25 MINUTES THAI BASIL BEEF (PAD GRA PROW) 🇹🇭

Today I’m sharing with you a recipe that’s easy and fast to make yet so delicious! Who knows, maybe you can save some extra cash for not dining out as often :P

Though I love to cook at home, I also do enjoy eating out and having a good dining experience. In fact, one of my go-to cuisines to eat out is Thai food. When I lived in Toronto, I lived just 2 blocks away from PAI, which is an awesome Thai restaurant in downtown and I would go there whenever I craved Thai food. There are 4-5 main dishes you’ll find me ordering; green/panang curry, khao soi, roast duck, or pad gra prow. I plan to share recipes for all these dishes in the future. So, to kick off the beginning of our Thai series, I would like to first introduce to you Pad Gra Prow also known as Thai basil beef. For those who have not tried this dish before, it’s known to be the king of street food in Thailand and it’s flavourful, fragrant, and juicy. It’s absolutely delicious!

What makes this dish fragrant is the Thai basil used in this dish. This is unlike your common Genovese basil that you use in Italian cooking. Thai basil is quite unique - it has an anise and slightly spicy flavour. The best way to describe it is if you combine regular basil, coriander, mint, and star anise into one herb. It is definitely so worth the extra effort in hunting this Thai basil down! I actually planted some on my balcony this morning as we speak so now I can just quickly pick those out whenever I want to use them! Woohoo! :D

Not only is it delicious, it’s so easy and fast to make! You will be quite surprised that you can make restaurant quality food at home in just 25 minutes.

I hope you enjoy!

-Ari Yori

25 MINUTES THAI BASIL BEEF (PAD GRA PROW) RECIPE

prep time: 10-15 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

portion: 2-3 servings

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INGREDIENTS

1 lb (450g) sirloin steak (rumpsteak or entrecôte), sliced thinly in small pieces against the grain

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced

6 cloves of garlic, finely minced

2.5 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1.5 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp corn starch

large handful of Thai basil leaves

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

cilantro for garnishing

lime for garnishing

DIRECTIONS

1. If you cannot find already thinly pre-cut beef. place your steak into the freezer for 3-4 hours to aid in cutting the beef as thinly as possible. Make sure you cut the beef against the grain not in the direction of the grain. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the beef slices, 1 tsp of vegetable oil and 1 tsp of corn starch.

2. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, remaining corn starch, and sugar. Set it aside.

3. Heat your wok on medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp of oil. First, sear your beef slices until they are just brown on the outside but not fully cooked through. Set the beef aside into a bowl.

4. Drizzle 1 tbsp of vegetable oil onto the unwashed wok and sauté the red peppers and onions and then the minced garlic. Cook until the onions are caramelized.

5. Add the beef back into the wok and the soy sauce mixture. Stir-fry for 30 seconds to a minute. Turn off heat and right afterwards add the Thai basil and gently mix until the basil just wilts.

6. Add salt and pepper to your desired taste. Garnish with cilantro and serve with jasmine rice and drizzle some fresh lime juice over the beef.

PRO TIPS

• Don’t over cook the beef because it can make your beef a bit dry. Since the beef is thinly sliced, it shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes to fully cooked through.