Pad Horapha Moo Grob Gwang Tung Kai Dao (Deep Fried Pork with Sweet Basil and Choi Sum with a Fried Egg)

What's not to love, crispy sticky deep fried pork, a crispy but runny fried egg, fragrant anise flavoured basil and some crunchy fresh greens over rice. It's a quick (mostly unhealthy, yes) but very satisfying one plate meal. Speaking one one plate dishes or ahaan jan diew (lit. one dish food) in Thai, they're some of my favourite things to cook and exactly what I want to eat when I don't want to cook anything elaborate or time consuming. They're the classic type of food you expect to find for lunch at a street food stall (usually served on the omnipresent plastic pastel- coloured plate. By the way if you know of anywhere in the UK that sells those thick melamine plates used in South East Asia, do let me know, I've been after them for years!!

This recipe is in essence a combination of three of my earlier recipes- 

Pad Grapao Gai (Chicken fried with holy basil), Pad Horapha Bhet Yang (Roasted duck fried with sweet basil) and Moo Grob Pad Pak Got Shangai (deep fried pork fried with pak choi). It combines the best of everything in one dish.

For two portions use:

• 300g of pork shoulder, rind and excess fat trimmed off, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 eggs
• a large double handful of choi sum (or pak choi/gai lan etc,) cut into 2 inch pieces
• a handful of Thai sweet basil leaves
• 3/4 small red chillies, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• a big splash of oyster sauce
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a small pinch of sugar
• vegetable oil for deep frying and for stir frying
• Freshly cooked rice

Boil water and get the rice cooking before starting.

Heat the deep frying oil and when hot, carefully drop in the pork. Deep fry until dark golden brown and crispy (roughly 6-7 minutes) before draining onto kitchen paper.

In a pestle a mortar, lightly pound the chopped chillies and garlic into to rough paste, leave for a moment.

Heat a splash of oil in a wok and when hot, throw in the garlic chilli paste, stir for a few seconds before adding in the crispy pork, stir frying for 20//30 seconds. Tip in the vegetables and stir fry for about 1 minute, no more as you want some crunch to be retained.

Pour in the sauces and pinch of sugar, coating everything well before turning off the heat and lightly toss through the sweet basil leaves.

Heat a separate frying pan/wok (or decant your stir fry into a dish) and keep warm somewhere while you quickly do the fried eggs. Heat a large splash of oil in a clean wok/ frying pan and when very hot crack in an egg, let the bottom get crispy and spoon hot oil over the yolk until it's reached your desired crispy/runniness. Briefly blot on kitchen paper.

Drain the rice, plate up with the stir fry and place the fried egg over the top. 

Jobs a good'un!

Khao Pad Gaeng Kiew Wan (Green Curry Fried Rice)

After a rather busy last few days for me I'm ready to get back writing again, It's been my birthday weekend and we decided to take a trip down to see my parents near the south coast. We ended up having an impromptu night in Brighton, a full on day in London (involving a rapid trip to Brick Lane for Indian food supplies, amongst other things, a days walking in the Ashdown Forest and an equally full on day getting gooey-eyed at the amazing Bodleian Library and various colleges during a stop off in Oxford before the long drive back to Lancashire.

It's taken another couple of days getting back in the swing of things but I've finally found time to post this recipe for Khao Pad Gaeng Kiew Wan (Green curry fried rice). Now we're well into April it's now getting so much easier to take photos again as there is still daylight when I'm cooking, Long way it continue!

Like the last recipe I posted (Chicken stir fried with ginger) this is also a common restaurant dish found here in the UK. The red curry paste version is equally common. If you're not in the mood for sharing a bowl of curry or you need to take a portion for the next day, this fried rice version is definitely the easy option and dare I say it, preferable to the usual curry.

It still has all the same flavours that you would expect from a green curry, just in a neater package.

For two large portions use:

• 2 cups of cooked, cold rice (ideally cooked yesterday)
• a tablespoon of green curry paste (I use Mae Ploy brand)
• 2/3 skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into cubes (i've also used up some pre-fried tofu pieces cut into small cubes)
• your choice of crunchy vegetables, cut into inch long pieces- I've used baby corn, green beans and pea aubergines
• a small handful of Thai sweet basil (or tarragon as a substitute- never Mediterranean basil!!)
• 1/2 can of coconut milk
• a big splash of fish sauce
• a big pinch of sugar
• 4/5 limes leaves, finely shredded
• 4/5 small red chillies or 1 large, finely sliced
• (optional) a few stalks of green peppercorns

In a large wok, heat the coconut milk until it bubbles, add in the green curry paste and stirring regularly, fry for a few minutes until you can see some oil separating.

