I bought this fantastic Thai cookbook at Costco recently, and true to my commitment to make at least one recipe from each cookbook I buy from now on, I started with Chicken Fried Rice with Basil Leaves (Khao Pad Krapow Gai).
This is an easy, easy recipe that the author, Vatch, notes is far more authentic when made with ground chicken. Many Western restaurants make it with sliced chicken, because “In the West, however, because ground meat is looked down on, many restaurants tend to use larger slices of meat which results in the basil going limp from the longer cooking time.”. He urges you to decide for yourself whether to cook this recipe authentically or not.
So of course, I cooked it with ground chicken. I just used store-bought ground extra lean chicken - didn’t bother to mince it myself. And because my family is not very keen on hot foods, I didn’t use the chilies at all.
One of the best things about this recipe is that it is easy (I think I said that already). But it truly is. The ingredients are very simple: 2 garlic cloves, 2 small red chilies, 1 cup ground chicken, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 20 basil leaves, 1 and 3/4 cups fragrant rice, 1 small onion and 1/2 a red or green sweet pepper.
I find that the quantities in this book are more for one or two people (hence the “street food” title), so I just double everything above and it works well for feeding four.
All you do is fry the garlic, then add the chilies, chicken and sauce ingredients. When the chicken is cooked, add the basil leaves and the cooked rice and before taking your wok off the heat, add the onion and sweet pepper. Aside from the time it takes to chop the garlic, and slice the onion and peppers, it is very fast, too.
My husband and kids all loved the dish, which I’ve already made twice. (I’ll have to remember to start taking pictures of my dishes).
The only thing that might put you off cooking the dish is the basil leaves. I found that the bunches of basil they sell in my local supermarket are so small, I’d have to buy ten bunches just to get enough leaves. If you have access to an Asian supermarket, though, you’ll be able to pick up a big batch for cheap. And if it’s summer, it’s quite easy to grow your own.
Vatch’s Thai Street Food (from Amazon)
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