Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapow)
December 1st, 2009 | Thai Recipes | 39 Comments
When I was working in Beverly Hills, there is this Thai restaurant that my colleagues and I would always go to. One of my favorite dishes was its spicy basil chicken rice plate—perfectly steamed and fluffy jasmine rice coupled with ground chicken meat infused with aromatic Thai basil leaves. It was delicious, with fine balance of fiery hot and savory. I just loved that dish.
Now that I left the company, I often miss the basil chicken rice plate for my lunch. Living in Orange County, with no decent Thai restaurants within the 30 miles radius, I decided to learn making it myself. And so I did, and I learned well…(get Thai basil chicken recipe or gai pad krapow recipe after the jump)
There are many gai pad krapow recipes scattered on the internet but I attempted and adapted the basil chicken recipe at Temple of Thai. The beautiful picture pretty much sealed the deal. It did not disappoint; it works and delivers the authentic flavors that I have been longing for. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Love this recipe? Stumble and share with your community!Ingredients:
10 oz boneless and skinless chicken thighs or chicken breast (ground)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
2 shallots (finely chopped)
1 1/4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 big bunch of Thai basil leaves (stems removed)
6 bird’s eye chilies (chopped and pounded with a mortar and pestle) or 1-2 fresh jalapeno cut into slivers
2 dashes ground white pepper
2 tablespoons oil
Method:
Add oil into a heated wok, follow by chopped garlic and shallots. Stir fry the garlic and shallots until aromatic, then add the chicken meat into the wok. Use the spatula to quickly stir-fry and break the ground chicken meat into small lumps. When the chicken meat changes color, toss in the chilies and the seasonings (fish sauce, palm sugar, and sweet soy sauce) and continue to stir-fry. Add in the basil leaves and do a few quick stirs until the basil leaves are wilted and you smell the exotic fragrance of the basil leaves. Sprinkle two dashes of pepper powder into the dish, do a final stir, dish out and serve immediately.
Cook’s Notes:
- If you love Thai food, you should check out authentic and popular Thai recipes on Rasa Malaysia.
- You can also serve this spicy basil chicken as lettuce wraps, it tastes great with fresh lettuce and Thai sweet chili sauce.
Related Recipes:
Subscribe to RASA MALAYSIA by RSS
Follow RASA MALAYSIA on Twitter
Join RASA MALAYSIA on Facebook
Oooh yes,I’ve noticed that the smaller the chicken the more I enjoy it. I will certainly put this recipe to use as soon as possible.
I can “smell” the fragrance of this dish from here by using my imagination!!! Yummy yummy!!!
great recipe…chicken and basil is such a great flavor combination!
I absolutely love this dish too. And those Thai restaurants I have been too either have it too greasy (excessive use of chili oil) or too salty.
That looks so authentic and yummy…I’ll buy the basil try it this weekend. Ever since my friend Pieter gave me kecap manis, I’ve used it in many dishes.
Which Thai restaurant in/near Beverly Hills did you go to?
Boraan at http://www.boraan.com.
Were looking at this food for a prject and it is veryy………………………… Interesting… Weird
I used to live in Bangkok; my favorite is Sanam Luang in Hollywood :-)
i fell in love with Thai food when I was in Sydney.. I needed to eat Thai food at least once or twice a week, but I never did cook them.. I should try since this is easy :D and yummmmyyy !! Served with rice and sunny side up egg! * oh hungry… *
Looks so good. Makes me think to do a larb play on the recipe and add roasted rice powder.
Oh…. now i know what to do with the overgrown basil tree i have… THANKS!!!
Delicious. Where was this yummy recipe when I had an overabundance of basil this summer? :)
mmmmmmmmm, that looks very simple
basil can be replaced by spnich and would taste great as well.
can you use jaggery to substitute for the palm sugar? or some other substitute?
This is one of my absolute favorites when I lived in Thailand: though usually with pork (moo) as opposed to chicken. Incredibly delicious over rice, or with the Thai rice crackers!
Mmm. Now I’m homesick.
I love this stir fry! Extra spicy for me please. :) Just a couple of tablespoons of this and a bowl of steamed rice and I call it a meal. But make sure I have a big tall glass of water near by. LOL If you can get holy basil it would even be super delicious. It’s what they used in Thailand. Holy basil is one of my favorite herbs. The aroma is a lil lemony and peppery and compliments well with spicy stir-fried dishes like this one. I have a picture of my holy basil plant that I used when I made a classic Cambodian dish called Fiery Stir-Fried Lemongrass Quail.
http://khatiya-korner.com/blog/2009/09/11/fiery-stir-fry-lemongrass-quail/
Khatiya – thanks for sharing the link. Not sure where can I find holy basil here.
Oh yum! On a chilly, wet day such as this, I would love to cozy up to this spicy dish!
looks delicious, I’m cooking it this weekend – can you tell me how many that recipe will serve?
thanks,
Serve 3-4 people.
perfect thank you -power out so cooking by candle light on a (gas) aga
Yum, imagining how basil-y and wonderful it’d be with a bowl of rice!
this is one of my favourite thai dishes! doesnt look spicy but it sure is hot!
never attempted to make it on my own cos i guess pg’s quite blessed with thai food restaurants :)
That looks like a really nice dish Bee! I understand why you’ve been craving it. That’s the perfect lunch for any day of the week. I’ll be making soon! Thanks for sharing!
(4 exclamation points in one comment. I think i exceeded my quota! :)
hello it is my first time visiting here, it’s a great site with a great recipes, thanks for share.
This recipe sounds fantastic! I love Thai food. Where I live, any Thai restaurant that I have been to seems to skimp on the basil. I always wind up disappointed when I order this dish because I expect to see the picture you have here….big pieces of delicious basil sitting on top of the dish waiting for me to eat them up. When the actual dish arrives, I usually have to dig to find even one bit of basil! I will definitely be making this dish at home! Thanks for sharing.
This look really great. I also like it extra spicy.
You can find holy basil in Little Sigone markets.
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
basil is pretty much my favourite herb so i definitely love this! will try and make it this week as my meals are starting to seem pretty boring and i’m craving thai food :)
i cooked this the same day you posted it – it was awesome!
This one is next on my list. I made Kung Pao chicken today for lunch and loved it as did my guests! Thanks for sharing your recipes. Whatever I have tried from your website has always turned out delightful.
great posting.. that’s a really good
I’ve tested it today and it was pretty fine(I’m in love with sweet basil), thank you for your recipe.I’ve put an adpation of it on my website in french.
Regards,
Mr Pomme
Thank you for trying this recipe. The basil chicken looks great. :)
Holy basil should be used or it will be called Phat haropa instead.
Thanks for your information!
Thank you for the delicious recipe! I love thai food and I had this dish at a thai restaurant before but it was way too salty. Your recipe is so simple and easy to make and it has just enough flavor to satisfy my taste buds. Thank you! =)