Chicken & pak choi

For ➋
75 g boneless & skinless chicken breast, cut into thin pieces
2 tbs oil
200 g pak choi, sliced into pieces
2.5 cm piece ginger, peeled & sliced into pieces
marinade:
½ tbs soy sauce
½ tbs cornstarch
sauce:
½ tbs oyster sauce
2 tb water
¼ ts sesame oil
3 dashes white pepper
1 ts wine
½ ts sugar

Marinate the chicken with the ingredients in marinade for 10 m. Combine all the ingredients in the sauce in a small bowl, stir to blend well.
Heat ½ tbs oil in a wok until the oil becomes hot. Add the chicken and quickly stir-fry until the surface of the chicken turn opaque or white. Dish out and set aside. This step seals in the juice in the chicken so the texture is tender and velvety smooth.
Heat up the remaining oil in the wok until hot. Add the ginger into the wok and stir-fry until aromatic. Add the chicken back into the wok and do a few quick stirs. Add in the pak choi and stir to combine well. Transfer the sauce into the wok and continue to stir-fry until the pak choi is cooked but remain crisp. Do not overcook.
Dish out & serve immediately with steamed white rice.

Pad kra pao gai (Thai holy basil chicken)

For ➊*
for the egg: *
1 egg
2 tbs oil for frying
for the chicken:**
1 chicken breast (or any other cut of boneless chicken, about 200 g)**
5 cloves of garlic
4 Thai chillies
1 tbs oil for frying
1 ts of oyster sauce
½ ts light soy sauce
½ ts sugar
1 splash dark soy sauce
1 handful Thai holy basil leaves

Prepare your rice as usual.
Heat about 2 tbs of vegetable oil in a wok or frying pan on high-medium heat. When the oil is hot and sizzling, drop in the egg. Let it sizzle and bubble up, and at the same time, splash some of the hot oil onto the top of the egg. Don't flip the egg.
After the egg looks about right, take it out, drain the excess oil, and put it on a plate for later.*
Cut the chicken into small bite sized pieces.
Rinse and peel the garlic and chilies, and pound them in a mortar and pestle (alternatively you can just mince them with a knife). They don't need to be super fine, you just want to bring out the oils and flavors from the garlic and chilies.
Pluck a good sized handful of holy basil leaves off the stems.
Heat your wok on high heat, and add about 1 tbs of oil to the pan.
When the oil is hot, add the chillies and garlic. Stir fry them for about 20 s or so until they get really fragrant, but don't let them burn or get too dry.
Toss in your chicken. Keep stir frying continuously. At this stage you want to continue to stir and cook your chicken until it's just about fully cooked all the way through (depending on the size pieces of chicken and how hot your fire is, it should take about 2-3 m). If it starts to get dry, add just a tiny splash of water.
Add 1 ts of oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sugar, and finally a splash of dark soy sauce. Keep stir frying for about another 30 seconds.
Grab a handful of holy basil, toss it into the pan, fold it into the chicken, and then immediately turn off the heat.[On an electric stove, remove the pan from the burner]. The holy basil really only needs to cook for about 5 s, and it will continue to wilt and cook from the existing heat of the chicken. This step is important because if you cook the basil for too long, it loses some of its glorious flavor and gets slightly chewy.
Serve with the rice.

*You can leave the egg side-dish out.
**Prepare with pork or beef.

Holy basil has been revered for its medicinal value throughout India for thousands of years. Ayurvedic texts describe holy basil as a pillar of holistic herbal medicine. The leaves smell of peppermint, cloves, licorice and/or lemon. Holy basil is believed to be helpful when fighting stress.

Pad krapow gai (Thai basil chicken)

For ➊-➋
250 g skin-on chicken thigh
2 ts oyster sauce
1 ts dark soy sauce
½ ts sugar
2 tbs vegetable oil
9 g garlic (1 very large clove), roughly chopped
5 g Thai chilli peppers (2 peppers), roughly chopped *
1 large egg 20 grams
holy basil

Remove the skin and any fat from the thighs and chop into small pieces and set aside.
Cut the thigh meat into 1 cm pieces.
Measure out the oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar into a small bowl so that it's ready to add to the stir fry.
Prepare 2 frying pans, 1 for the egg and 1 for the chicken.
Put the chicken skin and fat into one pan and 2 tbs of vegetable oil into the other.
For the pan with the chicken skin, turn the heat onto medium-high and render out the fat, stirring from time to time to prevent burning.
When the chicken skin is browned and starting to crisp, turn up the heat to high and then add the garlic and chili peppers and saute until fragrant (about 30 s).
Meanwhile, turn the second burner onto high heat and heat until the oil is shimmering and hot.
Add the chicken to the first pan with the garlic and chili peppers and stir fry until the chicken is cooked through.
Break an egg into the second pan and fry, spooning some oil onto the egg to help cook the top surface from time to time.
Add the sauce mix to the chicken and continue stir-frying until the sauce coats the chicken evenly. Turn off the heat and toss the holy basil together with the chicken on the plate immediately.
Top your pad krapow gai with the the fried egg.

*: 2 Thai chillies will make this basil chicken fairly spicy, if you don't like a lot of heat, either cut back on the chillies, or smash (but don't chop) them so you can pick them out after cooking. If you want to make this crazy spicy, just add more chillies.

Brussels sprouts & shrimps @ wok

For ➋ (➍ as a starter)
220 g shrimps, peeled & deveined
1 ts rice wine
pinch of white pepper
2 tbs oil
25 grams ginger root, peeled & julienned
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
7 Brussels sprouts, trimmed & halved
1 ts (Thai) fish sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
3 spring onions, cut into 3 cm chunks

Add salt and pepper to the rice wine. Marinate the shrimps in it, for 5-10 m.
Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until it begins to color.*
Add the prawns and stir-fry half cooked, add the sprouts and stir-fry until the sprouts are just tender.
Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and onions to mix well.
Serve with rice.

*Read tip on using ginger/ garlic in wok.