Also Phat kaphrao, Pad kra pao, Holy basil stir-fry
Minced pork or chicken stir-fried hard with garlic, bird's eye chilli and holy basil, over rice with a crisp fried egg.
What makes it pad kaphrao
Holy basil, added at the very end.
Garlic and chilli pounded together and fried until fragrant.
Over rice with khai dao — an egg fried in hot oil until the edges crackle.
Where it comes from
Thailand's everyday one-plate meal: cooked in a minute over a fierce flame, and on the menu at almost every street stall. It's often what people order when they can't decide.
Kaphrao is holy basil — peppery and clove-scented, quite unlike the sweet Thai basil in a green curry. Swapping one for the other is the commonest complaint about it abroad, along with the onions, beans and carrots purists leave out.