Thai Beef with Chiles and Basil over Coconut Rice

Well, the title of this recipe describes almost everything in this dish. I really like watching cooking shows on PBS on Saturday mornings, and this particular recipe was featured on Everyday Food. You can also find the recipe here on Martha Stewart's Website. What interested me the most about this recipe was the simple and few ingredients that pack a lot of flavor into this. The recipe calls for fish sauce, which I can never seem to find, but it still tastes good without it. You can add extra soy sauce to compensate for the lack of fish sauce.

Ground beef never seems to photograph appealingly to me, but this is definitely good stuff.

You definitely want to add in fresh basil at the end--I tried dried as a substitute, but it doesn't taste the same. The best part of this recipe is the coconut rice where you use coconut milk instead of water to cook your rice. I also used three different types of chiles in this: Anaheim, poblano, and jalapeno.

Top (long, light green) is the Anaheim, Bottom left is the poblano, and the two small ones to the right are the jalapenos. Anaheims can have varying heat levels, Poblanos are usually mild, and jalapenos pack some heat. Generally, the smaller the pepper, the more heat it packs.

You can find these peppers in just about any grocery store, but fall is the best time to get Anaheims. When I lived in New Mexico, they would sell 25lb. bags of Anaheims that they would roast for you at the grocery store or farmer's market--BEST SMELL EVER. 25lbs. may seem like a lot of chiles, but they taste good in just about anything.