Spicy Beef Stir-Fry With Basil

Spicy Beef Stir-Fry With Basil
Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Amy Wilson.
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(706)
Notes
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This simple, delicious recipe for a spicy beef stir-fry comes from Leela Punyaratabandhu, a cookbook author who adapted it from Soei, a family-run restaurant in Bangkok. Using thinly sliced beef tenderloin means the dish is ready in just minutes, and you can adjust the heat to taste by reducing or increasing the number of fresh bird's-eye chiles. Made with fresh holy-basil leaves, the classic Thai dish is known as phat ka-phrao. If you can't find holy basil at a Thai market, Indian market or health food store, you could swap in more widely available Thai sweet basil (pictured), and make a dish of phat bai hora-pha. The dish could be one part of a larger meal or stand alone with some jasmine rice and a fried egg. —Tejal Rao

Featured in: A Garlicky Stir Fry With Basil Leaves from Bangkok

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1tablespoon Thai thin soy sauce, or light soy sauce
  • 1tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1teaspoon fish sauce
  • ¼cup chicken stock
  • 1packed teaspoon grated palm sugar, or light brown sugar
  • 8large cloves garlic
  • 4 to 8fresh bird’s-eye chiles
  • tablespoons lard, or neutral oil
  • pounds beef tenderloin, sliced against the grain into 2-inch-long, ¼-inch thick strips
  • 3 to 4makrut lime leaves, lightly bruised and torn into pieces (optional)
  • cups loosely packed fresh holy-basil leaves or sweet Thai basil leaves, sweet Thai basil leaves or other fragrant basil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

524 calories; 36 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 37 grams protein; 465 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    If you’re making rice with this dish, get it started. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chicken stock and sugar. In a mortar or small food processor, grind together the garlic and chiles into a coarse paste.

  2. Step 2

    Heat the lard in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic-chile paste, and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Before the garlic starts to brown, add the beef, and stir-fry to separate the pieces and coat with fat. Add the liquid mixture, making sure not to leave any behind in the bowl, and cook until the beef is only barely pink, about 2 minutes. Add the lime leaves, and continue to cook until no pink remains on the beef, about 1 minute. Add the basil leaves, and stir until they are just starting to wilt, then remove from heat and serve with rice. (You can fish out the large pieces of makrut leaves before serving or put them aside as you eat.)

Tip
  • Made with holy basil, this is a recipe for phat ka-phrao; if made with more widely available sweet Thai basil, it is phat bai hora-pha.

Ratings

4 out of 5
706 user ratings
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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

I was so excited to click on the link to add the ingredients to my weekly grocery list. Only to be disappointed once again at the complexity of the ingredients. I'm sure these exotic ingredients are easy to find in LA or NYC, but how about some recipes for those of us in the vast country between the coasts!? :-)

Some of the ingredients are difficult to find for those of us who don't have access to a Thai grocery. Substitutions: Lard- use a neutral oil (see ingredients). What's a neutral oil? Try canola (Non-GMO) or grapeseed. Both available at any grocery worth shopping at. Holy-basil: it's very mild so use regular basil but maybe a little less with just a touch of mint. Makrut lime leaves: order some online. Don't want to wait? Try 1/2 a small bay leaf and 1/4 tsp of lime zest.

Does holy basil refer to the herb Tulsi? And are "makrut lime" leaves the same as kaffir lime?

I live in the boonies where there is one kind of Basil in the store - just plain old Basil - will that do? I know I can grow it but not by tomorrow!

Yes. At Wholefoods, they are labeled “Markut” leaves, as “kefir” is apparently ethnically insensitive.

Just made this for the first time tonight--excellent. No need to spend $30/pound on beef tenderloin, though. This recipe with skirt/flank steak would be just as delicious at a fraction of the price.

Huge flavor, super easy and quick - used ghee instead of lard. Fried egg on top was delicious.

You can just skip it. We, Thais normally don’t put kafir lime leave in this dish.

This was good. I didn't have the special basil so I just used regular basil from the store. I know it's not as sharp but overall it was still very satisfying. Good amount of spice. I recommend splashing the rice with rice vinegar (just a few drops!) before serving. It gives the whole dish together some brightness. Increase the crunch factor here by topping with roasted crushed peanuts.

