Today, I made something pretty frickin’ awesome.
I would like to tell you that it was my very own creation, but that would be a blatant lie – it was inspired from a recipe that I found in my Thai food cookbook. I say inspired because I didn’t run out to purchase the three types of soy sauces it required (THREE!), or the holy basil that the recipe called for. Holy effin’ basil! Or the hom-daeng, for that matter. I just used some Italian basil and shallots that I found at Trader Joe’s.
I also didn’t use chicken because I didn’t have any ground, so I used pork. So. I will refrain from calling this a gai krapow, in fear of foodie wrath. What I WILL call it is basil donburi – because really, that’s what it is, a donburi: a one-bowl rice dish.
Anyway, back to how awesome this dish is. It’s got a very Thai feeling to it, if you know what I mean. Very herby and clean, but rich in savory flavor – you’ll quickly forget that it’s not made with Thai light soy sauce or hom-daengs. Cooking this dish made my home smell nice and clean, like fresh-torn basil (definitely a plus, because my house smelled like ass when I came home from my business trip).
So without further ado, I present with my recent addition to the donburi lab:
basil donburi – makes 2 servings
4 oz ground pork
2 cups fresh basil, torn
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 medium shallot, sliced
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
peanut oil
white rice
fried eggs
Like all stir-fry dishes, having your ingredients ready and lined up is key. Haven’t you read Kitchen Confidential? Your meez (mis en place)!
That said, you should probably have your sauce already stirred and ready: Whip the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar together and set aside.
Heat up penaut oil in a large frying pan, over meidum-high heat. Once hot, throw in garlic and shallots, and stir fry until clear.
Toss in ground pork and stir fry until it’s brown and crumbly.
Add in your sliced bell peppers, give it a quick stir fry, then throw in your pre-mixed sauce. Stir fry to combine…
Then throw in your basil and stir fry…
Until it wilts down like this.
Scoop contents over a bowl of white rice, and top with a fried egg. Nom with an ice-cold bottle of Singha.
