r/ThaiFood

My body needed this tonight. I truly missed freshly caught seafood in Thailand….😭

My new favorıte comfort food

Made Pad Krapao Moo Kai Dow (ผัดกะเพราหมูไข่ดาว) tonight.
Everyone thinks Pad Thai is the most popular dish, but in Thailand it's Pad Krapao — stir-fried meat with holy basil.
What I used:
• Pork, garlic, 6 green Thai chilies (my portion was the mild version with just black pepper), 1.5 cups fresh holy basil from my backyard
• Kai Dow on top — non-negotiable. I like mine with extra crispy lacy whites
One thing I learned posting this on Facebook — most Thai restaurants outside Thailand have to use Thai sweet basil because holy basil is so hard to find. Super lucky to have it growing in the backyard. The peppery/minty aroma really does complement the chili heat in a way sweet basil doesn't.
I made 2 boxes — extra spicy (green chilies) and mild (black pepper).
The Kai Dow trick I do: separate the white and fry it first until crispy, then drop the yolk back in the middle. Best of both worlds.
Happy to share the exact measurements I used if anyone wants them!

Homemade seafood som tam

Minced beef, shallots, bell peppers, holy basil, and lot and lots of garlic and Thai chillies 🙂

Sometimes I forget how much I love Pad Thai!

Such a comforting and filling dish! ❤️

Thai style congee with all the fixings.

It also doubles as late night drunk food after RCA.

I tried nearly a dozen places in my area and only one seems to truly nail it. Everyone else tends to not fry the rice, add spice etc. They usually serve super moist/yellow rice with pineapple and chicken, where as the pictured place fries the rice and packs with flavor.

At this point I'd prefer not to drive so far and spend over $20 to get my fix, so trying to figure out how to do it.

Would best practices be fish sauce + oyster sauce? Curry powder? Sesame oil?

When I go to the particular spot that serves up the photographed dish and ask for a level 4 on heat, they actually deliver heat. Every single other place will give me zero heat lol. Not even sure if this is a dish known to be served spicy or not, but I like it spicy. I don't really see chopped peppers though, does that mean they probably use some sort of paste?

If anyone has a recipe they are willing to share, I would greatly appreciate it. When I search Google I tend to find a lot of the same recipes, most use soy sauce etc. When reading into it more I tend to get steered away from using soy sauce for an authentic Thai version of this dish

turned out all right I reckon

Watched a video on YouTube last night about restaurant in bkk called phed mark.

I copied the recipe best I could. I usually make saucy but tonight I made dry and added chilli paste with black pepper, golden mountain soy sauce and black sauce.

Really nice.