Pork Basil - Pad Gaproa Moosub Kaidow ผัดกะเพราหมูสับไข่ดา

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You've worked hard, you're so exhausted and can barely decide what to eat. The choice for many Thai's is 'pud grapow', one of the best-tasting and easy to cook dishes. Walk into nearly any restaurant in Thailand and you know the chef can make 'pud gaprow'. And your meal will be decent enough. When you down a pud ga prow you know have the energy for the next challenge.

Pud Gaprow comes in many shades and flavors. There are pud gaprow with chicken, pork, beef, and seafood. The latest popular pud gaprow is the thousand-year-old egg pud gaprow. Pud Gaprow is so versatile, so homey, so familiar and so loved. The heat level can hit anywhere from none to very high. The meat, rice and the cucumber make the dish a complete meal with proteins, carbs and veggie. Why isn't Pud Gaprow more famous than "Pad Thai'?

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

3-4 tablespoons cooking oil
2 eggs
1 tablespoon minced garlic
5-7 minced Thai chili pepper
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 ground pork
1 bundle picked holy basil
1 cucumber
1 lime

Tips and Techniques

You can adjust the heat level; use as many chili peppers as you'd like. When I make this dish for children, I omit the chili peppers.
In Thai restaurants in the US, unfortunately, sweet basil or Thai basil is usually used for this dish. It is not quite the same. Ask the chef for holy basil.
Many farmers markets now have holy basil. Some Asian markets also get them all year round from Hawaii.
I noticed that holy basil that is grown outside has a stronger flavor than the one that is grown in the greenhouse.
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

Prepping:

Slice the cucumber and cut up the lime into wedges. 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.

Frying Eggs:

Add 3-4 tablespoons of oil into a wok. When the oil is hot, crack the egg and drop it in. Over medium-high heat, let the egg white turn brown and crisp on the outside (see picture 4). Loosen the bottom and let it get crisp. Remove and set aside when the clear egg white turns white. Fry another egg the same way.

Frying Pork Basil:

Fry the garlic and chili pepper in oil over high heat. When garlic starts to turn brown, add the ground pork 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 pork basil in the serving plate or dishes.

In Thailand, pad gapow is served with a small bowl of chili pepper in fish sauce (recipe below), sliced cucumber, a wedge of lime and fried eggs.

Serve hot with jasmine rice.

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Chili Garlic Fish Sauce

Nampla Prig

2 Servings, Prep Time: 5 Minutes, Total Time: 5 Minutes

1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 lime
2 minced Thai chili pepper

Method

Chop garlic and Thai chili peppers. Add a tablespoon of fish sauce to a sauce bowl. Add the chopped garlic and chili. Squeeze the juice of 1/3 of a lime into the bowl. Ready to serve.