When it comes to the Thai dish Pad Grapao Moo, non-Thais tend to get a little confused as this dish once translated into the western alphabet comes with many different spellings — Pad Kra Pao Moo, Pad Ka Prao Moo, and Pad Ka Pow Moo to name just a few. Don’t worry though, all of these names point to the same tasty dish — Thai spicy chicken stir-fried with holy basil and, yes, it is delicious.
Of course, if you are not in Thailand and can’t just grab it at a local street food stall, or you are in Thailand but prefer to cook for yourself, you may want to know how to make Pad Grapao Moo and that, it’s easy too.
How to easily make Pad Grapao Moo
Ingredients
5-10 Thai chilies
1 spur chili (slightly milder than the typical Thai chilies
5 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
1.5 teaspoons of dark soy sauce
1.5 teaspoons of sugar
300 grammes of ground pork
1/2 cup of long beans or green beans
1/2 onion
Thai holy basil
Method
- Put the Thai chilies into a mortar and grind with the pestle until it is ground very fine.
- Add the garlic cloves to the mortar as well as the spur chili, and pound everything into a paste. Once in paste-like form, scoop the mixture into a small bowl and put to one side.
- Now it is time to make the stir fry sauce.
- Put the oyster sauce into a small bowl and add the soy sauce, fish sauce and dark soy sauce. Add a little water to the mixture and then add 1.5 teaspoons of sugar.
- Pour a small amount of vegetable oil into a frying pan or wok and add the garlic/chili paste mixture. Cook this mixture into it is slightly browned.
- Add the chicken to the wok, and stir it around to make sure it does not stick in clumps or burn.
- Add the soy sauce mixture.
- Add the beans and the onions, and stir until cooked.
- Turn off the heat and then add the basil. If you add it when there is no longer heat under the pan it will not turn black or go mushy.
- Toss it and serve with rice and a fried egg.
Pad Grapao Moo is one of the most popular dishes in Thailand and, while you can buy it at tens of thousands of street stalls all over the country, having made my own I can tell you nothing tastes like homemade. Try it. It’s cheap, easy and delicious.
Watch the video below for how Pailin from Pailin’s Kitchen makes hers.
And, if you like the look of this recipe, I highly recommend buying her cook book Hot Thai Kitchen: Demystifying Thai Cuisine. She cooks the authentic traditional Thai way and all of her recipes are amazing.
You can also find a lot more tasty recipes from Pai on her Hot Thai Kitchen website.