About this recipe
A fast, fiery stir-fry of minced pork and holy basil over rice, usually crowned with a crisp-edged fried egg — one of Thailand's most popular quick meals. The defining herb is holy basil (krapao), which is peppery and clove-like, not the sweet Thai basil often substituted abroad.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 2
- Prep
- 10 minutes
- Cook
- 10 minutes
- Total
- 20 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Hot (adjustable)
Allergens Contains fish (fish sauce), shellfish (oyster sauce), soy (gluten). Egg if served with the traditional fried egg. Adaptable to chicken or tofu.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
- 12 oz (340 g) ground pork
- 1 cup (30 g) holy basil leaves (krapao); sweet Thai basil is a fallback, not the same
- 4 cloves garlic and 3–6 Thai chilies, pounded together
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) light soy sauce
- 1 tsp (5 ml) dark soy sauce (for color)
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) fish sauce
- 1 tsp (4 g) sugar
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) neutral oil, plus more to fry the eggs
- 2 eggs, for frying (kai dao)
- Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Equipment
- Wok or heavy skillet
- Wok spatula
Method
- Heat the oil in the wok until very hot; add the pounded garlic and chilies and stir until fragrant, a few seconds.
- Add the ground pork and stir-fry over high heat, breaking it up, until just cooked and lightly browned.
- Add the oyster sauce, both soy sauces, fish sauce and sugar; toss to coat and let the edges caramelize.
- Turn off the heat and fold through the holy basil until just wilted.
- In a separate pan, fry the eggs in hot oil until the whites are crisp at the edges and the yolk still runs.
- Serve the pork over rice, topped with a fried egg.
Uses from this chapter
- Nam Pla Prik (Fish Sauce with Chilies) (Condiments — C04) — The near-obligatory table condiment for this dish — spooned over rice for extra salt and heat.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Pad Krapao Moo (Holy Basil Pork) sits in the Thailand chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Thailand chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.