The very first night I had in Thailand on my first visit (in 1991) I ate Pad kaphrao gai - stir-fried holy basil with chicken - at a street stall in Chinatown, Bangkok. It was amazing and ridiculously hot (I thought I had good chile tolerance). The combo of heat, garlic, fish sauce and the earthy, herbaceousness of the herb just seemed perfect. In pretty much any Thai restaurant here in Australia it won't be made with the correct basil. Maybe it will be Thai basil (called Horapa and used in curries in Thailand) or sweet basil. It will also be not hot enough, be sweet and generally be shit. Actually, speaking with Andy Ricker, a Thai food authority, even in Thailand things have changed since I was there. In general, their food has become sweeter and uses MSG water instead of fish sauce (yuk!).
The right herb is called kaphrao and gets translated as Holy basil. It is also the same as Tulsi, although there are many varieties of Tulsi around.
The version I make is simple:
In a very hot wok or pan add veg oil (or lard/duck fat/schmalz), add finely sliced garlic, as many birdseye chiles as you like, then the thinly sliced or minced meat (chicken, beef or pork are traditional). You can also use mushroom, eggplant or firm tofu as a vego option. Stir fry until everything it's almost cooked, add the basil leaves and flowers stripped from the stems and the fish sauce (or soy if you're vego) stir until the basil is well wilted and serve immediately on hot Jasmine rice. It's often served with a crispy fried egg (runny yolk) on top.
