Pad kra pao is the dish Thais eat when they cannot face deciding. It is on almost every street food stall, takes a quarter of an hour to make, and consists of mince stir-fried with garlic, chilli and holy basil, served over rice with a fried egg on top.
Holy basil is not Thai basil
This is what most often goes wrong. Kra pao is holy basil – peppery, a little bitter, with an aroma in the direction of clove. Horapha, the Thai basil with purple stems used in green curry, tastes of anise and liquorice. Swap them and you get a good stir-fry, but not pad kra pao.
Fresh holy basil is hard to get hold of out of season. Holy basil paste is a real alternative, and it is what the street stalls themselves use when they are busy.
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 300 g pork or chicken mince
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2–6 Thai chillies, depending on how hot you want it
- A handful of fresh holy basil, or 2 tbsp holy basil paste
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce, for colour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp neutral oil, 2 eggs
- Jasmine rice to serve
Method
- Crush the garlic and chilli in a mortar to a coarse paste. Do not chop them finely – they should stay uneven, so you get pieces of them in the dish.
- Mix the sauce from the oyster sauce, fish sauce, both soy sauces and the sugar in a small bowl.
- Fry the eggs first. Enough oil in the pan that the edge bubbles up and turns crisp, the yolk still soft. Set them aside.
- Stir-fry the garlic and chilli for 20 seconds over a high heat. Do not let the garlic brown.
- In with the mince. Fry it until it has released its liquid and starts to take colour. Press it flat against the pan rather than stirring the whole time.
- Sauce and basil. Pour in the sauce, let it reduce for half a minute, and fold in the basil right at the end. It should collapse, not boil.
- Serve over jasmine rice with the egg on top.
Prik nam pla
The little bowl that always comes alongside: fish sauce with finely chopped chilli, garlic and a little lime juice. It sharpens the whole dish, and is worth the two minutes it takes.
Frequently asked questions
How hot should it be? At street stalls in Bangkok, fairly hot. Two chillies give noticeable heat, six will make you sweat. The strength is your choice – the rest of the dish does not change.
Can I use chicken breast in pieces? Yes, but chop it coarsely yourself. Mince gives more surface against the pan and therefore more flavour.
Can it be done without fish sauce? You then lose the salt and the depth that carry the dish. Light soy sauce is the nearest substitute, but it becomes a different flavour.
What is the difference between pad kra pao and pad thai? Completely different dishes. Pad thai is noodles with tamarind and peanuts, mild and sweet-sour. Pad kra pao is rice, mince and chilli.
See also our full Thai range and our sauces.
