Spicy Thai basil chicken

Whisk oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown and white sugar and chicken broth together and set aside.

Wash a bunch of basil, pull off the leaves, roll five or six at a time like a cigar and slice into thin ribbons, then cut across two or three times to shorten them.

Freeze the chicken thighs about ten minutes to firm them up and chop them coarsely with a cleaver; a pound takes about three minutes.

Get a very large cast iron pan smoking hot over high heat, drizzle in vegetable oil and stir fry the chicken two to three minutes, until it loses its raw colour.

Add the shallots, garlic and sliced chilies and keep cooking on high another two minutes or so, until the juices caramelize onto the bottom of the pan.

Drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of the sauce and let it caramelize and disappear, then add the rest and stir, scraping the bottom so the sauce deglazes the pan.

Cook another minute or two until the sauce glazes the meat, then turn off the heat.

Stir in the sliced basil off the heat; in about 20 seconds it wilts and turns deep green.

Taste and correct with salt, more soy or hot pepper, and serve on or beside rice, optionally topped with a fried egg.