Spicy Thai Basil Pork (Pad Krapow Mu) Recipe
One of Thailand's most popular "made-to-order" menu items.
A Thai friend from college once told me that the “deliciousness” of this particular dish is directly proportional to the amount of holy basil put in the dish. Over time, I found this theory to be true. Back in Thailand, there are many versions of this dish, and they all vary slightly in their names depending on what kind of protein goes in.
Although this dish is eaten at other times of the day, it seems to be sold and consumed a lot around breakfast/morning time—which says a lot about the way Thais view breakfast/morning food. In a strange way, I find this “view” quite comforting as many Korean morning foods can be seen as extremely garlicky (e.g., kimchi) or fishy (e.g., grilled mackerel or salmon) by American standards. Over the years, I learned that the idea of appropriate breakfast foods really isn’t too different from the idea of appropriate lunch foods in many Asian nations. And.. let me remind you, this dish is all about the spicy chili peppers and garlic. So if you don’t like those two things, this is NOT the dish for you.
The dish is defined by the last-minute throw-in of the Thai holy basil. In the U.S., this peppery and anise-flavored herb can be a little challenging to find. So, I think it is ok if you settle for its sweeter cousin, Thai basil, which you can find at your local Asian supermarket. According to my go-to Thai cookbook by Andy Ricker, Pok Pok, Thai holy basil can sometimes also be found at a local Indian grocery store, perhaps labeled as “tulsi.”
Thai basil is pictured above. Thai basil has purple stems unlike its cousin, Thai holy basil. I ended up using Thai basil for this photoshoot because that’s all I could find. Remember these purple stems because it is not uncommon to see mislabeling done at some Asian grocery stores sometimes. Many Thai basils are sold with the “holy basil” tag by mistake.
The addition of holy basil makes this already super delicious (thanks to garlic and chili peppers) dish transform into something even more delightful with every bite filled with pepperier, fresher, and perfumey aroma with a touch of anise. For this reason, I wasn’t too surprised when I read from the Cincinnati Enquirer that four Thai soccer boys who were rescued from the Tham Luang cave that was flooded said they want to eat this dish after being trapped inside the cave for two weeks.
Pictured above are Thai chili peppers (also known as bird’s eye chilis) frequently found in local Asian grocery stores. The green ones turn spicer and redder as they mature. They can be very spicy but not as spicy as habanero peppers. But, they ARE spicy!
These are scotch bonnet peppers! Used frequently in the Caribbean cooking. These are very spicy but if you love a clean burn in your mouth, I strongly recommend that you experiment with them in your cooking! I even added some to my spicy Thai basil pork last time.
If you want to keep it traditional with Thai cooking (including this recipe), you must use a mortar and pestle to pound your garlic and chili and turn them into a paste-like form, although just chopping these ingredients is fine in my opinion. Another reason I love this dish: it keeps excellently in the fridge. I make this dish ahead of time and then heat it up the next day for breakfast. I strongly recommend that you squeeze a generous amount of lime on top before you serve the dish!
Spicy Thai Basil Pork (Pad Krapow Mu):
Serves 3-4 people: I recommend that you eat this with some jasmine or sushi rice if you want to keep things more traditional. Alternatively, this dish actually makes delicious Thai-style fillings for your lettuce wraps! I usually use butterhead lettuce for my lettuce wraps.
*You can also make this recipe using chicken instead of pork. I prefer pork since the final result tastes richer & meaty compared to my results using chicken. If you are making this dish using chicken, however, please use ground chicken thighs. Nobody wants a dry chicken dish!
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of canola oil (or vegetable oil)
- 8 garlic cloves sliced *don't slice them too thin!
- 7 Thai chili peppers/bird’s eye chilis chopped (use red if you can REALLY handle some spice/ use green if you can't)
- 1 pound of ground pork
- 1/2 tablespoon of Thai seasoning sauce
- 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce *I usually use Red Boat brand but any Thai fish sauce will do!
- 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons of hot water (Easy Kitchen Tip: microwave a cup of water in a mug & take out 3 tablespoons from it!)
- 1.5 cup of holy basil leaves removed from the stems (but…you can also just use Thai basil if you can’t find holy basil. The authentic Thai dish (Pad Krapow Moo) should be using holy basil instead of Thai basil, which has purple stems and a sweeter flavor. Holy basil usually has more spicy + peppery flavor. You can find them at your local Asian grocery store.)
-1/2 cup of roughly chopped cilantro
-1/4 cup of roughly chopped green onions
- 1 large lime (or two small limes)
- Fresh white pepper ***PLEASE Don’t add additional salt to this recipe! Otherwise, it might get too salty!
- (Optional but strongly recommended!): fresh eggs to serve on top of your Thai basil pork along with some rice! I recommend that you serve at least one fried egg per person.
-(Optional but strongly recommended!): cooked rice to eat with this Thai basil pork!
0. Prep work: First open your windows or turn on your vents. Your kitchen is about to get a little stinky for a little while..when you stir-fry all the ingredients with the sauce. But, let me tell you… it’s all worth it. This recipe is the real deal.
1. Make the sauce first by adding 3 tablespoons of boiling hot water (hotter the better!) to a small bowl. Now, add 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar to your bowl. Get a spoon and make sure the sugar melts completely in the water. Once the sugar is melted away, add the Thai seasoning sauce, Thai fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Mix everything well so everything is combined.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of canola oil to your wok or a non-stick pan. Add chopped garlic as well as chopped Thai chili peppers to the pan. Turn on the heat to a medium-low and give some time for the oil to transform into delicious garlic + chili flavored oil.
3. Watch the wok or pan so the garlic doesn’t burn. Once you start to smell some aroma from the pan, turn up the heat to a medium-high. The aroma will intensify. Now add your ground pork to the wok or a pan. Break up the pork while they cook. When the pork is half away done being cooked (the color will change from a pink to a white-ish color). Add 1/4 teaspoons of white peppers to the pork mixture. DON’T ADD ANY SALT!
4. Continue watching the pan so the pork doesn’t dry out and everything is cooked evenly. Once the pork is almost done cooking (3/4 white-ish color), add 4.5 tablespoons of the sauce mixture created earlier. Yes, your kitchen might smell a bit stinky…and that’s because of the fish sauce..but that’s the nature of the game when you are cooking with the fish sauce! And there is no way around it if you want more authentic tasting Thai food!
5. Immediately add the basil leaves to the pork mixture. Crank up the heat to high and keep stir-frying the mixture until the pork has absorbed the sauce nicely and the sauce is slightly caramelized.
6. Slice the lime in half and squeeze half of the lime directly into the pork mixture. Taste the pork mixture and add more sauce if it needs more salt **be careful the sauce is very salty! Add chopped cilantro to your pork mixture so it adds more bright, fresh flavor.
7. (Optional: eggs) Get a separate pan and make fried eggs (often.. this dish is topped with a sunny-side egg) to serve with the dish.
8. Enjoy! Before serving, squeeze some more lime on top and add green onions to garnish. They will add more brightness to the dish! Oh, don’t forget to turn off the vents or close windows :p
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Everything here is written by me, the rebellious chicken.