Archive for May, 2009
Shed Some Tears and Sneeze a Little
May 8, 2009 4:33 PMYou might remember reading in the newspaper about an incident where a Thai restaurant in the UK was investigated by the police because they were frying chilli to make a dip and the smell was so intense that the residents thought there was a chemical gas attack nearby. The story may sound silly to you but in fact, Thai food can be lethal, with its pungent aroma and taste.
One common dish for Thais is kraphao kai khai dao (chicken stir-fried with holy basil leaves and fried eggs), which never fails to bring about a sneeze or two if you happen to be near the kitchen when the dish is being prepared. It also happens to be my dad’s favorite dish and he makes a killer version of it.
Dad just follows his instincts when he cooks so the following recipe is my approximation of each ingredients. You can adjust the sauces and ingredients according to what suits you and how spicy you want your kraphao to be.
Kraphao Kai Khai Dao
(Makes 6 servings)
- 600 g. chicken thighs
- 3 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 20 bird’s eye chillies (we were cooking a big batch and Dad loves his food super spicy! The spiciness also depends on the type of chilli you are using.)
- 3 big handfuls of holy basil leaves
- 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
- 2 Tbsp. mushroom soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. palm sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- fish sauce to taste
- 10 Tbsp. vegetable oil or peanut oil
- 6 eggs
Remove the bones from the chicken thighs and chop up the meat into small cubes. Marinate with the oyster sauce for about 10 minutes.
Using a mortar and pestle, crush together the garlic and chillies. Set aside.
In a small bowl, dissolve the palm sugar in water.
Heat half the oil in a wok over high heat until smoking hot. Put the chilli and garlic mixture into the wok and sauté.
Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry quickly. Season with fish sauce and mushroom soy sauce to your taste. (Dad used about 2 dashes of fish sauce.) Add the palm sugar water.
Add holy basil leaves and stir-fry quickly, just until the leaves start to wilt. Serve on a plate.
For the fried eggs, heat the remaining oil in a hot wok. Once the oil is smoking hot, fry the eggs one at a time until the whites turn crispy but the yolk is still runny. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Be careful, as the oil will splatter.
Serve the kraphao kai with jasmine rice and fried egg.
You can also make kraphao with minced pork, beef or even seafood. To make the dish more colorful, you can use different colors and sizes of chillies. (Usually, the bigger they are, the less spicy they are.) Slice the big ones at an angle and sauté with the chilli and garlic mixture…they make for a nice presentation.
If you have an outdoors kitchen, I suggest you make this outdoors so it won’t stink up your whole house. Otherwise, just be prepared to have an explanation ready if the cops show up at your house, accusing you of trying to poison the whole neighborhood!
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