Hand-Chopped Pork Kra Pao with Crispy Fried Basil

Method

1. Cut the pork into 1 cm strips, then chop with two knives until the pieces are a little bigger than grains of rice. Cut the beans into 1 cm lengths and roughly pound the garlic, chilies and shallot in a mortar. Mix the oyster sauce, fish sauce, light soy, dark soy, palm sugar and stock to make the sauce. For the prik nam pla, slice the chilies thinly and soak them in the fish sauce and lime juice.

   Add in this stepPork shoulder (in one piece) 260 gLong beans or green beans 60 gGarlic (cloves) 6Thai bird's eye chilies 3Shallot (or a little red onion) 1Oyster sauce 1 tbspFish sauce 1 tspLight soy sauce (or Thai seasoning sauce) 1 tspDark soy sauce (for colour) ½ tspPalm sugar (or light brown sugar) 1 tspChicken stock (or water) 3 tbspThai bird's eye chilies (for prik nam pla) 1Fish sauce (for prik nam pla) 2 tspLime (for prik nam pla) ½

2. Pour the frying oil into a 28 cm wok and heat over medium-high heat. Add the garnish basil leaves, patted completely dry, and fry for 30 sec. The oil spits, so hold a lid in front of you like a shield. When the leaves turn translucent and the sizzling dies down, lift them onto kitchen paper.

   Add in this stepCooking oil (for frying and stir-frying) 100 mlHoly basil (for the fried garnish) 8 g

   medium-high heat

3. In the same oil over medium-high heat, crack in the eggs and fry them, spooning hot oil over the top. Take them out when the whites have crisp, brown, lacy edges and the yolks are still runny. Fry 2 at a time in 1 batch(es), 2 min in total.

   Add in this stepEggs 2

   medium-high heat

4. Pour the oil into a heatproof bowl, leaving 1½ tbsp in the wok. Fry the pounded garlic, chilies and shallot over medium-high heat for 30 sec, and move on the moment the smell hits you. Browned garlic turns bitter.

   medium-high heat

5. Spread the chopped pork across the wok and leave it untouched for 30 seconds so a brown crust forms underneath, then stir-fry with the beans over high heat for 4 min. It is ready when no pink remains and you can see golden, crusty bits here and there.

   high heat

6. Pour the sauce around the edge of the wok so it sizzles, and stir-fry over high heat for 1 min. When the sauce clings glossily to the meat instead of pooling, turn off the heat, add the fresh basil and toss just until it wilts.

   Add in this stepHoly basil (or Thai basil) 30 g

   high heat

7. Put rice on plates, spoon on the kra pao, add a fried egg and scatter the fried basil on top. Serve the prik nam pla in a small dish to spoon over as you like.

   Add in this stepHot cooked jasmine rice 400 g