Pad kra pao

Minced Chicken with Holy Basil and a Fried Egg

Pad kra pao is Thailand's everyday plate: minced meat stir-fried hard with pounded chilli and garlic, long beans and a large handful of holy basil, served on jasmine rice with a fried egg with crisp edges. It is hot, salty and aromatic, and takes ten minutes once the prep is done.

Pad kra pao is among the best-known dishes of central Thailand.

One recipe pounds 5 to 10 chillies with garlic, cooks 300 g of chicken with long beans and onion and adds a handful of holy basil off the heat; the other uses pork or chicken, a red pepper and chilli-garlic paste.

Ingredients

For the stir-fry

  • 5 to 10 Thai chillies
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 1 mild red chilli (spur chilli), chopped
  • 50 g long beans or green beans, cut in 1 cm pieces
  • 1/2 small onion, diced
  • 300 g minced chicken
  • Vegetable oil
  • 30 g holy basil leaves

For the sauce

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 1/2 tsp sugar

To serve

  • Jasmine rice, cooked
  • 2 to 3 eggs, fried in hot oil

Method

  1. Pound and mix Pound the Thai chillies to a fine paste in a mortar, add the garlic and the mild chilli and pound to a rough paste. Stir the oyster, soy, dark soy and fish sauces with the water and sugar.
  2. Cook the aromatics Heat a little oil in a wok over a medium-high heat and fry the paste for about 1 minute until golden and fragrant.
  3. Cook the chicken Add the chicken, breaking up the clumps, pour in the sauce and cook until nearly done.
  4. Add the vegetables Add the onion and beans and cook for a few minutes more, until the chicken is cooked through, with no pink.
  5. Finish with basil Take the pan off the heat and stir in the basil until just wilted. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
  6. Fry the eggs Heat 1 cm of oil in a small pan until very hot and fry each egg until the white is crisp and brown at the edges. Serve the stir-fry over rice with an egg on top.

Food safety

Cook the chicken until there is no pink and the juices run clear. Hot oil spits when an egg goes in: add it carefully. Cook the egg firm for anyone who is pregnant, elderly, very young or unwell. Thai chillies are very hot: wear gloves and wash hands.

Add the basil off the heat or it turns black.

Reduce the chillies for a milder dish.

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