Pad Krapao Moo Saap: Thai Street Food Classic
Fiery, fragrant, and fast

Pad Krapao is a staple comfort meal found all over Thailand. Whether walking through night markets in Bangkok or local towns, you will hear the rhythmic clattering of woks frying this exact dish. It is a cornerstone for anyone exploring Thai recipes at home.

Ingredients

For 2 servings · Prep 10 min · Cooking 10 min

• 300 gground pork (with a bit of fat for flavor)
• 40 gfresh holy basil leaves (Bai Krapao, available in Asian grocery stores)
• 5 clovesgarlic
• 4–6red Thai bird's eye chilies (available in Asian grocery stores)
• 1.5 tbspoyster sauce (available in Asian grocery stores)
• 1 tbsplight soy sauce
• 1 tspdark sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis or dark thick soy sauce)
• 1 tspfish sauce
• 0.5 tspsugar
• 2 tbspcooking oil
• 60 mlvegetable oil for frying the eggs
• 2eggs

Method

1. Peel the garlic cloves, roughly slice the chilies, and pound both together in a mortar into a coarse paste.
   2 mins
2. For the fried eggs (Kai Dao), heat 60 ml of oil in a wok over high heat. Crack the eggs in one at a time and fry until the edges turn bubbly and crispy while the yolk remains runny. Remove and drain on paper towels.
   3 mins
3. Discard excess oil and reheat the wok with 2 tbsp of fresh oil over medium-high heat. Add the pounded chili-garlic paste and stir-fry until fragrant.
   1 min
4. Add the ground pork, breaking it apart with a spatula. Stir-fry over high heat until the meat is almost cooked through.
   2–3 mins
5. Pour in oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar. Toss everything rapidly over high heat to coat and glaze the meat.
   1 min
6. Turn off the heat immediately. Toss in the fresh holy basil leaves and let them wilt gently in the residual heat.
   30 secs

Tip

Always seek out genuine holy basil (Bai Krapao) rather than Italian basil or sweet Thai basil (Horapa). Cookshops from street corners to coastal spots in Phuket rely on its signature peppery bite.

Ordering it on holiday

On any trip to Thailand, you will find cook-to-order stalls serving this dish, including street stalls in Chiang Mai. Expect to pay around 50 to 70 THB per plate at local stalls.

Plate over warm steamed jasmine rice, crowned with the crispy fried egg and a side of chili-fish sauce (Prik Nam Pla), just like you would get on Koh Samui. Discover more inspiration in our all recipes overview.