Ga Prao Gai - Stir Fried Chicken with Holy Basil

Ga Prao Gai - กะเพราไก่

Stir fried chicken with holy basil

🌶🌶 (a little spicy!)

 
For this blog's first recipe, I want to teach you one of the most important Thai dishes! This is a recipe that Thai people like to order when they don't know what to eat. If you ask a Thai person "what would you like to eat?", I am sure that at least five or six people out of ten will say "Ga Prao Gai!". Not only it is tasty, but it's also fast and easy to make. I bought all of my ingredients from my neighborhood grocery store.

If you live outside of Thailand, you should be able to find all of these ingredients at your local Asian supermarket. So simple, so tasty, and so healthy!

Makes: 1-2 servings
Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 10 minutes
Total time : 20 minutes

holy basil, garlic, Thai chilies, and ground chicken

fish sauce, canola oil, and oyster sauce

Ingredients

Canola oil* - 1 tablespoon

1. Garlic - 5 cloves 
2. Red Thai chili - 2-3 (depending on how spicy you want this dish to be)
3. Ground chicken** - 100 grams (3.5 oz)
4. Fresh holy basil*** - a handful
5. Oyster sauce - 1 tablespoon
6. Fish sauce - 1 teaspoon
7. Sugar - a pinch (optional) 
8. Cooked rice - 1 cup
9. Egg - 1 per serving (optional)

NOTE: Holy basil is a local herb that is native to Southeast Asia. It can easily get confused with the sweet basil that is popular in Italian cuisine, but they are totally different in taste and scent (I will compare these two in another post). Make sure that you purchase the right kind of basil!

* See: Cooking Notes at the end of the recipe for tips and substitutions

Preparation

1. Peel and chop the garlic
2. Wash and pick the basil leaves from the stem
3. Remove the green stalk from the chilies and slice

NOTE: The thinner you slice the Thai chilies, the hotter they will be. Leave them whole or in large slices if you just want the bright color and slight flavor in your dish. Chop them thinner into tiny pieces if you want your dish to be spicier and more flavorful. 

peel and chop the garlic into thin slices

sliced chilies

Instructions

1. Heat vegetable oil in a medium skillet for 3 minutes over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic and chili to the heated oil, and fry it until the garlic turns slightly golden of (be careful - this process can irritate your nose and eyes because the chilies. If you don't want this dish to be too spicy, you can add the chili at the end when you add the basil to get a nice color).
3. Once the garlic is golden, add the chicken in the skillet. Use spatula to break and quickly stir the ground chicken (ground chicken is cooked very fast and will stick together)
4. Add oyster sauce and fish sauce before the chicken is fully cooked so that the meat is cooked with all the flavors. Continuously stir until the chicken is fully cooked.
5. Turn the heat to low and add the holy basil until the leaves shrink down and are cooked.
6. Add a pinch of sugar to taste. This is optional, but it helps to add a little sweetness to balance out all the flavors.
7. Serve over rice.
8. Top with a fried egg if desired.

 Sauté the chili and garlic in a little oil until the garlic is golden. Add the chicken and the oyster sauce.

Stir until the chicken is fully cooked.

Add the Thai holy basil.

Cook until the basil shrinks down.

Serve over rice.

Cooking Notes

* Canola oil can be substituted with vegetable oil.

** If you can't find ground chicken, you can cut chicken breast into small cubes. You can also substitute ground chicken with ground pork, which is another traditional way of preparing this dish. If made with pork, this dish is called "ga prao moo". "Gai" means "chicken" in Thai, and "moo" means "pork"! 

***If you are not able to find fresh holy basil, you can substitute it with 2 tsp of dried holy basil.

finished ga prao gai!

This dish is served over rice, and is usually topped with a fried egg. It can be eaten at any meal (even for breakfast!) and is one of the most popular dishes in Thailand. Enjoy!

Ga Pao Gai