One of the easiest and delicious Bangla Chinese Dishes you can make, and that too in just 15 minutes!

This Basil Beef recipe is glorious with it’s sweet, salty, and fragrant sauce that pairs perfectly with some steamed white rice. Usually made mild with the use of large red chilis, you can make it spicy too if you’d like!

The main part of this dish is the basil!

I use Thai basil which gives this dish a beautiful slightly spicy, licorice-like flavor. Thai Basil is easy to find in Houston, but if they’re not readily available where you live, you can also use regular sweet basil. Just make sure to use a good bunch size amount, it’s not a garnish, more like a vegetable in the dish!

Make sure to not overcook the basil as it will lose its beautiful green color.

For the Squid, you can buy them whole and clean and slice them yourself, buy raw presliced rings, or just use a frozen bag of precooked rings to make it super easy!

I love having frozen seafood available in the freezer for whenever I want to cook something. All you have to do is defrost the squid rings, drain well, and maybe even pat dry with a paper towel for a better stirfry while you’re cooking.

Both the raw and precooked squid rings only need a few minutes on the heat. Make sure to not overcook them as they can get chewy.

You can watch the full process in this video!

INGREDIENTS  

• 12 oz squid rings (raw or precooked and defrosted from frozen)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic (minced – about 1/2 tbsp)
• 1-3 large red chilis (chopped) – if using small red chilis, deseed if needed for less spicy
• 1 bunch thai basil (or sweet basil)

Sauce:

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce (sweet)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp corn starch
• 3-4 tbsp water

INSTRUCTIONS 

(If using whole squid) First clean, peel, and wash your squid, then slice into 1/2 inch thick rings

(If using frozen precooked squid) Defrost the squid on your counter top/microwave/under running water. Then drain well.

Mix all your sauce ingredients together in a small cup, mince your garlic, and cut up your red chilis into 1/2 inch pieces. (Deseed if using smaller spicier chilis)

Heat your pan on medium high, add in the oil, minced garlic, and red chilis. Stir immediately and fry for just a minute until the garlic starts to change color.

Then add in your squid rings. Stirfry for a couple minutes until the squid rings firm up (if raw), less if precooked.

Then add in the sauce and let it simmer for a couple minutes until you get to the consistency you want. Add a slash of water if it gets too dry.

Then throw in the basil leaves, and mix well. For thai basil, let it cook for a minute or two and take it off the heat. For sweet basil just mix well and take it off the heat.

Serve hot with steamed white rice and enjoy!