Ground Beef Stir-Fry with Holy Basil and Fried Egg (Pad Gaprao Neua)

If I had to pick a national dish of Thailand, this would be it. It’s a simple stir-fry that features the flavour of holy basil. Holy basil is hard to find here, but at my parents’ house in Thailand it grows like weeds! There are holy basil plants literally sprouting up from the cracks in the pavement, wherever the seeds fall so this dish reminds me very much of my mother’s abundant home garden. Holy basil is nearly impossible to find in Canada, but the good news is that good old Italian basil works fantastically as a substitute and has a close enough flavour that it satisfies my cravings just fine. Thai basil, if you can find it, will also be delicious though the flavour will be quite different. A Thai-style fried egg is a classic accompaniment, and a must-have if you ask me. What makes them Thai-style is the fact that they’re fried in a lot of oil to get crispy, browned bubbly edges. I’ve provided 2 different methods for frying the eggs, depending on the desired doneness of the yolk. This recipe is the traditional version of this pad gaprao, which is very simple, with no vegetables and seasoned simply with fish sauce and sugar. More modern versions include vegetables such as onions and long beans and involve more complex seasonings such as oyster sauce and dark soy sauce.