Pop in the chicken and cook in the sauce until nearly cooked (2/3 minutes). 

Add in the seasonings- lime leaf, sugar, fish sauce, then the crunchy vegetables, cook for 3/4 minutes until they lose their rawness but not soft.

It should still resemble a very thick green curry at this stage- now tip in the rice and gently mix so everything gets well coated in the sauce. there will no longer be any obvious sauce.

Mix through the basil leaves, chillies and (if using) green peppercorns. Sprinkle over any remaining chillies, shreds of lime leaf or Thai basil for decoration.

Pad Kee Mao Moo (Drunk's Noodles with Pork)

I'm spending quite a bit of time at the moment re-visiting some of my earlier recipes, making some amendments where needed and updating the photos- some of my earlier attempts were not very pretty!! Pad Mee Mao (Drunk's noodles; so named as they're just right after a night's drinking- think spicy, greasy and quick to make- sooo much better than a nasty takeaway kebab!) hold a special place in my heart; it's the meal I had in Manchester's China town whilst on my hen do back in 2009 and I made a point then of learning the recipe.

There are a couple of changes to the other version of this recipe I made back in 2014- simply I've changed a few of the veggies and I now use the (optional) additions of green peppercorns and krachai (fingerroot) for added punchiness. I also think it's essential that you try to get fresh wide rice noodles (sen yai) for this dish- they're soft and stretchy but not chewy and suck up all the sauce, giving you a relatively dry dish. I've used pork rather than chicken but that's totally up to you, this is a very good candidate for a purely veggie version.

For 4 small/ 3 large portions use:

• 2 pork steaks, trimmed of fat, cut into thin slices
• 400g or thereabouts of fresh rice noodles, separated into individual strands
• a handful of green beans, cut into inch long pieces
• a carrot, peeled and sliced- I have a fancy gadget- a komkom that does the star shaped edges
• 6-8 baby corn cobs, sliced into inch long pieces
• a large bunch of sweet basil or holy basil, leaves ripped off stems
• (optional) a tablespoon of green peppercorns
• (optional) a few fingers of krachai (fingeroot), cut into thin slivers
• 4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
• 4 small red chillies
• a very big splash of oyster sauce
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of fish sauce
• a small splash of dark soy sauce
• a pinch of sugar
• vegetable oil for frying

• Lightly bash the garlic and red chillies into a rough paste
• Heat a splash of oil in a wok until hot and very briefly fry the garlic/chilli paste
• Throw in the pork (if using) and stir fry for a minute
• Throw in the veggies and stir fry, tossing everything together
• If using, throw in the green peppercorns and krachai and mix, cooking for 2 minutes
• Put all the sauces and sugar in together, stir the ingredients through.
• Put in all the noodles, mixing very well so they absorb the sauces and colour. Careful not to overcook- rice noodles can become stodgy very quickly- only cook as long as needed, around 1 minute.
• Toss through the sweet basil leaves, sprinkling some over the top of the finished dish.

Pad Pla Cha (Sizzling Fried Fish)

The last week has certainly been a chaotic one- in our corner of the world we've had horrendous amounts of rain which led to wide scale flooding in our city centre, followed by our substation getting flooded, blowing up and widespread blackouts. It really was strange to have 3 days without electric, internet or even phone signal; most people also use digital phones so even a basic phone call using a landline was out. Consequently, cooking in the dark at friends and family's houses (we don't have gas here, only electric so we had to borrow) using up whatever food we had that hadn't yet gone off did not make for a productive week to run a food blog- all the shops were shut due to flood damage and having no power and even the museum where I work (unfortunately next to the river) had suffered from the flood waters so the beginning of week there was much cleaning up to be done.

This recipe for pad pla cha was made last week before all of this even began and has been waiting to get uploaded for a bit. The 'cha' part of the name describes the sizzling noise made by stir frying at high temperature, there are many variations on pad cha recipes, this is just one! I find deep frying the fish holds it together and helps absorb the flavours of the sauce. It has a couple of specific ingredients- the green peppercorns and the krachai root which give it a unique flavour.

