This is possibly Thailand's best loved dish, and I can't count the number of times I have been asked to make a paste for it. My answer has always been no. Sure I could sell it, but it would feel like theft, this has none of the complexities of an authentic curry paste nor are the ingredients difficult to source, it's a simple stir-fry with easily obtainable ingredients. Ok, there is an argument to be made that Thai holy basil is far from easy to obtain, so difficult in fact that if you have eaten this dish in the UK, or almost anywhere outside Thailand, it's highly doubtful that it would have been made with holy basil. The reasons for the difficulties in obtaining this herb can be found here on an article I first wrote six years ago, and nothing has really changed since then. So, as in restaurants throughout the country, we make it using a much easier to obtain variety of basil called Thai basil or sometimes Thai sweet basil. I can also tell you that a lot of Thai expats are happy even to use Italian basil. What they would never do is go online and buy one of those awful pastes they sell on eBay or Amazon on the grounds that they contain Thai holy basil. Yes, they do, about 5 grams worth, along with the stabilizers, acidity regulators, flavour enhancers, in a foul-tasting chemical soup. Let's be clear here, no street food vendor or restaurant in Thailand or elsewhere would ever use one of those pastes, not only are they foul they're totally unnecessary and work out more expensive to use.
In Thailand we normally serve this with a crispy fried egg. In the West, fried eggs that are crispy round the edges are normally so simply because they have been left too long to fry and will come with a congealed yolk. The Thai fried egg is cooked very differently over a high heat to crisp the edges of the egg and leave a runny yolk. I use two different methods here and you can see them both in the video.
Ingredients for Pad Krapow. Please check and adjust ingredient amounts per portion in the recipe notes at the bottom or click "Jump to recipe" button above.
Slice meat thinly at a 45 degree angle
In the UK these chillies are normally labeled Birds Eye chillies. That is not what they are, real Birds Eye chillies are much smaller. But chillies of around this size will provide a decent level of heat for most tastes.
Add the chillies together with the sliced mild chilli and the garlic to the mortar.
Pound them to a medium consistency as shown in the picture. If you are using something like a mini food processor or food chopper instead of a mortar and pestle, be careful not to over blend the mixture.
Heat the wok to a medium heat and stir fry the chilli mixture for about 20 seconds. Make sure you have an extractor fan turned on if you don't want to start crying and coughing!
Add meat to the Wok and stir fry for around 90 seconds and then add the dark soy sauce and stir fry for 60 seconds.
Add the white sugar and the brown sugar and continue to stir fry.
Add the light soy sauce and stir fry for 60 seconds.
Add the oyster sauce and stir through thoroughly.
Add the Thai Basil and stir fry for a few seconds.
One of Thailand's most famous dishes, served at humble food stalls and the poshest restaurants it is a true classic. It's also not difficult to cook with the simplest of ingredients. In Thailand this is almost always served with a crispy egg and a runny yolk. If that's not your scene, then fine, go eggless! However,if you want to go for this with the egg I have covered the technique in the video!
Slice meat thinly at a 45 degree angle and set aside.
Cut the mild chilli to slices and add to a mortar with the birds eye chillies and garlic. Bash to a medium consistency as in the pictures above.
Heat a wok to a medium high temperature and add the chili and garlic mixture and stir fry for 20 seconds.
Add meat to the Wok and stir fry for around 90 seconds.
Add the dark soy sauce and stir fry for 60 seconds.
Add the white sugar and the brown sugar and continue to stir fry.
Add the oyster sauce and stir through thoroughly.
Add the Thai Basil and stir fry for a few seconds.
Recipe Note
The recipe directions above do not include the crispy fried
egg as that is better demonstrated in the video and there are two different
methods shown depending how crispy you want your eggs.
Provided you have the rest of the ingredients prepared it's
best to cook the egg first and then set aside as it should take only a few
minutes to cook the rest of the dish.
Thai Holy Basil can be next to impossible to obtain outside
of Thailand so it's very common for this dish to be cooked with Thai sweet
Basil. And yes, technically then it's no longer Pad Krapow but a Thai Basil
stir-fry! It is possible to obtain Holy Basil online but I really wouldn't
bother, this is a herb that really doesn't travel well. If you can get it fresh
within a day or so of being air freighted it may be ok, but if you have to add
extra delivery time for it to get to you the quality will have decreased
considerably. Thai sweet basil (usually just labelled Thai Basil) is sold in supermarkets
like Waitrose, Tesco or Sainsbury's and M&S. I normally find Waitrose
always seems to have it in stock. It's a very acceptable substitute and it
certainly is what most Thai's living overseas would use rather than trying to
source Thai holy basil which will certainly have passed its best days.
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Wow well what can I say, this was outstanding I’ve never been able to come close to replicating my favourite Thai restaurant but this was indeed the closest ever… very nice spicy unbelievable flavours coming through
I recently bought some panang Thai curry paste and it is everything I thought it would be, delicious and authentic tasting, I made a panang prawn curry which was delicious! My Thai curry pastes use the best ingredients without too much added salt, an excellent product.
Wow well what can I say, this was outstanding I’ve never been able to come close to replicating my favourite Thai restaurant but this was indeed the closest ever… very nice spicy unbelievable flavours coming through
I recently bought some panang Thai curry paste and it is everything I thought it would be, delicious and authentic tasting, I made a panang prawn curry which was delicious! My Thai curry pastes use the best ingredients without too much added salt, an excellent product.
Joanna
June 27, 2023
Left us stunned. So superior to what is served up in our local Thai restaurant, and the best thing of all is I cooked it!