SPICY MINCE BEEF WITH THAI BASIL STIRFRY. (PAD KAPRAO)

Pad Kaprao - My favourite dish when I was living in Thailand. Chicken and Pork variants are the most common, but I love the minced beef variant the most. It’s a typically very spicy dish, a big part about what I love about this dish. The deep fried egg just makes it even more enjoyable. 

It actually made using Holy Basil (Kaprao) but couldn’t get my hands on any so I used Thai basil instead. 

I just bought a couple of very young Holy Basil plants. I will upload a version using holy basil when I get a good harvest of leaves of the plants. (Fingers crossed)

300 grams of beef mince
150 grams long beans

To make the sauce:

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light/regular soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp water

Mix all the above in a bowl

1. Separate the leaves of 1 bunch Thai basil
2. Cut 150 grams of beans into 1 cm pieces
3. Dice half an onion
4. Slice 1 large chilli
5. Slice 8 bird's eye chillies (Reduce or increase to your preference)
6. Chop 6 garlic cloves
7. 300 grams of beef mince
8. Season with salt and pepper

Method:

Fry an egg, Thai street style (It just means use more oil and high heat, almost deep frying)

1. Oil in hot wok with high heat
2. Fry chillies and garlic until garlic is golden brown and aromatic
3. Add beef mince into the wok - break the mince up
4. Add the beans and onion into the wok
5. Add sauce and mix well
6. Turn off heat and mix in basil leaves

Ladle onto steamed rice – making sure to get some of the sauce.

I hope that you enjoy this dish as much as I did!