Chicken with Fresh Basil

This is my husband Will’s favorite Thai dish, perhaps because he encountered it in a small cafe overlooking the Kwae River during his first journey to Thailand. Restaurant cooks make it with minced chicken, beef, or pork, hand-chopping the meat with a heavy cleaver just before cooking. Chopping the meat provides maximum surface area to absorb the spectacular combination of hot green chilies, garlic, and holy basil (bai graprao), a pungent, peppery herb. Try this using ground meat from the g