Pad Kra Pow Gai (Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry)
This is a Thai street food stir fry that consists of chicken mince, basil and beans. Simply serve with rice but I also love serving it with a crispy egg and some Thai dipping sauce called ‘prik nam pla’ as it adds a whole other dimension to the dish. If you’re adding an egg the dish is called "kao pad gaprao gai kai dao", which simply means rice with chicken holy basil stir-fry and a fried egg.This is my go-to weeknight meal as it comes together really quickly with minimal chopping and prep.
Serves- 4
Ingredients- 16
Cooking Time- 30 minutes
Skill Level- Easy
Ingredients
- 1 tray of Lilydale Free Range Chicken Breast Fillet Mince
- 1 bunch of basil- Holy Basil is the traditional basil for this but regular Italian basil is the best substitute.
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 red bird’s eye chillies
- 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 1.5 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
- 200g (1 cups worth) of beans, cut into 1 cm pieces
- Fresh cooked jasmine rice. Allow 1 cup per person.
- 2-4 eggs, allow 1 per serving/person
Prik Nam Pla
- 1 teaspoon of garlic
- 1 small red chilli, finely sliced
- 1 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice, or lemon juice or white vinegar
- A pinch of sugar, optional
Watch the process
Method
- Pound the garlic and chillies in a mortar and pestle until you get a smooth paste. Reserve a small teaspoon of the mixture into a small bowl to use for your dipping sauce later if you want to save time on cutting up more garlic and chilli.
- Mix in a bowl the soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce and sugar until dissolved and combined. Add in a tablespoon of water and mix to combine.
- Mix all of your prik nam pla ingredients in a bowl and set aside for garnishing later.
- Heat a wok on high, and after a minute add some oil to the pan and wait until the wok begins to smoke.Then add the chilli and garlic paste and cook for 15 seconds until fragrant.
- Add in the chicken mince, and stir fry until it has browned and cooked through. Stir constantly and use your spatula to break up the mince into small pieces.
- Add in the chopped beans and sauce and continuously stir to coat everything for 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the basil leaves and cook for another 15 seconds until wilted.
- Serve the jasmine rice into bowls. You can use a small bowl as a mould to get a round dome of rice for presentation if you wish.
- Spoon the stir fry over your rice. You can transfer the remaining stir fry from the wok into a container/bowl for later if you have leftovers.
- Reheat the wok and fill with a few tablespoons of neutral oil until it reaches smoking point.
- Crack an egg into the pan and fry for a few minutes until crispy. I slightly tilt my wok towards me so that the egg is submerged in the oil. That way you get an extra crispy bottom, bubbly whites and a runny yolk.
- Once the egg is cooked, place it on top of the rice in each bowl.
- Spoon some of the Prik Nam Pla dressing over the egg and rice.
- Enjoy immediately.
- If you are lucky enough to have leftover stir fry, all you need to do is heat the stir fry and rice again, and then fry a fresh egg to go on top.
If you are looking for more Chicken Recipes, you can find some of my favourites below;