Chicken Basil - Gai Pad Gaprow ไก่ผัดกะเพรา

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Chicken Basil, or Gai Pad Gaprow, is one of the classics of Thai food and is surprisingly easy to make. It is popular among the Thais and known as a no-brainer dish. In Thailand, when you are in a strange town and a strange restaurant, you know that you can always order Gai Pad Gapow and it will probably be decent. It's a simple dish that any restaurants know how to make it right.

You know you've made Chicken Basil right when the heat from the chili peppers plays just under the flavor of the gaprow and the fish sauce. Don't be afraid to use what seems like an excessive amount of gaprow leaves - they make the dish.

2 Servings, Prep Time: 20 Minutes, Total Time: 20 Minutes

3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 lb ground chicken
1-2 packages holy basil
4-7 minced Thai chili pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil

Tips and Techniques

You can substitute ground turkey for ground chicken. Some people like the meat cut up in bite size pieces rather than ground. I find that ground breast meat is dry and not as flavorful as dark meats. Ground pork or ground beef is a good substitute as well.
In Thai restaurants in the US, unfortunately, sweet basil or Thai basil is usually used for this dish. It is not quite the same.
Many farmers markets now have holy basil.
Holy basil doesn’t stay fresh (or green) long in the refrigerator. So use the basil as soon as you can. However, if it starts to get freezer burn, it can still be used.

Method

Mince garlic and chili pepper together. Clean and pick holy basil leaves from their stems. It may appear like a lot of leaves, but the leaves will shrink when cooked and this dish's flavor comes from the leaves.

Fry the garlic and chili pepper in oil over high heat. When garlic starts to turn brown, drop the ground chicken in. Stir constantly. The juice will start to come out. Keep stirring until all the juice is gone. It might take a couple of minutes. Add fish sauce. Then add holy basil. Quickly turn it over a few times to mix the leaves with the meat and then remove from the heat and put the gai pad ga pow in the serving plate or dishes. Serve hot with rice.

In Thailand, gai pud gaprow is served with a small bowl of chili pepper in fish sauce (recipe below), sliced cucumber and a wedge of lime.

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Chili Fish Sauce

Nam Pla Prig

2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 lime
1 shallots
1-4 Thai chili pepper

Tips and Techniques

For a vegetarian chili fish sauce, substitute light soy sauce for fish sauce.

Method

Slice chili pepper and shallot and place them in a sauce dish. Add fish sauce and lime juice. Some people omit the lime juice. But in our house, lime juice is a must. Some like garlic instead of shallot.

This sauce is like salt and pepper, appearing on most people's table. Chili fish sauce is also served with crispy fried dishes like fried fish, deep fried okra or green beans.