… aka Nuer-pad-kra-prao.
This recipe is from a little Thai cookbook that I don’t remember buying, but it has a price tag on it from one of the supermarkets in London’s Chinatown. It’s called Thai Traditional Cooking – The Mother’s Recipes, by Maria Kanignan Saunders, aka Kanignan Suwannalai.
First, fry holy basil leaves in some oil for ten seconds to crisp them up, then remove them and fry garlic and chilli in the same oil for 25 seconds before adding thinly sliced beef, a dash of sugar and a fair amount of soy sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes and it’s done.
The recipe called for “10 small fresh chillies, chopped finely” and, feeling a bit scared, we went with five which turned out to be quite enough for us. This was in addition to the “1 big fresh chilli, cut into small slices”.
It was very quick to cook, and was rather tasty – it had to be with all that garlic, chilli and soy sauce! We served it with some jasmine rice and some plain steamed green beans which were a good counter-balance to the heat and saltiness of the main dish.
Wow – that sounds like a lot of chilli!I haven’t cooked with holy basil before so should look out for it.
Hehe Antonia, it was rather a lot. I think if we’d gone with the original recipe then we’d have had a hard time finishing it. Holy Basil is interesting; when raw it isn’t as fragrant or tasty as European basil, but releases its flavour when cooked.
Basil and beef is one super combination of flavours. Love this dish: looks yummy!
Fantastic – beef, garlic, soy and a helluva lot of chili… Exactly my kind of flavours!