Street-Style Basil PorkBasil pork is asubiquitous in Thai food as cheeseburgers are in American food. This is a streetfood version, very different from the one I shared in 101Asian Dishes. This one is distinctly Thai with the use of Thai oystersauce, sweet soy sauce and cut green beans. No bell peppers, and way more gravyand richness. I love this version over hot jasmine rice with a fried runny eggon top.
Heat a heavy-bottomed 9- to 11-inch (23- to 28-cm) pan over high heat for about 1 minute to preheat.
Swirl in the oil, making sure to touch every inch of the pan.
When you see wisps of white smoke, add the ground pork and start to press down to spread it across the pan.
You want maximum coverage to use the pan’s surface area to start the browning.
Allow it to cook without stirring or breaking up the meat.
After about 1 to 2 minutes, the bottom of the pork will be light to medium brown.
Fold the pork over, making sure the raw side sears for another 2 minutes.
When the second side is light to medium brown, start breaking the pork into smaller bits.
Add the garlic, Thai chilies and chopped beans to the pan and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic starts to brown and the beans turn from leathery to bright green.
Stir in the chicken stock and use it to scrape up any delicious bits stuck to the pan.
The stock will boil and start to reduce.
Reduce the stock by half, stirring occasionally, for 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir in the sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and msg until well incorporated.
Let the sauce stay at a boil and continue to reduce until it thickens into a beautiful gravy.
Stir in the basil leaves during the last 30 seconds, but don’t let the sauce over-reduce; you want a decent amount of gravy left in the pan.