Wow it has been a rough few weeks. After returning from vacation, I spent the next week packing and then the next two weeks moving. We've been in the place for over two weeks but we are not entirely unpacked. It is a slow and ongoing process. I wanted to blog but I wasn't cooking much of anything. When I did cook, I cooked the same dishes I've blogged about before. When I cooked something new, I couldn't locate my camera. When I found my camera and was able to take pictures, I couldn't locate the camera cable to transfer pictures. (I have a Sony camera so it used to be really nice when I could simply remove the memory stick and insert it into my Sony Vaio. Sony was very proprietary until they developed another version called the memory stick duo. I was able to insert the card (with the adapter) in my Toshiba PC. Now that I have the Mac I have to use the USB cable to transfer my pictures.) So after searching high and low, I found both camera and camera cable. Now the post.
Many of the Thai restaurants in Denver have a dish on their menu called Moon Harbor. I’m not sure if it is a Thai dish because many of these restaurants are not strictly Thai. They serve Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and almost every other Asian cuisine. For example we love a restaurant called Blue Moon. The bf always orders the chicken drunken noodles and I sometimes order the sushi. Moon harbor is almost always on the menu at these “Thai” restaurants.
Moon harbor is very similar to chicken pad krapow. I’m sure every chef makes pad krapow a little differently. I’ve only had Thai food at Thai restaurants in America so I’m not sure which version is authentic. I’m not even sure if I have even had an authentic version of pad krapow.
I think this moon harbor dish is Denver’s version of pad krapow. I’m not sure if it should be called pad krapow since I’m not sure if the restaurants use holy basil. It is not pad krapow if krapow leaves are not used. I think some restaurants substitute holy basil leaves with thai basil. In that case the dish should be called pad horapa.
Holy basil is very difficult to find in even the most well-stocked Asian grocery store in a large metropolitan with a large Asian population. It is virtually impossible to find in Denver. Maybe I will attempt to grow some next year. For this dish I used Thai basil from my miniature garden and some Vietnamese balm leaves. Vietnamese balm has a nice fragrance that is a cross between mint and basil. This dish tastes great with regular sweet basil or even mint.
1 pound chicken breast or tenders, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
MSG
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 red bell pepper, diced (the restaurants use a variety of color but I prefer red bell peppers)
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon Maggi sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (I like the Pearl River brand)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 large handful of Thai basil, holy basil, sweet basil, Vietnamese balm, or mint
1. Coarsely chop chicken breast or tenders and mix with minced garlic and MSG. Let sit about 30 minutes in refrigerator.
2. Heat a wok or stir-fry pan and add canola oil. When oil is hot, add the chicken mixture to the pan. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook about five more minutes or bell pepppers and onions are slightly tender.
3. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.
It is a very quick and easy dish to make. I think I had dinner on the table in a matter of minutes. I don't know how to classify this dish because I don't think it is Thai and I can't say it is Vietnamese just because I used Vietnames balm. I should have a generic "Asian" category.
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