Recipes › Basil › Thai Basil Chicken Stir-Fry with Jasmine Rice
Thai Basil Chicken Stir-Fry with Jasmine Rice
Pad Krapow Gai is one of the great weeknight dishes — genuinely fast, genuinely flavourful, and built around a mountain of fresh basil that wilts into the hot wok and perfumes every bite. This version uses sweet Italian basil in place of the traditional holy basil, which is near-impossible to find in the UK, and the result is a beautifully fragrant, slightly sticky stir-fry that you will want to cook every week in August.
Basil is in season now. More basil recipes, or see what to sow this month where you are.
Ingredients
- 60 g fresh basil leaves, larger leaves roughly tornholy basil if you can find it is the authentic choice
- 600 chicken thigh minceor use pork mince
- 320 g jasmine rice, rinsed
- 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 4 red bird's eye chillies, finely sliced, seeds inuse 2 if you prefer less heat
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 3 tbsp neutral oilvegetable or sunflower oil
- 4 eggs
Contains: cereals gluten, eggs, fish, molluscs, soya.
Method
- Cook the jasmine rice according to packet instructions — typically bring to the boil with 480ml water, cover tightly, reduce to the lowest heat and cook for 12 minutes, then remove from heat and leave covered for 5 minutes. Do this first so it is ready when the stir-fry is done.About 15 min
- Mix the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and caster sugar together in a small bowl. Set aside.About 1 min
- Heat a wok or large frying pan over the highest heat your hob will give you. Once it is smoking, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the garlic and chilli and stir-fry for 30–45 seconds until the garlic is just beginning to colour — do not let it burn.About 1 min
- Add the chicken mince in one go and spread it out across the wok. Leave it untouched for 60 seconds so it can get some colour on the bottom, then break it up and stir-fry for 4–5 minutes until cooked through with no pink remaining.About 5 min
- Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken and stir-fry for another 2 minutes until the sauce is sticky and has coated the meat. Remove the wok from the heat and fold in all the basil leaves. They will wilt from the residual heat in about 30 seconds. Stir to combine.About 2 min
- While the basil wilts, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a separate frying pan over a high heat and fry the eggs one or two at a time, basting the tops with the hot oil until the whites are set and crispy at the edges but the yolks are still runny — about 2 minutes each.About 4 min
- Serve the chicken and basil over jasmine rice in deep bowls, topped with a fried egg each.About 1 min
Tips
- The wok must be genuinely smoking hot before you add anything. A lukewarm wok makes the chicken steam instead of fry and you lose all the caramelised flavour that makes this dish what it is.
- Add the basil off the heat. Cooking basil in a hot wok for more than a few seconds destroys its fragrance — you want it to wilt gently from the residual heat, not fry.
- Oyster sauce brands vary in sweetness and saltiness quite a lot. Taste the sauce before you add the sugar and adjust accordingly.
Ring the changes
- This works brilliantly with firm tofu crumbled into the wok instead of chicken — use soy sauce in place of fish sauce to keep it vegan.
- Add 200g of halved cherry tomatoes at the same time as the sauce — they soften quickly and add a juicy sharpness that works very well against the heat.
Keeping it
The chicken stir-fry keeps in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in a hot wok with a splash of water. The fried eggs must be cooked fresh. The basil aroma fades on standing, so this is best eaten immediately after cooking.
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