Thai Beef with Chiles and Basil Over Coconut Rice

I found this recipe online -- and after seeing "coconut rice," immediately added the ingredients to the grocery list. It looked easy enough to make, and we usually have items like soy sauce, coconut milk and basil in the house. To make the coconut rice, combine the jasmine rice, coconut milk and water in a saucepan. Cook like you would regular rice (bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and leave, covered for about 25 minutes).

Getting ready...

While the rice is cooking, we prepped the other ingredients. We purchased long, banana peppers instead of jalepenos, and clipped some basil from our plant.

The banana peppers aren't hot like jalepenos. 

We seeded and sliced the peppers into matchsticks. Heat up the wok/skillet to a high heat, adding the oil. Once the oil is warmed, add the garlic  (we used minced instead of chopping fresh garlic) and half the sliced peppers.


Cook, stirring constantly for about 15 seconds. Add the beef, and cook until browned (about 4 minutes). Make sure the meat is broken up so it can cook evenly.

Mmmm...e coli. Just kidding. 

Prep the sauce by mixing the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. 

FYI, if you haven't cooked with fish sauce before -- it smells bad. But it's a necessary ingredient in a lot of Asian dishes, so just try not to sniff it directly. 

Add the soy mixture to the beef, and cook for about 30 seconds. Add in the remaining peppers and the basil leaves.

I like cooking some of the peppers at the beginning and then adding in the others at the end, so there is a mixture of soft and crunchy. 

Serve the Thai beef over the coconut rice, and with lime slices on the side.

Ding! Dinner. 

The dinner was easy to make, and quick to cook (another advantage of stir-frying). It was tasty, but using the banana peppers definitely made it more mild that (I think) the recipe suggested. Paul and I added a little Sriracha just to perk it up a bit. Now the coconut rice, on the other hand, needs nothing. It is awesome. I pretty much have decided that I'm going to make coconut rice with our Asian dishes from now on. It's seriously delicious, and it's easy to kick up white rice a notch. Enjoy!