Pad Kaprao Basil Stir Fry With a juicy fried egg on top, this dish is considered the “quintessential Thai square meal” – quick, easy and delicious. Traditionally, pad kaprao is seasoned only with fish sauce and palm sugar; however, our palates have all been turned by streetside vendors who liberally ply their delicious stir-fries with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and/or oyster sauce. This is not traditional, but it is yummy. This recipe (generously) feeds four. After cutting all the vegetables, cooking time takes only 3-5 minutes.

Serves 4

3 large cloves garlic, peeled

5 bird’s eye chilies, coarsely sliced (Thais typically use 10-12 chilies)

10 fresh green beans, sliced into 1⁄2-inch (1.25 cm) pieces and soaked in salted water

2 handfuls holy basil (kaprao) leaves (the more you use, the more fragrant the dish. The wider, “red” leaves are more fragrant than the “white” ones. Soak them in salted water so that they don’t go dark in the pan).

1 large red jinda chili, sliced on the diagonal (can substitute with more bird’s eye chilies, serrano or cayenne pepper)

2 tablespoons unscented oil for frying, 1 tablespoon at a time

2 cups (400 g) ground or cubed meat (I used cubed pork tenderloin because I like the meatiness of it, but ground meat takes on more of the delicious sauce)

1-2 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy sauce, whichever you prefer. I will not go so far as to encourage the use of oyster sauce here)

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (for color)

1 teaspoon palm sugar

4 eggs

Nam Pla Prik (fish sauce with sliced chilies, garlic and a touch of lime juice), to serve

Step One

In a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and chilies into a paste. Beware of flying chili seeds. Scrape out the mortar and set aside.

Step Two

Drain the beans and basil leaves and set them in a bowl by the wok together with the sliced bird’s eye chilies.

Step Three

Over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok and fry the chili-garlic paste until fragrant. Add the meat and stir for a bit. Add the fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and palm sugar. It should be quite saucy at this point. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add more fish sauce or palm sugar if necessary. The taste should be salty and spicy but rounded with a bit of sugar. Add the beans and basil leaves. Give it a good stir, then turn off the heat.

Step Four

In another pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat and fry the eggs, one by one. The yolk should be runny and the edges should bubble up.

Step Five

Serve pad kaprao on a platter with steamed rice. Top with one fried egg.

Step Six

Serve with the Nam Pla Prik on the side.

(Reprinted from Real Thai Cooking by Chawadee Nualkhair with permission from Tuttle Publishing)