For two people use:

• 2 small fillets of fish (I've use basa- a type of catfish)
• a big handful of flour
• 1 long Asian aubergine/ 3 Thai, sliced
• a handful of green pea aubergine
• a tablespoon of green peppercorns
• a heaped teaspoon of red curry paste (I use Mae Ploy brand)
• 2 small red chillies
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large red chillies, sliced
• 2 fingers of krachai (fingerroot), peeled and finely chopped
• a large handful of sweet Thai basil (bai horapha)
• a large splash of oyster sauce
• a large splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of fish sauce
• vegetable oil for deep frying and a splash for the stir fry

Make a rough paste in a pestle and mortar with the small chillies and garlic, set aside. Cut the fish into thin slices and coat them in the flour, dusting off the excess. Heat a pan of oil to a depth of at least 3 inches and when hot, deep fry the fish until crisp and light golden in colour, scooping out and draining onto a paper towel. Set aside briefly.

In a wok, heat a splash of oil over a high heat and briefly fry off the chill/garlic paste and the red curry paste for around 30 seconds until fragrant. Next pop in the sliced aubergine and fry for a few minutes until slightly softened. Next in go the pea aubergines, green peppercorns, krachai and sliced red chilli and fry for just a minute. Now pop in the breaded fish and be much more gentle now, stir through and add in the remaining sauces (soy, fish and oyster), coat everything well. Finally, turn off the heat and throw in the basil leaves, briefly stirring through. 

Serve with freshly cooked rice. 

Yam Makeua Yang (Grilled Aubergine Salad)

This is a very healthy dish, which is fine but we ate it along with deep fried garlicky pork- khao moo tod gratiem (which will be the next post) so all was good! You could say this was the vegetarian brother of laab (chopped meat salad) as there's a lot of similar herbs and flavours used but none of the guilt. There's beautiful smoky flavours from the charred aubergine which goes great with anise and mint in the herbs and salty/sour sauce.

This doesn't take too long to make and the standard purple mediterranean aubergine does the job just fine in this case. Small Thai eggplants would be way to costly to make this dish in the UK due to how many you'd need. Long thin Asian eggplants/aubergines are another good (and more affordable option).

For a bowl of Yam Makeua (which is a perfect side dish for 2) use:

• 1 large purple aubergine/ 3 thin Asian/ 8 Thai
• 4 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 2 red chillies, sliced
• 2 boiled eggs (optional but always nice)
• a large handful of fragrant herbs- I've used sweet Thai basil (bai horapha) and mint
• juice of 1 lime
• a big splash of fish sauce or light soy sauce

Put your aubergine(s) on a baking tray and grill whole, on a high heat until the skin is blackened and the aubergines wrinkled. It took me about 10 minutes, it'll take less for the smaller/thinner aubergines. You can also toast the aubergine directly over a  flame but it will get very smoky and sets the smoke alarms off indoors so best to save this method for outdoor cookery.

As soon as the aubergine(s) come out of the grill, cover the tray with a tight layer of cling film (which will vacuum itself to the hot aubergine) but once cooled a little will allow you easily peel off the skin.

Discard burnt skin and cut the smoky flesh into strips. When cool, mix in a bowl along with all the other ingredients, serving the boiled eggs on the side.

Gaeng Hed Fang (Straw Mushroom Curry)

Sometimes you just want a simple, healthy, quick to make dish. This was just a it- a quick mushroom and bamboo shoot ‘curry’ with lots of herbal flavours. Satisfying and comforting, it would be a great cold weather dish. I’m a big fan of texture in food and this was lovely, crunchy bamboo shoots contrasting with the slippery mushrooms.
This is northern Thai cuisine and starts with a simplified red curry paste. It has predominantly a salty/sour/hot flavour and if you don’t want it to be vegetarian/vegan, you can definitely add some meat into the mix.
For two people use:

• A drained tin of straw mushrooms, halved
• 150g or thereabouts of drained sour bamboo shoots (or use regular plus the juice of half a lime) cut into strips/small pieces
• a big handful of Thai sweet basil (bai horapha) leaves
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 100ml of stock
• a big splash of light soy (or fish sauce if not needed to be vegan/veggie)
• a small amount of vegetable oil for frying

For the paste, pound together:

• 1 lemongrass stalk (peeled and chopped first)
• 5 dried red chillies, ripped up
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 4/5 shallots, peeled and chopped
• a big pinch of salt

Heat the oil in a wok and when hot, briefly fry off the paste for 30 seconds or before adding the stock and soy (or fish) sauce. Pop in the bamboo shoots and mushrooms and let it reduce a little (say 5 minutes).
Just before serving, sprinkle in the basil leaves and spring onions.

