Pad Kra Pao (Thai Basil Chicken)

What Goes With It

• A cold lager or iced Thai tea
• Serve with prik nam pla — fish sauce with sliced chillies
• Finish with fresh pineapple

Making Pad Kra Pao (Thai Basil Chicken), Step by Step

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1. Pound the garlic and chillies in a mortar into a rough paste. Do not use a machine.

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2. Mix the oyster sauce, both soy sauces, fish sauce, sugar and stock in a small bowl.

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3. Heat a wok over the highest heat with the 2 tablespoons of oil until smoking. Add the garlic-chilli paste and stir for 15 seconds only — it burns fast.

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4. Add the pork and press it flat against the wok. Leave 45 seconds to catch and brown, then break it up and stir-fry 2 minutes more.

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5. Pour in the sauce mixture and toss for 60 to 90 seconds until it reduces and coats the meat.

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6. Take the wok off the heat and fold through the basil leaves, which will wilt in the residual heat.

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7. In a separate pan, heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil until shimmering and fry the eggs hard for 90 seconds, spooning hot oil over the whites, until the edges are brown, bubbled and lacy and the yolk is still runny.

   Mark done Start 90 sec timer

8. Serve the pork over jasmine rice with a crispy egg on top and lime wedges alongside.

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Related guide: Choosing rice.

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A Few Notes

The egg is not optional. A khai dao — crispy fried egg — is what makes this a complete Thai meal.

Holy basil is worth hunting down; its peppery bite is quite different from sweet Thai basil.

Let the pork catch and brown before breaking it up. Constant stirring steams it grey.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Keeping What's Left

Refrigerate 2 days. Reheat in a hot pan and add fresh basil, then fry a new egg.

Pad Kra Pao (Thai Basil Chicken) Nutrition Facts

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.