Leeds restaurants: Jino's Thai Cafe chef shares his four-step stir fry recipe for a hit of flavour at home

After cooking up a storm all over the world, Nathan is back where it all started cooking up Thai food in his mum's restaurant - Jino's Thai Cafe.

He has shared the recipe for Pad Krapao Kai Dow - a popular street food dish made with rice, chicken, a crispy fried egg and lashings of basil.

“You’re not really Thai if you haven’t tried this dish”, Nathan said.

“It’s the most popular street food dish for local Thai people, guaranteed.

“You find it everywhere - on the train, the food courts in the mall, or your local street food vendor. It's the Thai equivalent of a quick sandwich and it always hits the spot”.

Nathan has shared his easy four-step recipe with the Yorkshire Evening Post, and the minced chicken can be swapped with vegan protein, such as soya protein.

The recipe is the perfect quick dinner for anyone looking for a hit of flavour.

“The flavour is a beautiful balance of spicy, sweet, salty and heavy on the garlic, with fresh basil aromas at the end,” Nathan added.

“It’s typically served on a bed of rice with a crispy fried egg - the egg always has to have a runny yolk.

“This dish has all the textures and flavours you could ever want in a dish and it's super easy to make.”

Ingredients

Serves four people

3-6 green chillies

5 cloves of garlic

Large bunch of basil leaves and half the stems

500g minced chicken (or other minced meat)

1 large onion (red or white)

150g fine beans (top and tail and cut into 1-2 cm sticks)

4 tablespoons oyster sauce (mushroom stir fry sauce to make it vegan)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 splashes of dark soy sauce

Splash of fish sauce (not essential, just a kick of umami)

Cooked rice

4 eggs (If you want to make it vegan, replace the egg with a nice slice of marinated silken tofu)

Method

Step One: Rice

Prepare the rice. In a rice cooker, in a pan, boil in the bag or my personal favourite - go to your local Asian takeaway and order rice.

Step Two: Prep

Asian cooking is very fast paced so the prep is important.

Chop, dice, cut and portion all of the ingredients so it’s ready to go in the pan.

To make the garlic chilli paste use a pestle and mortar, bash up the chilli, garlic and a few basil stems into a paste (or use a blender or chop it up super fine).

Step Three: The egg

To get that traditional crisp egg it’s all in the temperature of the oil. And lots of oil too. Veg oil is best.

Heat the oil over high heat in a non-stick pan, when it starts to slightly smoke, lower the heat to medium, wack in the eggs one by one.

Just before the white has cooked, spoon some of the hot oil over the yolk, then pop the egg on some kitchen towel while you make the rest.

Step Four: Stir fry

Use the remainder of the oil in the pan, about six tablespoons (add more if needed).

Add the chilli paste cooking over a medium heat. When it starts frizzing, count to five, then add your choice of mince and start cooking. Keep the mince/paste moving, like you would when making a bolognese.

When you can just about see everything is cooked though, add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, dark soy sauce, onion, green beans and a little water (or veg stock).

Bring all those flavours together and cook out the veg a little.

At this point taste the food and see if you need a little more soy or sugar.

When you feel the balance is right, add the basil last.

Give it a couple of mixes and it’s ready.

Step 5: Build

Rice, meat (or veg protein), egg on top (or silken tofu). Enjoy!

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