My First time Making Pad Ka-Phrao Mu (Thai Fried Holy Basil with pork)

[beni]

It was exceptional! It has been added to our rotation, and it's very easy to make—just not very easy to find a couple of the

ingredients: holy basil and bird's eye chiles. I went to several Asian markets before I finally found them. The bird's eye chiles were easier— a few places had them, but the holy basil was like finding a needle in a haystack. (I made some sautéed pea shoots with garlic to go along.)

Here is the recipe I used (found online):

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground pork, beef, or chicken
• 7 large cloves of garlic (26g), peeled
• 7 bird’s eye chilies (16g), or however many you can tolerate
• 1 large shallot (20g), peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons thin/light soy sauce or seasoning sauce (such as Golden Mountain aka "the Green Cap" sauce)
• 1 tablespoon dark sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 cup fresh holy basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (optional - to add more liquid at the end if necessary)
• 1 egg (optional, fried to top the dish)

Instructions:

• Pulse together the garlic, chilies, and shallot until you get a coarse paste (using a mortar & pestle, mini-chopper, or cuisinart).
• In a skillet, heat up the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the paste and fry until fragrant. Set aside.
• Add the meat to the skillet and break it up with a spatula into small pieces. After draining fat, add back the paste, mix well, and cook for another minute or more.
• Add the remaining ingredients (except the basil leaves), correcting seasoning as needed. [Purists won't even use anything for salinity other than fish sauce.]
• Once the meat is cooked through, check the amount of liquid in the skillet. If it’s too dry, add a little bit of water or broth.
• Before taking the skillet off the heat, add the basil leaves to the mixture and give it a couple of stirs. We only want to wilt the basil with the residual heat that is still in the pan so as not to mute the fragrance of the fresh holy basil leaves.
• Serve over rice. A Thai-style crispy fried egg on top and a tiny bowl of prik nam pla would be nice.

 

[mr.suave]

Hey there! Thanks for sharing your experience and the recipe for Pad Ka-Phrao Mu! I totally get what you mean about hunting down those ingredients, especially the holy basil. It's like a treasure hunt sometimes! But the effort is totally worth it for the amazing flavor, right? Your version sounds delicious, especially with the sautéed pea shoots on the side. I might have to give it a try myself sometime soon. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[JulieBaker]

Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe, What aspects of the cooking process for Pad Ka-Phrao Mu did you find most challenging or surprising during your first attempt?

 

[beni]

Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe, What aspects of the cooking process for Pad Ka-Phrao Mu did you find most challenging or surprising during your first attempt?

Since it was my first time making it at home, I found it challenging to achieve the perfect balance of flavors in the sauce, particularly with the combination of fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. I had tried it before and was hooked by its taste, so I wanted to recreate the ones that I had tasted ᥫ᭡.