after much practise i have finally got my Pad kaprao off to a tee

this version is the classic, which uses black soy sauce in it and has a darker color to it.

heres how its made according to what i consider to be the original and best tasting style which you will get in the best Aharn Tam Sang street restaurants

one or two onions (large red ones about the size of a tomatoe) sliced - dont slice them with the grain so they make rings.. rather the opposite way - this makes them sweeter when you sautee them

about 7 chilies bashed up and bruised

about 6 or seven large garlic cloves bashed and bruised

(for bashing and bruising without a pestle and mortar just used the bottom of a cup for example.. the effect is the same).

150 grams of pork mince

one teaspoon of msg (yeah - go for it!)

two tablespoons of light soya sauce

one tablespoon of black dark soya sauce

one tablespoon of sugar (i use a bit more)

pour some nampla fish sauce on the pork mince and let is marinate for about ten minutes - you can also put the msg on the mince too or add later

pluck about 20 to 30 leaves off the basil plant

ok.. heat the oil in the wok (grata) or the frying pan, add the garlic and onions/chillies (toast the garlic a little first before adding the onions and chillis)

once you have blanched them for a minute or so then add the basi leaves

once the basil leaves have softened but still have a light color to them, they should begin to smell pungent aqnd make you cough a bit.. here is where you add the pork mince, msg, and sautee it until the mince starts to take on some color.. onces it starts sizzling add the soya sauce and sugar and keep stirring.

when you see the mince is almost ready, add the black soya sauce to darken the color.

add a little oyster sauce (about 2 tablespoons) and simmer for a minute or so.. add a tablespon or so of water and reduce it a little

thats it.

Make a crispy fried egg to accompany it and they you have the classic pad kaprao khai daw - ดกระเพาไขดาว

to make a Thai style crispy fried egg tyou should nuse a wok or if a frying pan, once the oil is smoking hot you must tilt the pan so the oil is deep in the corner of the pan and then when you throw the egg in it will be submerged in the extremely hot oil.. this causes the eg to bubble and thus becomes crispy when fried.

i love pad kapra.. but some places on the street dont put black soya sace in and thats why it sometimes looks dark and sometimes colorless.

I get in a bad mood when i get a white meat color in my pad kaprao so i always tell the cook "sai see iw dam duay""

actually my way of orderiing is "pad kaprao moo sap ped Ped wan wan sai see iw dam duay" (fried chilli and basil pork mince , hot hot sweet sweet, add some black soy sauce too)

here it is in Thai

ผัดกระเพาหมูสับเผ็ดๆหวานๆใส่สอิ๊วดำด้วยครับ

try ordering it like that and see if you like it.

basi leaf is a bit bitter so if you add sweetness to it with sugar then it really gives a special flavour to the dish.. try it out.. tid jai na kap (จะติดใจนะครับ)

Here is a good video of how tomakie it too..

the order in which she adds the ingredietns is different to that explained above but the result is the same..

very good, I love Pad kaprao moo

now I am very hungry for it, got to go get the wife to make me some

Just drop the "Pad" altogether if you really want to speak local Thai as they never order using the word "Pad".

Thanks OP, very useful but is there any mistake ?

Is it too early to put the basil leaves ? I always see them put it last and just less than a minute before it's scooped up.

Thanks OP, very useful but is there any mistake ?

Is it too early to put the basil leaves ? I always see them put it last and just less than a minute before it's scooped up.

you are correct. Basil leaves are the last to go in.....

Stir Fried Pork With Holy Basil and Deep Fried Eggplant

(ผัดกระเพราหมูสับ มะเขือยาวทอด, pad krapao moo sap makua yao)

Watch the video at:

http://www.thaifoodmaster.com/ingredient/meats/pork/258

you can put them in earlier too but they will go dark green and be more bitter.. if you put them in last then they will be light in color and sweeter.

I like it with blacksoy sauce if its pork mince but if its crispy pork then i dont use the black soy sauce.. its a matter of taste.

Someshops dont use black soy and some do.. but if its porkmince and i get served with no black soy sauce in it i dont like it.. it looks too light colored and plain somehow