To continue with my Thai dish escapades for Weekend Herb Blogging, here’s another variation of pork stir fry with red curry paste. Most red curry recipes call for ading coconut milk to the dish. While I love using coconut milk in my dishes, somehow the combination of coconut milk and red curry paste does not suit well with my taste. I love red curry as it is, stir fried with meat and with lots of vegetables.

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For this recipe, I added some green beans to the stir fry and finished it off with the addition of Thai basil from our garden. There are three common Thai basil varieties that are commonly used in Thai cooking. These are bai horapa (Thai or anise basil), bai gka-prow (holy basil) and bai maeng-lak (lemon basil). The most popular in the west is the Thai basil with an anise/licorice-like flavor, and is also popular in Vietnamese and Laotian cuisine.

Pork and red curry stir fry with Thai basil

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300 grams thinly-sliced pork strips
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp sugar
5 clove garlic, finely chopped
50 grams green beans, cut into 2″ pieces
5 or more basil leaves

Heat oil in wok and add the red curry paste. Add the chopped garlic, mix for several seconds then the meat and sugar. Stir fry till meat is done. Add 1/4 cup water and scrape the paste that stuck to the pan. Adjust flavor for saltiness, sweetness or hotness (these flavors should be balanced). Add the beans and mix a few times till beans are half done. Add the basil last and mix 3-5 times. Serve with rice.

Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting WHB this week.