michelle picker cooks

This ubiquitous Thai dish called pad kra pao (pad gaprao, pad krapow), is traditionally a stir-fry of ground meat (Thomas made this with pork), lots of Thai holy basil and lots of chilies. It’s always served on rice and usually has a crispy fried egg on top.

In a mortar and pestle pound 4-5 hot Thai chilies, some chopped mild red chilies (for colour and flavour) and 8 cloves of garlic into a rough paste. Heat a wok over high heat and add a little oil. Add 450g (1 lb) of pork mince and flatten it over the surface allowing it to brown before tossing it. Once it has released it’s liquid and starts to sizzle, break up the mince and continue to cook and brown some more. Turn the heat down and push the pork to one side of the wok. Add some more oil and sauté the garlic and chilli paste until aromatic then toss with the pork. Turn the heat back up and add ⅓ of a cup of chicken stock (or water), 6-7 teaspoons of fish sauce, 4 teaspoons of sugar, ½ of a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and some more finely sliced chillies (hot or mild depending on your palate). Toss to combine adding more stock if necessary. Turn off the heat and add 1½ cups of Thai holy basil and mix it through. If you can’t find holy basil, you can substitute Italian fresh basil instead. Now you need to fry the eggs. Add a generous amount of oil to the pan or wok and heat over medium to high heat. Cook one egg at a time, allowing the egg white to bubble and basting the top of the egg with some hot oil. Once the white is browned around the edges and the yolk is set to your liking, remove from the pan and repeat. Serve over Jasmine rice topped with the fried egg.

*adapted from this recipe by Hot Thai Kitchen