Ground chicken stir-fried with a pounded chili-garlic paste, a salty-sweet soy and oyster sauce, long beans and a big handful of basil, served over jasmine rice with a crispy-edged fried egg on top.

Ingredients

For the chili-garlic paste

• 2 Thai chilies, or to taste
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 spur chili or other mild red pepper, chopped

For the sauce

• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1½ tsp black soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1½ tsp sugar

For the stir fry

• 300 g coarsely ground chicken
• ½ small onion, diced
• ½ cup long beans, cut into short pieces
• 1½ cups holy basil leaves, loosely packed
• Vegetable oil, as needed

For serving

• 2–3 eggs (1 per person)
• Jasmine rice
• Green onions, thinly sliced
• Toasted sesame seeds
• Fresh basil leaves
• Lime halves
• Prik nam pla (optional): fish sauce, a squeeze of lime juice, chopped Thai chilies and chopped garlic, mixed together

Instructions

1. Pound the Thai chilies into a fine paste.
2. Add the garlic and spur chili and pound into a rough paste.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, black soy sauce, water and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
4. Heat a little oil in a wok or large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chili-garlic paste and sauté until the garlic starts to turn golden.
5. Add the chicken and toss until it’s no longer in big clumps. Pour in the sauce and keep tossing until the chicken is almost cooked.
6. Add the onion and long beans and toss until the chicken is cooked through.
7. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the basil. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
8. For the eggs, heat about 1 cm (⅜ inch) of oil in a small nonstick pan or wok over medium-high heat. Once the oil is very hot, especially if you like a runny yolk, crack in an egg and fry until the edges are browned and bubbly. Repeat with the rest.
9. Serve the stir fry over rice and top each bowl with a fried egg. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the egg, scatter green onions alongside and finish with a few basil leaves and a lime half. Drizzle a little prik nam pla over the egg if you like.

Notes & substitutions