Phat kaphrao
Pad kaphrao, also spelled pad kaprow, pad kaprao, or pad gaprao, is one of the most popular Thai dishes in Thailand.
History
Phat kaphrao originated around the reign of King Rama VII, as Chinese immigrants in Thailand began selling it at restaurants. Before the invention of phat kaphrao, the most similar dish was phat bai horapha. These dishes were likely adaptations of the Chinese dish xiāngcài chǎo niúròu.Phat kraphao is considered a national dish in Thailand today but it only became popular in the country after 1957. Phat kaphrao was included in cookbooks in the late 1970s but the method of preparation was different. It involved marinating minced meat with liquor first, then seasoning the dish with only fish sauce and palm sugar.
Ingredients
Phat kaphrao consists of meat such as pork, chicken, beef, or seafood stir fried with holy basil and garlic. It is served with rice and optionally topped with fried eggs. The main seasonings are soy sauce, Thai fish sauce, oyster sauce, cane sugar, and bird's eye chili.Over time, phat kaphrao has evolved with the addition of other ingredients such as Chinese century eggs and Thai local vegetables, namely asparagus beans, baby corns, onions, carrots, banana peppers, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and coconut shoots. However, adding vegetables in phat kaphrao is also seen as an effort to reduce the cost of meat and increase profit margins on the part of food vendors.
Common variants may use chicken, pork, minced pork, pork livers, crispy pork belly, beef, minced beef, meatballs, prawns, squid, meat and seafood, seafood, Chinese century eggs, or mushrooms.