**The Art of Making Pkaa: A Simple yet Delicious Thai Dish**

When it comes to making delicious Thai dishes, there are many options to choose from. However, one dish that stands out for its simplicity and flavor is Pkaa. This modern version of the classic Thai sauce has been perfected by the chef in this article, and we're excited to share the recipe with you.

**Preparation is Key**

Before we dive into the recipe, it's essential to prepare our ingredients. Our chef emphasizes that all your ingredients need to be ready to go at Arms Reach. This means having everything measured out and prepared before starting to cook. "It'll be delicious either way," says our chef, "so just make sure you've got everything ready to go." In this case, our chef is using a cut-up steak as the protein of choice, but it's worth noting that this recipe can be used with chicken or other proteins as well.

**Searing the Protein**

With all our ingredients prepared, we're ready to start cooking. Our chef begins by searing the protein in a pan over medium heat. "There's no need to clean it unless there's burnt bits on it," they explain. This is because the goal is to get a nice crust on the outside of the protein without overcooking it. For our steak, this means just 30 seconds to 1 minute per side. If you're using chicken or another protein, adjust the cooking time accordingly.

**Adding Aromatics**

Once our protein is seared, we can add some aromatics to the pan. Our chef begins by adding a few cloves of minced garlic. "I like to sauté my garlic a little more," they explain. This helps bring out the flavor and aroma of the garlic without burning it. We also add in some chopped onions, which are optional but add a nice element of crunch to the dish.

**The Magic Happens**

With our aromatics added, we can now introduce the star ingredient: chili paste. Our chef notes that if anyone is sensitive to chilies, they might want to exit the room. However, for most people, this will be just right. We add a generous amount of chili paste to the pan and stir it in with the garlic and onions.

**Adding Holy Basil**

The final step is adding holy basil to the pan. This is where the magic happens, according to our chef. "Holy basil is not that strong in terms of aroma," they explain, "so you really need to treat it more like a vegetable than a herb to get that aroma." We add a generous amount of fresh holy basil leaves to the pan and stir them in with the chili paste.

**The Result**

And there we have it: a delicious Thai sauce made with just a few ingredients. Our chef notes that this recipe is perfect for using up any odd ends of vegetables you've got on hand. "It's not traditional," they say, "but hey, it's good!" The final result is a flavorful and aromatic sauce that pairs perfectly with beef or chicken.

**The Chicken Version**

For our chicken version, we follow the same recipe but use boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of steak. We cook the chicken until it's browned on all sides, then add in the chili paste and holy basil just like before.

**Adding an Egg**

One of the best parts of this dish is adding a fried egg on top. Our chef notes that this is optional but highly recommended. The runny yolk adds a rich and creamy texture to the dish that's hard to beat.

**The Final Touches**

And there we have it: a delicious Thai dish made with ease. Our chef notes that words fail them when it comes to describing how good this dish is. "It's no wonder that Pkaa is one of the most popular Thai dishes of all time," they say.