Pad Bai Horapha Bhet Yang (Roasted duck stir fried with sweet basil)

Before I begin, could I ask a big favour. On 1st June ‘I Wish I Was In Thailand’ blog will be a year old and I’m amazed to have *almost* reached 1000 followers. It would mean a lot for me if you like Thai food recipes and photography and enjoy my regular posts, you could follow my blog if you haven’t already.

Okay, so this is the last post for a little while until I get to Kuala Lumpur next week. We’ve already got out first reservation at the Fat China Seafood restaurant which apparently has amazing crab, can’t wait to try that and we’re keen to sample Jalan Alor’s street food as an introduction to Malaysian cuisine.
This is the other duck dish which I mentioned in my post on Sunday and let me use up the rest of my roasted duck. I have done a few variations on pad grapao/ horapha before. One with chicken and a fried egg, one with squid but this one, with roasted duck and sweet basil could well be the best; the firm but juicy chunks of roasted duck with it’s stronger taste hold up really well to the punchy garlic/chilli/basil flavours.
For two people use:

• 1 large roasted duck breast + chunks of any other meat on the duck
• 3 red chillies, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• a big splash of oyster sauce
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a big handful of sweet basil leaves (try fresh tarragon as a substitute)
• a splash of vegetable oil for frying

Pound up the garlic and chillies in a pestle and mortar and leave for just a moment. Heat the oil in a wok until hot and throw in the garlic/chilli paste, stir frying for a few seconds before adding in the duck. As it’s already cooked, it doesn’t need long, perhaps 30 seconds before you add in the two sauces. Stir fry for a further minute or so before turning off the heat and tossing in the sweet basil until it’s just wilted. Serve over white rice.

I started doing IWIWIT as a way to pass some time when I was working and living away from home in a very rural/quiet area and was going mad. This blog started up as a way of passing the evenings; I never imagined I would have over 80 recipes and 1000 followers 1 year later. If you want to see the full web page with all it’s recipes head to www.iwishIwasinthailand.tumblr.com 
Thanks, Naomi x

Makua Yao Nam Prik Pao (Aubergine with roasted chilli paste)

Despite being in house selling mode and what I said in my last post about not wanting to cook strong smelling food, I couldn’t resist another Thai dish. This one is ‘more or less’ vegetarian and is easily adapted to be vegan too, just check the ingredients on any chilli paste you use. It took about ten minutes to prep and even less to cook, so it’s perfect for a quick meal. Aim to get the aubergines to be a little soft but not mushy; you still want some texture in the dish.

For 2 big portions use:

• 2 regular purple aubergines/ 4 thin purple ones/ 16 Thai egg aubergines or a combination of. I used the thin purple ones, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 3 small red chillies, roughly sliced
• a handful of sweet Thai basil (or try using tarragon for an anise-like flavour as a substitute)
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a splash of fish sauce (nam pla) or extra soy if vegetarian/vegan
• a heaped teaspoon of roasted chilli paste (nam prik pao- be aware some contain shrimp)
• vegetable oil for frying

This recipe it so easy; Make a rough paste by pounding the garlic and chilli in a pestle and mortar. Heat a big splash of oil in a wok until hot. Throw in the garlic/chilli paste and stir fry for a few seconds before throwing all the aubergine in. Depending on which aubergine you have used (green Thai need longer, large purple need less) stir fry for 3-5 minutes, making sure the garlic/chilli doesn’t burn. Add in the roasted chilli paste, soy sauce and (if using) fish sauce, mixing everything well for a further minute. Turn off the heat and stir through the sweet basil leaves until just wilted before serving.

Pad Bai Horapha Pla Muk Nor Mai (Squid and Bamboo Shoots stir fried with Sweet Basil)

Well, this is the last recipe from my North Yorkshire kitchen. Moving back to Lancashire in a few days so there may be a short break in service!!

