Pad Kra Pao Thai Stir Fry
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
- 120g/4ozs (around 3) golden shallots, finely diced (you can also use red onion)-
- 5 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 2 small red chillies, finely diced
- 2 large red chillies, finely diced
- 300g/10.6ozs pork, beef or chicken mince
- 75g/2.6ozs green beans, chopped into small pieces (optional)
- 25g/0.9ozs Thai or holy basil, leaves only
- Steamed rice to serve
For Sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 cup-1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (optional, to make it darker)
Step 1 - Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl (start with 1/4 cup of broth). Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large wok or frying pan on medium high heat. Fry the egg first and set aside.
Step 2 - Add the shallots and fry until soft and fragrant (around 3-4 minutes) adding more oil if needed. Add the garlic and sliced chilies to the pan and saute for 1 minute. Then add the mince and break it up in the pan. Add the sauce mixture and then the green beans and then saute for 5-6 minutes on high heat with the lid on stirring occasionally. Then add the Thai basil leaves and stir to wilt them. At this stage, if you like a bit more sauce you can add the extra 1/4 cup of stock. Serve with steamed rice and a fried egg.
This is quite quick to make but I sort of lost track of time when I made it. It was Sunday morning and I noticed that some of the Thai basil was starting to wilt so I figured I had a bit of time to make this before we had to leave. We were going out to Karaoke with the Elliotts for my birthday and we told them that the booking was at 1pm on the dot. The Elliotts are not really on time sort of people so you do have to specify times. It's not so much an issue with picnics as people usually wander in an hour or so late but as we had booked a room we wanted to be on time.
Most of the time making this is in the mise en place because the cooking is fairly quick. But then I glanced at the clock and realised that I was running late. And that's after giving everyone strict instructions to not be late!
I made this, shot pictures and then ran upstairs to get changed while Mr NQN put the food away. I got ready in record time, when I looked carefully in the car mirror my eyebrow pencil was crooked and my powder wasn't fully brushed off but well, sacrifices were made.
And then when I rushed in, 4 minutes late the only person that was on time was Manu, Mr NQN's brother! Everyone wandered in 20 minutes later! I should have stayed and fixed my makeup properly.
So tell me Dear Reader, are you always good at arriving on time? Have you ever tried Pad Kra Pao?