High Protein Thai Chicken Basil Rice (Pad Kra Pao)
This is the best Pad Kra Pao recipe I’ve tried, and I’ve been trying different recipe variations for awhile now. This dish needs the umami aroma from fish sauce, and not sure if you agree, but Pad Kra Pao should be served DRY!
Contrary to what we’re served in Singapore sometimes, this dish somehow always comes wet! A “gravy” which does nothing for the dish + mushy rice just makes me mad after building up anticipation to eat something I assume I can’t make well enough for myself at home.
Now if you must have this on the wetter side, add some water or stock:) Otherwise, this is the perfect Pad Kra Pow for our family and I hope you’ll enjoy it the same way too!
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
10 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 onion, diced
2 bird's eye chili, chopped (use less or more)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp water
2 tsp sugar
400g ground meat (chicken/beef/pork)
2-3 tbsp neutral, high smoke point oil (I used avocado oil)
A lot of Thai holy basil (use Italian basil as a substitute)
Method
Prep garlic, onion and chilli
Prep sauce mixture in a bowl: Light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, water and sugar
Heat a sauté pan or wok on high heat, then add oil
Once the oil has come to temperature, but not smoking yet, add chopped garlic, onion and chilli and sauté for a couple of minutes. Cook until the onions are translucent and until the aromatics are fragrant
Add ground meat to the pan and mix aromatics into the meat well. Actively break up the ground meat in the pan during this step.
Once it is well mixed, spread out the meat in an even layer in the pan and let it brown without touching it. This adds another layer of flavour and texture to the dish! You can increase the heat slightly if you need to.
After several minutes, there should be a very slight and mild crust. Continue to do this on more surfaces of the meat if you wish.
Once all the juices from the meat has evaporated and you have a dry pan, add the sauce mixture which you prepared earlier. If you are afraid that it’ll be too flavourful, do not add all of it at once.
Taste and adjust the level of savoury to sweet as needed!
Mix well and then add in basil leaves. Be very generous as the leaves wilt down to nothing like spinach and this herb truly makes the dish! Feel free to add a bit of water or chicken/beef stock if you like it to be wet.
Serve with a fresh serving of rice (+ fried egg) and enjoy!~
