Spicy Basil Chicken

Phew.... Don't you hate it when, as an amateur cook, you interpret recipes wrong because you don't quite have the lingo down yet?! Yeah.... A few things I learned this time around:
-Shallots = Scallions = Green Onions = FALSE
-"Sliced basil leaves? Oh, I'll just get them pre-sliced in bulk at Winco!" = WRONG MEASUREMENT
-1 lame glass cutting board + 1 lame knife from 50 years ago + a recipe that requires "mincing" and "thinly slicing" + 1 impatient cook = FRUSTRATION


Right, so recipe. So this one's pretty healthy! For a 3/4 cup serving (might be more than that in the pic), it's less than 300 calories!

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup minced shallots

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I accidentally minced these, too. Of course, when I say "mince," I mean cut fairly small until I give up)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 Tbsp fish sauce (substitute=mix of soy sauce and Worcestershire)

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp lower-sodium soy sauce

1 1/4 tsp chili paste with garlic

1 tsp water

1/2 tsp cornstarch (I wasn't gonna buy a box of cornstarch for 1/2 tsp, so I used flour)

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup sliced basil leaves, if that. NOT 1/3 cup. 

Directions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat.

2. Add shallots and garlic to pan and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.

3. Add chicken to pan; cook about 8 minutes or until chicken is done, with a slight charred look. (Recipe said 13 minutes, mine was done way before that; not exact.)

4. Combine fish sauce substitute, sugar, soy sauce, chili paste, water, cornstarch, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add to pan and cook for about 1 minute, stirring to coat chicken.

5. Remove from heat and stir in basil.

Serves 2-3; can be eaten inside a pita pocket.

Thanks to Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny for the recipe. It's a great blog, but this one wasn't a complete success...