Khao Pad Kaprow Gai - Recipe?

[tariq]

Hi

Does anyone have the recipe for this dish?

It was my main meal most days that I was in Thailand. I did watch as it was being prepared at the stall but unfortunately, due to having too many Singha's I don't remember how it was made.

I did buy a few bottles of the ready mixed sauce before I came home but alas it is finished and I'm now having withdrawal symptoms of sweating slightly and my mouch being in slight paid when I eat!!!!!

Can anyone help?

Tariq...

[chuchok]

Hi

Does anyone have the recipe for this dish?

It was my main meal most days that I was in Thailand. I did watch as it was being prepared at the stall but unfortunately, due to having too many Singha's I don't remember how it was made.

I did buy a few bottles of the ready mixed sauce before I came home but alas it is finished and I'm now having withdrawal symptoms of sweating slightly and my mouch being in slight paid when I eat!!!!!

Can anyone help?

Tariq...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try this link

Spicy chiken and Basil

[lampard10]

Most Thai/Chinese stores stock the Knorr sauce. The green lable one is the one you want. When we stocked it in our shop in UK it used to get sold out all the time.

There is a yellow lable (mild) red lable ( hot) and brown lable (garlic) but the green one is the one with the kick.

You can buy it in Wing Yip (croydon) See Woo (charlton) , Hoo Hin (mitcham)or there is a thai shop in Kensington.Used to be one in Ramsgate,but I sold it.

Edited May 25, 2005 by lampard10

[tariq]

Most Thai/Chinese stores stock the Knorr sauce. The green lable one is the one you want. When we stocked it in our shop in UK it used to get sold out all the time.

There is a yellow lable (mild) red lable ( hot) and brown lable (garlic) but the green one is the one with the kick.

You can buy it in Wing Yip (croydon) See Woo (charlton) , Hoo Hin (mitcham)or there is a thai shop in Kensington.Used to be one in Ramsgate,but I sold it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that. It was the knorr one I brought back with me. Glad to hear I can get it over here.

Cheers

[The_Moog]

O I love basil fried rice....food of Gods

[sabaijai]

Hi

Does anyone have the recipe for this dish?

It was my main meal most days that I was in Thailand. I did watch as it was being prepared at the stall but unfortunately, due to having too many Singha's I don't remember how it was made.

I did buy a few bottles of the ready mixed sauce before I came home but alas it is finished and I'm now having withdrawal symptoms of sweating slightly and my mouch being in slight paid when I eat!!!!!

Can anyone help?

Tariq...

Try this link

Spicy chiken and Basil

The problem with this recipe is it's inexact with regard to which basil should be used. Thais use four kinds of basil regularly in cooking.

The recipe says 'Thai basil' but that could be sweet basil (hohraphaa) grown in Thailand, the lemon basil (meng lak) more commonly known as 'Thai basil' in Western cooking circles or the proper one for this dish, 'holy basil' (ka-phrao). The Latin is Ocimum sanctum, and 'holy basil' is of course a direct translation of the Latin. It was a sacred herb through the Roman empire and still is in India.

The 4th one, clove basil or African basil (Ocimum gratissimum), has been disappearing from the Thai culinary scene over the last 40 years. In Thai it's called bai yeeraa, literally 'cumin leaves' though it isn't related to cumin at all, but is in the basil family. My wife cooks phat bai yeeraa from a recipe handed down through three generations of her family. When she prepares the dish at home for Thai guests most of them say they've never seen the dish or the leaf (tho they may have heard of it) - but they always love the taste.

Back to phat ka-phrao, or fried holy basil, this dish looks deceptively simple to make but is in fact one of the more difficult stir-fries to have come out in the classic Thai-Chinese fashion (this dish is very Chinese-influenced, both in technique and in all the ingredients *except* the holy basil). It takes a very hot wok and a lot of elbow action and adding the ingredients in just the right order and at the right time. I've made it dozens of times and never has what I made come up to the standards of an expert phat kra-phao chef. Bangkok is the best place to eat this dish, most cooks in the provinces can't approach the capital on this one.

My favorite BKK place for this dish used to be Samakhi Mai, down a little alley off Phetburi Rd near Pantip Plaza. I haven't been in a couple years, it could have closed - a lot of the classic phat ka-phrao places around the country seem to be closing, can't figure out why. Maybe places that specialise in one dish are simply less common than they once were.

