“In this much-loved dish, kaphrao (stir-fried holy basil) is combined with minced chicken and a fried egg served on rice. Easily found at street-food stalls in Thailand, the dish requires less effort to prepare in its home country, where holy basil is easily accessible. Holy basil shouldn’t be substituted, however, as its spicy, peppery flavour is unique from other varieties: the dish won’t taste the same without it.”

Recipe by Sareen Rojanametin and Jean Thamthanakorn

Serves 2

Ingredients

7 garlic cloves
5 red bird’s eye chillies
100ml neutral oil
2 eggs
400g minced chicken
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar
1 long red chilli, sliced
25g holy basil leaves
steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Dipping sauce:

2 red and green bird’s eye chillies, very finely sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce

Method

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic cloves into a coarse paste, then add the bird’s eye chillies and pound them a few times to bruise them. If you prefer the stir-fry to be spicy, pound the chillies into a coarse paste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat until it begins to smoke. Fry the eggs in the oil until crisp, then remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on paper towel.

Increase the heat to high. Using the leftover oil, stir-fry the garlic and chilli mixture until fragrant. Add the minced chicken and cook, stirring constantly to break it up, until the chicken is browned and almost cooked all the way through. Pour the fish sauce down the side of the wok, so that it pools beneath the chicken, and allow it to cook undisturbed for 1 minute, until caramelised.

Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar and long red chilli and stir-fry to combine. Add 75ml of water to the wok to deglaze, followed by the holy basil leaves.

Stir-fry until the basil leaves are just wilted and remove from the heat.

To make the dipping sauce, combine the sliced chilli and the fish sauce. Serve the pad kaphrao warm with the fried eggs, rice, and the dipping sauce.

Rice: 3 rice dishes that will transport you to Thailand