In a former life (well, about 10 years ago) our Head Chef used to be a lawyer. When his firm asked him where he’d like to go on secondment, they were probably expecting him to choose Berlin or possibly Munich. His answer? Thailand. Living there for three months he used to eat in the food halls with all the locals every lunchtime and this became his go-to dish. Stick a fried egg on for extra authenticity!
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
1
Basmati Rice
2
Garlic Clove
1
Echalion Shallot
1
Red Chilli
1
Green Beans
250
British Pork Mince
1.5
Sweet Soy Sauce
(Contains Cereals containing gluten, Soya)
½
Fish Sauce
(Contains Fish)
½
Fresh Thai Basil
Boil 350ml of water (exactly) with ¼ tsp of salt and pour in your rice. Turn the heat to the lowest setting, place a lid on the pot and leave for 10 mins. Take off the heat and leave for another 10 mins. Tip: To make sure your rice is perfect don’t touch the lid until 20 mins are up!
Peel and very, very finely dice the shallot and the garlic. Very finely dice as much of the red chilli as you dare. Tip: If you can mash all these ingredients under the flat of your knife or whizz them in a processor all the better for the flavours.
Cut the tops and bottoms off the green beans (this is called ‘top and tailing!), then chop them in half. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan on high heat. Once hot add the green beans to the pan and stir fry for a couple of mins. Remove to a plate for later.
Turn the heat down to medium-high and add 1 tbsp of oil to the pan. Add the shallot, garlic and chilli with a little pinch of salt and cook for just under a minute.
Turn the heat back to high, add the pork into the pan and break up with your wooden spoon. Once the pork is cooked through add the green beans, the sweet soy sauce and the fish sauce. If the mixture is a little dry add 2 tbsp of water.
At this point, if you want to go super authentic, then fry an egg until it’s nice and crispy around the edges, with a nice runny yolk to pop on top of your rice.
Take your pork mixture off the heat and stir through a few tbsp of torn basil leaves. Serve with your rice and get stuck in. Aloy mak! (That’s ‘super tasty’ in Thai!)