Last year I had the chance to try out Pai’s new lunch menu and take home a bag of groceries from their fresh Thai market. I went home with shiny lime leaves, ripe mangos, a bottle fish sauce, fragrant Thai basil and a bottle of Chef Nuit’s own chilli sauce. We used the ingredients from Pai to cook a Green Chicken Curry and stir fried ground pork with Thai basil. The minced pork dish was so easy and delicious that we’ve added the recipe to our regular rotation of meals at home. Except for basil, our kitchen is pretty much always stocked with the other ingredients needed. Stephen also recently bought a new carbon steel wok, so he’s been having lots of fun stir-frying anything.
For a healthier version, the ground pork can easily be swapped for ground chicken or turkey.
- 6-7 garlic cloves
- 3-4 dried chilli peppers
- 1/2 Thai basil leaves
- 1/4 lb of ground pork
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1/5 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 egg (optional)
- Mince garlic,cut up dried chilli peppers, pull Thai basil leaves off of the stem and chop roughly.
- In a small bowl, measure out the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and stir together.
- In a pan or wok on high heat, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Once the oil is hot (just begins to smoke), add the garlic and chilli peppers. Stir fry until the garlic is browned and fragrant.
- Add the ground pork to the wok or pan and stir fry. Be sure to break up the meat for it cook evenly until brown.
- Once the meat is cooked, add in the sauce and stir. Then add in the Thai basil leaves. If all the sauce has dried up, add 2 tbsp of water and stir together again until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Serve over rice. Optional: Top with a fried egg
- The amount of garlic, chilli peppers and basil can be adjusted to taste. I like mine with lots of garlic and basil.
- Dried chilli peppers can be swapped out for fresh Thai chilli peppers, or any other variety you have on-hand.
- Tip: The best way to cut up dried chilli peppers is to hold the stem and use scissors. This reduces the risk of getting hot peppers onto your fingers and then elsewhere.
Assemble ingredients
Mince garlic
Prep chilli peppers and Thai basil
Mix together sauces and sugar
In a hot pan or wok on high heat, heat the oil and sir fry the garlic and chilli peppers until fragrant
Add the ground pork
Cook the ground pork, breaking it up, until brown
Once the ground pork is cooked, add the sauce, stir together, and the add the Thai basil leaves
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