Not the prettiest of photos today, sorry about that! I was hungry!! I’ve done a stir fry with Thai sweet basil before and this is more or less the same, the main ingredient is now squid and I’ve added fresh bamboo shoots. Like pad grapao gai, it works really well served with a crispy fried egg!

This is perfect Thai sea side food and the cooking part only takes a few minutes so perfect for a really quick supper :)


For two people use:

• 1 big squid tube, cleaned, trimmed, scored in a grid pattern and cut into small squares


• 1 fresh bamboo shoot/ a small tin of bamboo shoots 


• 4 cloves garlic


• 3 red Thai chillies (more or less if you like)


• a big handful of Thai sweet basil (use tarragon as a substitute, not Mediterranean basil!)


• a big splash of light soy sauce


• a big splash of oyster sauce


• a pinch of sugar


• vegetable oil for frying

If you have managed to track down fresh bamboo shoot from an Asian grocery, start here first, if not- skip on a bit. Peel off the tough outer leaves until you reach the yellowy core, trim off both ends and then use a knife to cut the whole thing in half and into strips. Now this is the important bit- raw bamboo shoot is toxic- boil the bamboo shoots for at least 30 minutes then drain and rinse them well under cold water.


Pound up the garlic and chillies in a pestle and mortar, you’ll be needing it in a moment. Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a wok, and when hot, throw in the garlic and chilli paste, just for a few seconds before adding in the squid. Stir fry it for a minute, no more, before adding in the bamboo shoots, sugar and the sauces, stir frying for another minute before turning off the heat and stirring in the sweet basil. Phew, done!

Gaeng Phed Gai (Red chicken curry)

I tend not to make too many coconut based curries, partly just because there’s so many other Thai dishes to make and red/ green curries crop up just about everywhere but since I was in the mood for one, and I hadn’t covered the recipe for it to date, saw no reason not to include it; there’s a reason it’s one of the most well known Thai dishes! I’ve mentioned it before in the post I did for Green curry http://iwishiwasinthailand.tumblr.com/day/2014/07/27/  but I prefer to use a thinner, less sweet sauce so use half coconut milk half water. By all means if you prefer a thicker, sweeter sauce, use all coconut milk.


For 4 small portions/ 3 big, use:

• 2 small chicken breasts/ 4 skinless thighs, chopped into small cubes


• 50g of red Thai curry paste- use a good one without unnecessary fillers such as Maesri or Mae Ploy


• 200ml coconut milk (freeze the other half if using a tin)


• 200ml water


• mixed crunchy vegetables- I used a packet of pea aubergines, 8 baby corn, halved, a small tin of bamboo shoots and a small handful of green beans, trimmed and halved


• 5 red chillies, chopped


• a nobble of galangal, peeled and finely shredded


• a big splash of fish sauce


• a big pinch of sugar


• 4/5 kaffir lime leaves, rolled into a cigar and finely shredded


• half a packet of Bai Horapha leaves (Thai sweet basil)


• small splash of vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil in a wok and throw in the curry paste- many kudos if you’ve decided to make your own version (I’m just too lazy and I think the Thai branded versions are excellent). Stir fry the paste for about 30 seconds, making sure it doesn’t burn before adding the coconut milk. Keep stirring, and you should start to see some of the red oils on the top. After 5 minutes of so, add in the raw chicken- stir, and cook for about 5 minutes before adding in the water and tougher vegetables such as the pea aubergines and green beans. Give it another 5 minutes or so before adding in the rest of the veggies, fish sauce, galangal and sugar and cook for a final 5 minutes. When cooked, lightly stir through the sweet basil leaves, they don’t need any cooking as such and sprinkle over the shredded lime leaves and red chilli.

No to Mediterranean Basil in Thai Food !!!

This winds me right up- so much so I just made the silly sign above to prove it. Thai restaurants in the UK (and in the US too?) that use Mediterranean basil instead of Thai basil.

I went out to a Thai restaurant for a friend’s birthday last night and ordered my favourite meal- chicken with Thai sweet  basil and let me say, on the menu had the Romanised Thai name Phad Bai Horapha which means sweet basil. What was otherwise a pleasant dish came with feckin Italian basil leaves on the top!! Nearly every Thai restaurant I’ve been to in the last 5 years does this. Every time I feel cheated and it does nothing for the flavour. ARRRRGGGGHH! Thai restaurants of the UK- for God’s sake if you can’t source Thai basil, holy, sweet or otherwise, stop pretending your customers are too stupid to tell the difference between something that should be on top of a pizza and something that should belong in a Thai curry! Rant over.