Link on medicinal uses of holy basil:

holy basil

[tchk]

Back to phat ka-phrao, or fried holy basil, this dish looks deceptively simple to make but is in fact one of the more difficult stir-fries to have come out in the classic Thai-Chinese fashion (this dish is very Chinese-influenced, both in technique and in all the ingredients *except* the holy basil). It takes a very hot wok and a lot of elbow action and adding the ingredients in just the right order and at the right time. I've made it dozens of times and never has what I made come up to the standards of an expert phat kra-phao chef. Bangkok is the best place to eat this dish, most cooks in the provinces can't approach the capital on this one.

sabaijai, thank you for your elaborate and amusing details on krapao. If you read french, there is a nice reference re your very hot wok in a recipe collection by a belgian chef on the web. The following link http://users.skynet.be/saveurs_thailandaises/poulet_21.htm takes you right to the appropriate frame, otherwise you should first go to http://users.skynet.be/saveurs_thailandaises/.

I never managed to prepare an edible Kraphao and I actually never looked at the Belgian recipe until today, but I have experimented a bit with Tom Kha Gai, my favorite Thai dish. They have two versions of which I favor number 2 except for the huge quantities which I reduce. After that I have found it difficult to find a good Tom Kha in Bangkok, apart from Baan Khanita, of course. By the way: never forget the sugar in Thai recipes, it is one of the most important flavor ingredients. Bad news for diabetics!

[sabaijai]

Good-looking recipe. They got the correct basil and the hot wok anyway!

Tom kha kai is one of those dishes where the ingredients must be fresh and the balance of flavours is super important. The best tom kha kai, in my opinion, is not found in restaurants but rather at roadside khao kaeng places. It doesn't translate all that well to a restaurant setting as it's primarily a daytime rather than evening dish.

Have you ever found a really good Thai curry in a restaurant? Same thing, the best curries come from raan khao kaeng, in the daytime, not at restaurants that serve curries at night just so they can boast having a complete menu.

I can tell you one place with very tasty tom kha kai in Pathumwan though they don't serve it every day: the unsigned cart vendor on Soi Kasem San 1, opposite the Reno Hotel. That family has been preparing cheap, authentic Thai curries and other dishes at that spot for at least 25 years. I can remember when the old lady was a young lady and her daughter just a little kid (now the main cook and server). Of course nowadays that soi is full of tourists but the main clients at this particular vendor are still neighbourhood Thais. (When I first started going there the Reno and the Muangpol were the only places to stay; now it's lined with guesthouses.)

Markets are another place where you can score good tom kha. One sure winner for superb tom kha is Aw Taw Kaw Market. It's hard to find a badly made dish at Aw Taw Kaw and the vendors there tend to follow very traditional recipes as they get some of the finickiest customers in the city.

I used to know a couple of great raan khao kaeng in Pratunam in the late 70s with good tom kha but they're both gone now. Small sois in Yannawa are a good hunting ground for curries and tom kha.

Upcountry central Thai towns are also a good bet since, let's face it, Bangkokians are letting the traditional cuisine - especially kaeng, phat phet and tom kha/tom yam - slowly slip away (phat ka-phrao is an exception, because it's essentially a Chinese dish and BKK's Chinese content remains strong). Amphoe muang Trat has some excellent central Thai eateries, for example. Ang Thong, Singburi, Chainat, all pure heaven for the fans of traditional thai klaang cuisine.

Back to phat ka-phrao, or fried holy basil, this dish looks deceptively simple to make but is in fact one of the more difficult stir-fries to have come out in the classic Thai-Chinese fashion (this dish is very Chinese-influenced, both in technique and in all the ingredients *except* the holy basil). It takes a very hot wok and a lot of elbow action and adding the ingredients in just the right order and at the right time. I've made it dozens of times and never has what I made come up to the standards of an expert phat kra-phao chef. Bangkok is the best place to eat this dish, most cooks in the provinces can't approach the capital on this one.

sabaijai, thank you for your elaborate and amusing details on krapao. If you read french, there is a nice reference re your very hot wok in a recipe collection by a belgian chef on the web. The following link http://users.skynet.be/saveurs_thailandaises/poulet_21.htm takes you right to the appropriate frame, otherwise you should first go to http://users.skynet.be/saveurs_thailandaises/.

I never managed to prepare an edible Kraphao and I actually never looked at the Belgian recipe until today, but I have experimented a bit with Tom Kha Gai, my favorite Thai dish. They have two versions of which I favor number 2 except for the huge quantities which I reduce. After that I have found it difficult to find a good Tom Kha in Bangkok, apart from Baan Khanita, of course. By the way: never forget the sugar in Thai recipes, it is one of the most important flavor ingredients. Bad news for diabetics!