Pad Krapow Moo

How to make it

1. Rinse the jasmine rice in plenty of cold water, stirring with your hand until the water runs almost clear. Drain well in a sieve so the starchy, cloudy water doesn't go into the pot and make the rice sticky.
2. Put the rinsed rice in a pot with the measured water and bring it to a boil over high heat, until the surface bubbles evenly. The rice is cooked without salt, the way Thai rice is always cooked, because all the salt in the meal comes from the fish sauce and oyster sauce in the meat. ⏱ 4 min · passive
3. Put the lid on, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and let the rice cook for 12 minutes, until the water is fully absorbed and small steam holes appear on the surface. ⏱ 10 min · passive
4. Take the pot off the heat and let the rice steam, covered, for 10 minutes. Then gently fluff it with a fork until the grains are whole and separate. ⏱ 10 min · passive
   Chef's tip During the covered rest, moisture evens out from the sodden bottom grains to the drier ones on top. Fluff straight off the heat and you're left with a packed, damp base.
5. Stir the fish sauce and lime juice for the prik nam pla together in a small bowl, and fold in the thinly sliced chilies until they float freely in the liquid. Set the bowl aside.
6. Pound the garlic and bird's eye chilies for the meat in a mortar into a coarse, uneven paste with visible pieces. Pounding rather than chopping ruptures the cells, so both the garlic and chili aromas become markedly stronger in the oil.
7. Stir the fish sauce, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, palm sugar and water together in a bowl until the sugar is fully dissolved and the sauce is evenly dark.
8. Heat the oil for the meat in a wok or a large pan over high heat until it's shimmering and runs thin across the bottom. Fry the chili-garlic paste briefly, stirring, until it smells sharp and the garlic is just starting to take on color.
   Chef's tip At this heat garlic runs from fragrant to bitter in well under a minute. Get the pork in the moment the edges turn pale gold and the smell sharpens — waiting for real colour is already too late.
9. Add the ground pork and fry over full heat for 6-8 minutes, breaking it up with the spoon and pressing it out against the pan. The meat should be cooked through with no pink patches, and the edges should be brown and crispy.
   Chef's tip 700 g is a lot of meat: spread it out and leave it undisturbed a minute at a time. Constant stirring keeps the surface wet with released juice and it turns grey. A dull bubbling instead of a sharp sizzle means it's stewing — raise the heat or split it into two batches.
10. Pour the sauce into the hot pan and let it boil hard for 2 minutes, until the liquid has reduced to a thin, glossy glaze that clings to the meat instead of pooling at the bottom.
    Chef's tip Pour the sauce down the side of the pan so it hits bare hot metal and boils instantly, and scrape the browned crust off the bottom into it. Tipped straight onto the meat, it cools the pan and the pork sits in liquid.
11. Take the pan off the heat and fold the holy basil leaves into the hot meat, until they've just wilted and smell peppery. They mustn't cook further, or they'll lose their sharpness and turn dark.
12. Heat the oil for the eggs in a smaller pan over high heat until the surface shimmers and a drop of egg white sizzles up immediately.
13. Crack an egg into the hot oil and fry it for 2 minutes, spooning oil up over the white, until the edge is crispy and golden brown and the yolk is still runny. Lift the egg out with a slotted spoon and repeat with the remaining three eggs.
    Chef's tip The oil drops in temperature every time a cold egg hits it. Wait until the surface shimmers again between eggs, otherwise the white won't puff up — it turns greasy and rubbery instead of crispy at the edge.
14. Give each flat plate a mound of the steamed rice, spoon the basil-tossed meat alongside the rice, and place a crispy fried egg on top of the meat. Put the bowl of prik nam pla on the table so everyone can drizzle the sharp fish sauce over their own plate. Eat the dish by breaking the yolk and mixing the egg, meat and rice together on the plate.