Saturday, March 3, 2012

Pad Krapow Moo: minced pork with basil rice (and garlic!!)


I love this spicy, basil-y porky dish to bits and this is a must-have each time I go to Bangkok - has it been nearly two years?! And it’s good no matter where you have it in Bangkok - dingy food courts, roadside stalls, restaurants. Is it because it’s so easy to cook?

We shall find out tonight as me, the novice, attempts to cook it. And in fact, to honour this dish's authenticity, I am using garlic for the very first time in my little kitchen - not chopped up as the real version would be, but in whole cloves (not even smashed) to get a Touch of garlic flavour but not toooo much.
It was a challenge locating Holy Basil in Hong Kong, I’m sure it’s available because there are many Thai restaurants here, but the one thai grocery store I knew in Central had a basil that was either Thai Basil or Holy Basil. Apparently both work, even though Holy Basil was the preferred one if you could find it.  
I used this recipe from Chez Pim and added two fried eggs for J and one for me on top. I also faithfully asked for pork butt to be minced from the local wet market.

The result? Yumms!! There are a few things I would do differently next time to make it even better though: 
  • chopped up the chili into finer pieces and add a little more chili (it wasn’t spicy enough). 
  • Smash the garlic pieces a little 
Otherwise - an easy, savoury, comforting quick stir fry that takes minutes to whip up.

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