**Resources**

For those who want to try this recipe for themselves, there are several resources available. The full recipe can be found on hotti kitchen.com. Our chef also encourages their Patreon members to support the show and provides exclusive content and access to them.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, making Pkaa is a simple yet delicious Thai dish that's perfect for anyone looking to try something new. With just a few ingredients and some basic cooking skills, you can create a flavorful and aromatic sauce that pairs perfectly with beef or chicken. So why not give it a try? Your taste buds will thank you!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSOA welcome to hutai Kitchen one of my most popular recipes on YouTube and on hotai kitchen.com is pkaa or holy basil stir fry that everyone loves now I've shown you two recipes of patapa in the past one with ground chicken and another one with ground beef that's more of an old school style today I want to share not just another recipe but a formula that will allow you to make any kind of hkaa you want because I make pkaa all the time with all sorts of things any kind of protein including any cold leftover protein that might be lingering in my fridge and today I'm going to show you how to work with both of those it's such a great trick to have in your pocket because it's a really quick and easy way to upgrade your stir fries and I follow the same formula every time it works every time so this might just be the last PKA PW recipe you will ever need let's get get started first let's make the sauce I'm going to combine some oyster sauce soy sauce and fish sauce these three are what I call the Trinity of stir fry sauces I'm also going to add some Thai black soy sauce for a richer color and flavor you can also use dark soy sauce for this and then some sugar and a little water to help the sugar dissolve so that when we pour it out of the Bowl the Sugar doesn't settle and stick to the bottom so you want to make sure you stir that up now for the garlic chili paste which is the base of pkaa I'm going to start with some Spicy Thai chilies put as many as you can tolerate here and pound that into a fine paste because we don't want chunks of this potent stuff and I like to cover it with my hand initially because I don't want this jumping into my eyes ask me how I know then I'm going to add some mild red chilies that I've cut up more on this in a bit and some garlic and now I'm going to pound it into a rough paste you can even make a large batch of this paste in a food processor and then freeze it in portions to make this quick dish even quicker a quick note on the chilies we want to add a lot of red chilies to this for the right flavor but how many of those are hot and how many are mild can be up to you this is where we adjust the Heat this is why we're adding two different types for the hot ones Thai chilies or bir ey chilies are great for the mild ones in Thailand we use spur chulis which look like this it's a little Frosty cuz I keep them Frozen in but this can be anything you've got access to that's smild and it's going to vary from wherever you live um here I can also find these little bell pepper type things that work really well worst case regular red bell pepper will also work it's a little more watery than ideal but it's not a problem the most classic version of pkaa use is ground meat and I showed that in my last two videos but today I want to demonstrate with something more common one any kind of RAW Protein that you have represented today by bone skinless chicken thigh but this could be chicken breast can be pork tenderloin anything you want and two leftover cooked protein that you might have in your fridge represented today by this cold steak that I made yesterday this could be roast turkey leftovers it could be rotisserie chicken it could be um pork chops really anything you want it could even be leftover roasted vegetables it's not a protein but it'll still work if you want to do tofu it is possible I do have some tips specific to tofu which I will talk about in the blog post linked below all right and here is how you prep your proteins for the RAW Protein simply cut it into small bite-sized pieces don't make it chunky for pkaa you want small pieces of meat but if you're dealing with lean protein like chicken breasts you also don't want to make it too thin so it doesn't overcook so quickly I'm going to marinate this simply with a splash of fish sauce to give it some flavor and give it a good mix for cooked protein for for this steak I'm just going to trim off the fat cap here but you don't have to and then the meat again I'm going to cut it into bite-sized pieces that are not too chunky and because this is presumably already seasoned there's no need for us to marinate this with anything and by the way if your cooked protein is already quite salty to start you might want to go light on the sauce if you're starting with RAW Protein I like to steer it off first in a very hot walk or Skillet it is not necessary but this gives us some nice Browning for extra flavor and if you like to meal prep you can cook all your Meats off in advance keep it in the fridge and your weeknight meals will be even faster now the basil today is an auspicious day because I found real holy basil to show all of you this ladies and gentlemen is called gpra hence the name of this dish Pat GAA now this is not available in most places in North America including Vancouver where I live I had to drive 1 hour through a rainstorm to get this for you well Adam drove I just sat in the car but anyway um it is most of the time very very difficult to find so if you don't have it regular Italian basil is my preferred substitute but Thai Basil which is much more available you can find this at most Asian markets is also fine but I do think Italian basil is a closer flavor match but doesn't matter it'll be delicious either way this is going to go really quickly so all your ingredients need to be ready to go at Arms Reach okay I'm going to celebrate celebrate demonstrate and celebrate I'm going to demonstrate with my cutup steak here but it is exact same process with the chicken or anything else that you're using all right okay let's go if you use your walk to se your protein there's no need to clean it unless there's burnt bits on it you want to get rid of that but otherwise it is fine turn the heat back on just medium for now because I'm going to sauté my garlic a little more oil and I don't want the heat to be too high or it will burn my garlic chili paste too fast okay if anyone is sensitive to chilies you might want to tell them to exit the roof room at this point don't exit the room please okay so just a few minutes until you start to see bits of garlic turn golden okay I can see now some bits of my garlic is starting to turn golden I'm going to add some chopped onions this this optional you don't have to add anything or you can add other kinds of chopped vegetables I do like pkaa to have some element of crunch uh chopped long beans is great but this is a great place to use up any like odd ends that you've got of random vegetables in your fridge it's not traditional but hey it's good okay just give my onions just like 30 seconds or so cuz I don't want them to be super soft okay I'm going to up the heat and now I'm going to go in with my steak and my sauce and so if you didn't bother precooking pre-searing your protein you can just add it in raw right now and just keep cooking until it's done you're not going to get that nice Browning but it'll be fine and because I'm using steak I really do not want to overcook my steak here so I just need to get it hot and then be done with it so just a solid 30 seconds in and out of the pan wow that is looking so good already M okay I'm offing the Heat and in goes tons and tons of our precious holy basil yes it should look like there's just as much basil as there is meat in there because it'll all wit down and holy basil is not that strong in terms of Aroma compared to say Thai Basil so you really you really need to treat it more like a vegetable than a herb to get that Aroma woo that looks good nice look at that and how easy was that right the smell the smell I'm going crazy because this is the first time I've smelled real holy basil in this kitchen in Forever first time ever look at that little garnish so excited by the way the pka pal that we made this style is more of a modern style I do have a video for a more traditional old school style that's a bit simpler I will link to below but as an allpurpose sauce I do prefer This Modern version so while you weren't looking I also made the chicken version using our chicken that we cooked off and also I made a fried egg which is a classic accompaniment but it is not required all right let's try it so hungry and then the egg goes on top and then of course the condiment that goes on top of the egg for pkaa is pnum PL a simple condiment that will improve anything and everything I have a video for it I will link to I'm going to try it without the egg first man the aroma touched like entered my system and I was just like oh yes this is the smell I've been craving so delicious and I have to say that beef and pakapow is probably my favorite combination something about that beefiness flavor just works with this herb so incredibly well let me try this chicken one now with egg this time oh so good I'm really fighting the Earth to keep eating now but I need to wrap up this video like words fail me words fail me this was so simple so quick and it will transform just transform any plain boring protein that you've got so I encourage you to really give this a try if you can't find holy basil regular basil will be fine or if you're a gardener try growing it not easy but it's possible they tell me but it is just such an amazing dish it is no wonder that this is one of the most popular Thai Dishes of all time so the recipe as always will be on hotti kitchen.com a special thanks to all of our patreon members who help support the show if you want to know what that's all about how you can get direct access to me in our Discord I'll put the link in the description below thank you as always for watching and I will see you next time\n"