What's For Dinner Wednesday: Spicy Thai Basil Fish

Our favorite Thai food spot in Houston is Thai Gourmet. Have you been? Unfortunately, we haven't been much since the kids came in to the picture. Apparently melt your face spice and kid palates don't quite mix!

My favorite Thai dish is the basil fish. In fact, this is what I ate on Cooper's due date (ordered EXTRA SPICY) in order to coax him out. While the food was awesome, all I ended up with was heartburn and no baby that night!

I recently set out to replicate this dish along with something that could be served to the kids! I started with this Cooking Light Spicy Thai Basil Chicken Wraps and ended up with something close…plus fish burgers for the kids! (I know "fish burgers" sound disgusting but bear with me!)

Spicy Thai Basil Fish

Ingredients:

4 tsp vegetable oil

1 shallot, minced

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound white fish filets (I've used flounder and Alaskan cod.)

2 serrano peppers, minced (I use one with seeds, one without for spiciness. No seeds = milder flavor.)

1 Tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp dark brown sugar

2 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 cup thai basil (purple), chopped

Ground chili paste, to taste (Look for "Sambal Oelek" in the Asian foods section of the grocery store.)

Directions:

1. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Sauté shallots for two minutes. Add bell pepper and sauté for one minute. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Remove mixture from pan skillet and set aside.
3. Add remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to the skillet. Cook fish filets 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through (depending on thickness). Remove from skillet and place on a paper towel to drain. Reserve one filet for kids dish (below).
4. Sauté peppers for one minute. Add fish back to the pan along with shallot mixture, fish sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and pepper. Cook for one minute.
5. Remove from heat and stir in basil. Add chili paste to taste.

Excuse the un-tossed salad…somebody was throwing themselves on the ground in hunger desperation at this point! Poor Kyle…

Fish Burgers for the kids!

No, not a sandwich, a burger with ketchup and pickles! Sorry to those of you who already threw up in their mouths a little bit! I know it sounds gross but my kids eat it (hopefully not forever) and I am happy serving up a lean protein that they enjoy. Cooper has always LOVED salmon but never touched white fish until recently. (This is so strange to me because in my opinion salmon is the fishiest! I digress…) Anyway, when it comes to introducing new kid food, we have luck serving up something new in a familiar package. The first time I tried this with fish, I gave it to Cooper plain on a whole wheat slider and called it a burger. He immediately asked for ketchup and pickles. I was disgusted until he happily ate two fish filet sliders. After that, I stopped caring! Best of luck fish-burgering!