Stir-Fried Pork With Basil Leave

Stir-fried Pork with Basil Leave (Pad Gra Prao) is one of the most common street/household food in Thailand. It’s usually served as a quick one-dish meal eaten with white rice and usually topped with an extra fried egg. And since I have some Thai Sweet Basil left over from preparing the Thai Green Curry (recipe HERE), I decided use them for this stir-fried pork with basil leave to go with the curry.

Stuff Eggplant With Basil Pork mince - 塔香茄子肉

Another dish of the week using Thai Basil Leave(click link for more details). It can be treated as finger food or appetizer because of it's light content. You can easily get hold of Thai Basil Leave(it with purple-red flowers and fresh green foliage which offers an intense licorice aroma) in those vegetables stall in the wet market. The one selling in the Cold Storage is Sweet Basil which had a bigger leave and it's fragrant and taste will be different from Thai Basil Leave.


Raw Eggplant has a somewhat disagreeable taste, but when cooked, becomes tender and develops a rich, complex flavour and firm texture. Salting and then rinsing the sliced eggplant can also remove much of its bitterness. This is a spongy, mild-tasting vegetable that's meaty yet low in calories. You can either sever it with or without sauce dressing. It's all depend on individual taste. As for the sauce dressing, you can click on the Thai-style Basil Salad for it's sweet chilli sauce dressing.

Ingredients:
1 Large Purple Eggplant(Brinjal) 茄子
50g Pork Mince
4-6 Leave Of Thai Basil Leave(九层塔), finely chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Tablespoons Plain Flour
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Wash and cut the eggplant into halve, then slice them length-wide thinly to about 0.5cm thick.
2. Soak it in some lightly salted water or else it will oxidize and darken in colour.
3. Marinate the pork mince with chopped basil leave, sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch and set aside.
4. Coat 2 slices of eggplant with some plain flour then sandwich it with a thin layer of basil pork mince.(do not put too much filling inside, otherwise it will not be cooked with deep-frying)
5. Continue to sandwich the pork mince with the rest of the eggplant slices then let them in the fridge to infuse the favour for about 30 minutes before deep-frying.
6. Evenly coat the eggplant stuffing with some cornstarch on both side of the eggplant slices(set it aside for a few minutes before deep-frying, so that the flour will stick to the eggplant) and deep-fry it in medium hot oil until golden colour.
7. Drain and set aside. Blanch some extra basil leaves in hot oil, drained and crash it on top of the eggplants and serve with or with sauce dressing.

Thai-style Basil Chicken Salad

The most common Basil Leaves that found and used in Singapore is the Thai Basil Leave which can be used in a wide range of Thai, Vietnamese and other ethnic cuisine. It's spicy, licorice flavored shoots and leaves are used in salads, soups and curries.


For this salad dish, we are using Fresh Thai Basil Leaves for one of the sauce ingredients. The taste of this dish is kind of local Thai-style where it is sort of sweet and spicy. You can add in any fruits or vegetables that you prefer to make the salad base to go with the crispy chicken strips.

Ingredients:
1/2 Chicken Breast Fillets (1/2 边鸡胸肉)
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce (1 小匙酱油)
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine (1/2 汤匙花雕酒)
1 Teaspoon Cornflour(1 小匙玉米粉)
Some Pepper(少许胡椒粉)
2 Tablespoon Sweet Potato Flour (2 汤匙地瓜粉)
1 Tablespoon Cornflour (1 汤匙玉米粉)

Methods:
1. Wash and cut chicken fillet into 2cm wide strips then marinate with Soy Sauce, Cooking Wine, Cornflour and Pepper for at least 30 minutes or more.
将鸡胸肉洗净, 切2cm 宽条状, 然后加入酱油, 花雕酒, 玉米粉和胡椒粉调味至少30 分钟以上.
2. Coat the marinated chicken with the flour mixture(sweet potato flour + cornflour) and set aside for 5 minutes before deep-frying.
将腌好的鸡肉条沾混合好的地瓜粉和玉米粉, 然后放在一边等5分钟后才炸.( 这能防止粉从鸡肉上滑落)
3. Heat up half pot of oil and deep-fry the chicken strips in two batches until golden brown, drain and set side.
热半锅油, 把鸡肉条分成俩次炸成金黄色后, 捞起放在吸油纸上吸干油分.

Chilli Sauce:
2 Cloves Garlic, grated (2 颗蒜, 切末)
2 Small chilli, finely chopped (2 颗小辣椒, 切末)
8 Thai Basil Leaves, finely chopped (8 叶九层塔, 切末)
1 Teaspoon Chopped Spring Onion(1 小匙葱花)
2 Tablespoons Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce (2 汤匙泰式甜辣椒酱)
1.5 Tablespoon Lemon Juice (1.5 汤匙柠檬汁)
1 Tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce (1 汤匙鱼露)
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar (1 /2 小匙糖)
1 Tablespoon Drinking Water (1 汤匙食水)

Methods:
1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside for later used. (If you don't prefer hot, then don't add any small chilli or you can reduce to only using 1)
把全部酱料的材料放在一个小碗里搅拌均匀, 待用.( 如果您不会吃太辣, 就不要放小辣椒或只放一颗)

Salad Base: (optional)
1 Red Apple, shredded (1 个萍果, 切丝)
1 Japanese Cucumber, shredded (1 条日本小黄瓜, 切丝)
1 Small Carrot, shredded (1条小胡萝卜, 切丝)
6 Cherry Tomato, halves (6颗小番茄, 切半)
6 Lychee, remove seeds (6颗荔枝, 拨壳, 去种子)

Methods:
1. Mix all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl then set aside in the fridge until serve.
把全部的沙拉材料放在一个碗里搅拌均匀, 放进冰箱待用.
2. You can used any other fruits or vegetables that you prefer or in season.
你也可以用其他的水果蔬菜来代替.

Assemble:
1. Place salad mixture on a serving plate, top with half of the fried chicken strips then drizzle some chilli sauce over the chicken and salad.
首先把拌均匀的冷沙拉扑在大盘上, 然后放一般的炸鸡肉条, 接着均匀的淋上些辣椒酱.
2. Continue topping the rest of the chicken and drizzle the rest of the sauce around it.
之后继续放上剩余的鸡肉条, 再淋上些辣椒酱.

Notes:
You might not need all the sauce, so add the amount that you prefer. Or you can serve it as dipping sauce for the chicken strips without the salad.
你可以随自己喜好放多或少的酱料, 又或者你也可以用来沾不要淋上去.

This sauce is enough for 1 chicken breast without the salad.
这个酱料成分足够用一个鸡胸肉.