Thai Basil Chicken with Jasmine Rice

Ingredients

• 600 g chicken mince
• 4 eggs
• 300 g jasmine rice, rinsed
• 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil
• 2 long red chillies, finely sliced
• 3 spring onions, green tops only, sliced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp tamari
• 30g fresh Thai basil leaves
• Pickled cucumber, to serve

Method

1. Rinse the jasmine rice under cold water until it runs clear, then cook per packet instructions. Keep it covered and warm — the steam left in the pan finishes the grains while you cook the rest.
2. Stir the tamari, fish sauce and sugar together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Taste it: salty, savoury, just-sweet. Most of the seasoning for the dish lives here.
3. Season the chicken mince with a pinch of salt and a good crack of pepper before it hits the pan — dry, seasoned mince browns; wet, unseasoned mince steams.
4. Heat the garlic-infused oil in a wok over very high heat until it shimmers and almost smokes. Add the sliced chillies and stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant — watch them, the garlic-infused oil turns bitter the moment it tips past pale gold.
5. Add the chicken mince in two batches, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Don't crowd the wok — all at once and the meat releases water and boils instead of browning. Each batch wants 3–4 minutes, until you see proper golden edges catching on the metal.
6. Return all the mince to the wok, pour in the sauce, and toss for a minute until it turns glossy and clings to the meat. Pull the wok off the heat and fold through the Thai basil and spring onion tops — the basil should wilt on contact and perfume the whole pan. Taste, and adjust now: another splash of tamari if it needs salt, a pinch of sugar if the chillies have run hot.
7. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a separate non-stick frying pan over high heat and fry the eggs until the whites are crisp and lacy at the edges and the yolks still wobble, about 2 minutes.
8. Spoon the rice into bowls, pile the basil chicken on top, crown each with a fried egg, scatter with toasted sesame seeds and extra Thai basil leaves, and tuck a lime wedge alongside for everyone to squeeze the lime over at the table.