Pad kra pao

Name: Pad kra pao
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 4 clove garlic; 5 bird's eye chilies, use fewer for a milder dish; 1 tbsp oyster sauce; 1 tsp soy sauce; 1 tsp dark soy sauce; 2 tsp fish sauce; 1 tsp sugar; 3 tbsp water; 4 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying the eggs, most is left in the pan; 2 eggs; 2 tbsp vegetable oil, for the stir-fry; 350 g chicken mince, or finely chopped chicken thigh; 30 g holy basil leaves, or Thai basil; 400 g cooked jasmine rice, hot, to serve

20 min
Prep 10 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 2
easy

Start cooking

Minced chicken stir-fried hard with garlic, bird's eye chilies and holy basil in a salty-sweet sauce, served over rice with a crisp fried egg.

Method

1
Pound the garlic and chilies to a coarse paste with the pestle and mortar.
2
Mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and water in a small bowl.
3
Heat the 4 tbsp oil in the frying pan over high heat until very hot, then crack in the eggs.
4
Fry, spooning hot oil over the whites, until they are puffed and crisp and brown at the edges but the yolks are still runny.
5
Lift the eggs out onto kitchen paper.
6
Heat the 2 tbsp oil in the wok over high heat, add the garlic and chili paste and stir-fry until fragrant but not browned.
7
Add the chicken and stir-fry, breaking it up, until it is no longer pink.
8
Pour in the sauce and keep stir-frying until the chicken has soaked up most of it and looks glossy.
9
Turn off the heat, add the basil and toss until it has just wilted.
10
Spoon over the rice and top each plate with a fried egg.

Notes

Holy basil has a peppery, clove-like taste. Thai basil is the usual swap; sweet Italian basil is too mild.
Chicken thigh chopped by hand gives a juicier, chunkier result than ready-made mince.

Equipment

Wok, Frying pan, Pestle and mortar, Fish slice, Small bowl

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