Hoi Lai Pad Nam Prik Pao (Clams fried in roasted chilli paste)

I’ve been wanting to make this for ages but despite living on an island, we don’t always have access to great seafood here in the UK, much of it being exported or used in the restaurant trade. However, Booths (which is a top end northern England family supermarket chain) sells fantastic, fresh food, including shellfish so as a treat I collected my pre-ordered clams (and was given a free extra handful- ‘just in case’) which came to just over £8 and would have comfortably served 3 people and toddled off home to make this for tea.

With reference to Thailand, shellfish is not overly expensive and for those living nearer the coast, it is everyday food. It was also the first time I got to use one of my new ingredients- Nam Prik Pao, which is a roasted chilli paste and contains (along with chillies) tamarind, shrimp paste and a host of other ingredients. So overall, I make no apologies- this one isn’t an easy substitution dish as it contains quite a few specialist Thai ingredients.

For two people use:

• 500g of very fresh clams (or mussels), cleaned and dead ones (they don’t close when squeezed) thrown away


• a tablespoon of nam prik pao (roasted chilli paste)


• 4 or 5 red Thai chillies, sliced


• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine


• a small splash of fish sauce (nam pla)


• a small splash of oyster sauce


• a small splash of water


• a handful of sweet Thai basil (bai horapa)


• a pinch of sugar


• vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil in a wok and when hot, throw in the garlic. Stir fry it for a few seconds before adding in the roasted chilli paste. Give this a good fry for about 30 seconds before adding the chillies, sugar and all the sauces/ water. Throw in the cleaned clams and stir fry. Ideally- find a lid or kitchen implement that can cover the wok so the clams begin to steam, Keep frying and gently shaking the clams in the sauce for about ¾ minutes- they should all now be open. For the last few seconds, toss through the Thai sweet basil and serve alongside rice. 

Note- if any clams have failed to fully open, throw them out- they may have been dead before cooking began.

Pad Gaprao Gai (Chicken and Thai basil stir fry)

I’ve just finished eating this so wanted to share this one quickly while the memories of how delicious this dish is are fresh. It’s hot, salty and packed with flavour. It’s also quick to make, a little greasy and is the perfect chaser for a night out drinking. It’s a quintessential Thai street food dish.

This is a one person recipe:

• ½ cup white rice


• 1 egg


• 1 small chicken breast/ 2 chicken thighs, chopped in small chunks (substitute pork if you like)


• 3 small red chillies (more or less, if you like), chopped into a few pieces


• 3 cloves of garlic


• a glug of oyster sauce (supermarkets sell it in bottles)


• a big splash of soy sauce


• a pinch of sugar


• a handful of Thai basil leaves* ( the herb tarragon makes a decent substitute as it has a similar aniseedy flavour- steer clear of Mediterranean basil which is nothing like Thai basil).


• vegetable/ sunflower oil for frying

Start by getting a pan of water on to boil and put in the rice when the waters bubbling rapidly. With the rice starting to cook, in a pestle & mortar (or crushed with the back of a blade on a chopping board) crush the chillies and garlic, just roughly and leave for a moment. In a wok or frying pan, heat a fair amount of oil. When it’s hot, carefully break in your egg, splash the hot oil all over it and let the bottom get crispy and brown. When your happy that your egg’s done, lift it out, put in on kitchen paper and leave it somewhere warm to sit whilst you do everything else. Still in the same hot oil,start frying the garlic/chilli for a few seconds before adding in the chopped chicken. After 3 minutes or so, the chicken should be mostly cooked; add in the sugar, oyster and soy sauces and stir, before letting the liquid reduce down. Turn the heat off and stir the basil leaves through the chicken for a few seconds. Now it’s time to drain the rice, plate everything up. Put your fried egg on top and sink in.


* the name of this dish - Ka Prao means holy basil, officially since I’ve used Thai sweet basil I should be calling it Pad Bai Horapha Gai. However, I have tried cooking this with holy basil and it just tastes unpleasant. I don’t think holy basil leaves ship well- by all means give it a go with the holy basil if you can get hold of it but be prepared for it to taste like soggy tea leaves!