic, the spring onion whites and half the basil. Stir-fry for 20 to 30 seconds, until the garlic is fragrant and pale gold without browning.
Bring it together and season
Return the aubergine and chicken to the wok and turn the heat back up to high. Pour the Shaoxing rice wine in a thin stream down the hot side of the wok, where it sizzles, and toss. Add the bowl of sauce and stir-fry for 1 minute, until everything is coated and glossy. Add the spring onion greens.
Deglaze and serve
Pour the hot stock all around the wok, against the side, to lift the browned bits from the bottom. Stir-fry for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the aubergine has soaked up almost all the liquid. Turn off the heat, add the rest of the basil and toss: it wilts in a few seconds. Serve straight away, with the rice fluffed up with a fork.
Wok tips
- The aubergine first cooks in steam, under the lid: that's what softens it without drowning it in oil. Without a lid, the outside dries out before the middle is cooked, and it asks for more oil. The lid of a large sauté pan will do if it fits the wok snugly; a wok with a lid saves you hunting for one.
- The chicken sticks when the metal is only warm: the cornflour in the marinade grabs straight away. Wait until the oil shimmers, spread the slices out and leave them for 1 minute without touching them; they come away on their own once seared. In a well-seasoned wok, they stick much less.
- A cast iron wok heats up slowly, but it holds its heat when the chicken goes in. On an induction or ceramic hob, leave it on the heat for 4 to 5 minutes before adding the first oil and, between batches, wait until the oil shimmers again. Keep it on the hob and stir with the spatula: a wok you lift loses contact and cools down.
- No more than 300g chicken per batch in a 32 to 34cm wok. Any more and the slices overlap, the wok cools and the meat releases its water: it turns white without browning.
Variations
- Instead of Thai basil: 25g regular basil and about ten mint leaves for 4, added off the heat. Holy basil (kra pao), more peppery, with a hint of clove, works too, in the same amount as the Thai basil.
- Instead of Shaoxing rice wine: the same amount of dry sherry, or leave it out. Instead of dark soy sauce: the same amount of light soy sauce and ½ teaspoon extra sugar; the sauce will just be less brown.
- Vegetarian: 400g firm tofu, patted dry and cut into 2cm cubes, rolled in 1 tablespoon cornflour and browned for 4 to 5 minutes in place of the chicken. Replace the fish sauce with 2 teaspoons light soy sauce and 1 teaspoon vegetarian mushroom stir-fry sauce, and the stock with water.
- Hotter: 2 to 4 fresh bird's eye chillies, sliced, added with the garlic.
Storage
Two days in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat for 2 minutes in the wok over a high heat with 1 tablespoon water, stirring, and add a few fresh basil leaves: the ones from the day before will have turned black. The dish doesn't freeze well, as thawed aubergine releases its water and turns spongy.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a regular aubergine?
Yes. The long aubergines from Asian supermarkets have thinner skin, fewer seeds and more tender flesh, but a regular aubergine gives a good result. Cut it lengthways into quarters then into 4cm chunks, don't skip the salting, and allow 1 minute more under the lid.
How do you stop aubergine soaking up all the oil?
Salt it for 15 minutes, then pat it dry well: the flesh loses some of its water and absorbs less oil. Then cook it under a lid before browning it, without adding more oil at the start: once softened, it gives back some of the oil it took in.
Why massage the chicken with water before the cornflour?
The meat absorbs the water, then the cornflour forms a thin coating around it that protects it from the high heat: the chicken stays juicy even when seared hard. Thigh, fattier than breast, copes better with an extra minute. With breast, take the slices out as soon as they are white all the way through.
Is this dish Chinese or Thai?
A bit of both. The chicken marinated in cornflour, the Shaoxing rice wine and the light and dark soy sauces come from Chinese stir-frying; the fish sauce and Thai basil come from Thai cooking. It's a Chinese-Thai stir-fry, eaten with jasmine rice.
