Minced Pork with Holy Basil or Pad Kaprao Moo is a simple and delicious recipe that is packed with holy basil with the fiery chillies. Some recipes you find may suggest you use other varieties of basil…especially if you aren’t shopping in Thailand. However, holy basil has a very particular flavour so substituting another basil will really create a different dish.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 Tbsp garlic, coarsely crushed
- 1-10 Thai Bird’s Eye chilies (you know your limit!)
- 250g minced pork
- 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar (optional)
- 1 cup Thai holy basil leaves
Directions
- Heat the oil in a wok or a sauté pan over medium high heat. When the oil is hot add the garlic and chillies. Stir quickly and keep an eye on it.
- Before the garlic turns golden brown and when you are hit with the aromatic punch of fried chillies, add the chicken and stir firmly to break the meat that will start to clump together in the heat.
- When the pork is about 80% cooked, add fish sauce, and the 2 soy sauces. Stir well to combine.
- Keep stirring and make sure the pork meat is cooked through. Taste and if you feel like something is missing, add the sugar. It will round out the flavour.
- Lastly, add the basil leaves. Stir a few times just to wilt the herbs then turn off the heat.
- Serve on top of steamed rice on a plate, or as a main dish to share.
***My favourite variation is to add leftover steamed rice into the wok before turning off the heat and mixing everything together to make Pad Kaprao fried rice!
