When I was in middle school, my parents took me to Thailand and I just fell madly in love with everything there. The people, the landscape, and of course, the food. Everywhere you look, you'll see street vendors stir frying something in woks and I can still remember the delicious aroma. Once you've had a taste of authentic Thai food, there's really no going back. You'll constantly be on the hunt for really good Thai restaurants here in the US. Lucky for me, I found this gem not far from where I went to college and that became my favorite take out spot. One of the dishes they served was pad kra pao gai, which is essentially minced chicken stir fried in chilies and a sweet sauce, then mixed in with fresh Thai holy basil. The chilies and Thai basil do most of the heavy lifting in this dish so you really cannot substitute them out. The dish won't taste the same. I used red bird's eye chilies my husband grows in our garden. Don't be shy with the chilies, the sauce counteracts most of the heat and they taste absolutely delicious. Most Asian markets will sell Thai basil in bunches and the bird's eye chilies so they shouldn't be too hard to find.
As you can see from my picture, I got lazy halfway through cutting the chicken so it's chunkier than a standard kra pao. The texture should really be just a bit coarser than ground chicken and if you have some pent up aggression to sort out, you can use two butcher's knives to do this. If you're lazy like me, feel free to use ground chicken instead, but try to avoid ground chicken breast since ground chicken mixed with dark meat have better flavor and more moisture. This dish is best served on top of steamed jasmine rice or with a side of fried eggs.
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, minced
1 heaping tbsp minced garlic
8-10 red bird's eye chilies, stems removed and sliced diagonally
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce (or substitute for 2 tbsp fish sauce OR 2 tbsp soy sauce with 2 tbsp brown sugar)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 bunch Thai basil leaves, washed and stems removed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Directions
In a small mixing bowl, combine oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, and brown sugar.
In a wok over medium high heat, heat up the vegetable oil. Add sliced chilies and stir fry for 1 minute. Add garlic and stir fry for an additional 30 seconds, be sure to not burn the garlic.
Add in minced chicken and constantly stir until chicken is cooked through.
Pour in sauce mixture and stir well for another minute. Stir in Thai basil and turn off the heat.
Serve immediately.
Recipe adapted from: Cinnamon & Coriander
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