Pad Kra Pao

The other evening I went shopping with my son to Tesco who was intent on getting an easy ready meal as he was rushing to go out. We couldn't find anything that looked particularly appealing so I scrolled through my saved instagram recipes for a quick and easy meal. This recipe is from a instagrammer called takes two eggs.  We absolutely loved all the fragrant and intense flavours of the pork, though it was slightly salty, so be careful to choose a low salt chicken stock. It was far superior to a ready meal and very easy to prepare. Next time I would fry the pork for a bit longer to achieve the crunchiness of the meat. 

Ingredients 

1-3 Thai chili peppers thinly sliced, add more or  less depending on tolerance
 6 cloves garlic minced
 2 shallots minced
 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
 1 lb ground pork
 1 ¼ cups holy basil or regular Italian basil

 Stir-Fry Sauce

 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 
 1 tablespoon fish sauce 
 2 teaspoons light soy sauce  
 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce 
 1 tablespoon sugar 
 ⅓ cup chicken 

Method

Mix the sauce. In a mixing bowl, add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Mix until combined and the sugar has combined. 

Saute aromatics. 

In wok or large skillet, heat the vegetable over medium high heat until hot. Add the shallots, garlic and Thai chilis and saute until fragrant about 45 seconds.

Cook the pork. 

Next, increase the heat to high heat, add the pork, break it up into smaller pieces, and toss to combine with the aromatics. Spread the pork out into a single layer and let it sear. Then toss and continue cooking until the pork is cooked through and lightly charred and all the liquid has evaporated about 4-5 minutes.

Add the sauce. 

Add the sauce and toss until combined. Then deglaze the pan with chicken stock. Cook until the chicken stock renders down and dissolves about 1 minute.

Add basil. 

Then add the basil and toss until just wilted. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Optional serve with a fried egg on top. Serve with rice.