Thai basil chickpeas with a crispy fried egg
Chickpeas stir-fried hot and fast with garlic, chili, peppers and a salty-sweet sauce, tossed with a big handful of basil and topped with a crispy fried egg over rice, pad krapow for two.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $3.59 a serving
- 880 calories
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
- 1 tsp hoisin sauce
- 1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 serrano pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- ½ cup fresh basil, leaves
- 2 large eggs
From your pantry
- 1½ cups water
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 880 calories, 29 g protein, 122 g carbs and 30 g fat, and costs about $3.59 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice, water and salt in a and over high heat.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Stir once, cover, and cook on low 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Stir the soy sauce, brown sugar, hoisin and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. the garlic, chili, shallot and pepper so they’re ready by the stove.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dolly’s tip: Stir-frying moves fast. Having everything cut and waiting is the whole trick.Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large over high heat. Add the chickpeas and cook, shaking the pan, 5 minutes, until .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
High heatTimer: 5 min
Push the chickpeas to one side, add the garlic, chili and shallot to the empty side with a little more oil, and stir 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
High heat
Add the bell pepper and 2 minutes, then pour in the sauce and 1 minute, until it coats everything.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heatTimer: 2 min
Take the pan off the heat and in the basil until it just . Spoon onto the rice.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Wipe out the pan, heat the rest of the oil over medium-high heat, and crack in the eggs. Fry 2 to 3 minutes, spooning a little hot oil over the whites, until the whites are set with edges and the yolks are still soft.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: The crackly, lacy edges are the point. Hot oil and a minute of patience get you there.Food safety: Soft yolks are a small risk. If you’re pregnant, or cooking for small children or older people, cook the eggs until the yolks are firm, or use pasteurized eggs.
Slide an egg onto each plate and break the yolk over everything.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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