Amazingly, if you try at all you CAN find things to substitute for the items you cannot find. But I guess whinging about it is more fun.

This is our new favourite NYTCooking recipe. Butcher gave us aged tenderloin, used wok to cook, added garlic and chilies after not before, fresh makrut/kaffir leaves - fabulous. Try this recipe!!!

Yep, they are the same in both instnaces, though each comes with its own caveat. Holy basil, which is quite different from Thai basil, tends to wilt quickly once picked, so is often hard to find. As my British spouse explained that other lime name is a not-so-nice Colonial term picked up during the Boer War. That bit aside the leaves do freeze well, and the trees are easy enough to grow indoors. Just do not have your heart set on getting limes out of the deal, that is a bit more involved.

Loosen up people, just because you can't buy this or that don't let it stop you. Experiment, improvise, have fun, invent a new dish. Scallions and ginger, how can you miss? And in case you missed it regular basil is okay, the dish just gets a slightly different name.

I live in central Ohio and have no trouble finding these ingredients. Larger cities everywhere in the US now have many dozens of international, Chinese, Japanese, African, middle eastern, southeast Asian, Caribbean, Indian, Latin American, and many other kinds of markets just as there are here. They are my favorite places to shop. I bet if you explore (and are willing to add to your weekly grocery shopping trip to an ordinary supermarket) you will make some great discoveries in your city, too.

Could the food editor please establish a policy of consistency to ingredient names? This recipe calls for makrut lime leaves which are also called Kaffir lime which are leaves of the Citrus hystrix. There are even more regional names in the region.

This was delish. I would recommend corn starch to thicken the sauce. Also used double the basil.

Make it and don’t change a thing! Simple and delicious prep for what my neighborhood is $50 worth of tenderloin!

Velvetted flank steak Doubled sauce Used little food processor for garlic & 5 Thai Chile’s

Accidental bliss. Took a pork roast out... We proceeded with this recipe; our palettes were dazzled with refreshing bites of hmmmmmmm.

Instead of making my own garlic-chili sauce I grated a half dozen cloves of garlic and mixed it with Sambal Olek—which is Asian crushed pepper sauce available in almost any supermarket. No mortar or food processor needed and quicker. I also added some sliced onion. Dish was good with Thai Basil.

What can be substituted for lime leaves? I don't have any.

Hi, the flavor is unusual and very delicious, and I am not sure if you can get a good substitute. You can find these at many Asian markets, where they sometimes are referred to as Keffir Lime Leaf (Keffir has been replaced with Makrut, the true name of the leaf, as it is a derogatory racial term used by colonizers - not sure HOW it ended up being a reference for Makrut lime leaf though)

You can get dried Kaffir (Makrut) lime leaves on Amazon. I wouldn't substituent as they have a very distinct flavor. The dried leaves keep for a good while. Get the highest-rated brand.

You can just skip it. We, Thais normally don’t put kafir lime leave in this dish.

Very good. I ordered the thin soy sauce and Thai oyster sauce online and used high-quality dried kaffir lime leaves bought at a Thai market. The taste of holy basil is too medicinal for me. So I used the type of Thai basil (with the small leaves) more commonly found in grocery stores. I liked the texture of the tenderloin but other cuts would probably work well, as several reviewers have noted. Used avocado oil; next time I’ll try lard or ghee.

I added some ginger and only used one chile, to accomodate household members who don't like spice. I used the zest of a regular lime instead of the lime leaves, and used Thai basil instead of holy-basil. I also doubled the sauce so there would be enough when I added some wilted bokchoy at the end. This was delicious! I'd totally make it again. And I didn't worry about searching out esoteric ingredients that I'd use once and never need again.

Clearly I didn’t add all the ingredients to my shopping list. Forgot the peppers and lime leaves. I keep some Szechuan paste on hand so subbed that for the peppers. Fried some eggs in the leftover oil, used regular basil, and roasted some broccoli for on top. Definitely not the same dish but that’s the beauty of stir fry, lots of room for improvising.

This was good. I didn't have the special basil so I just used regular basil from the store. I know it's not as sharp but overall it was still very satisfying. Good amount of spice. I recommend splashing the rice with rice vinegar (just a few drops!) before serving. It gives the whole dish together some brightness. Increase the crunch factor here by topping with roasted crushed peanuts.

really good! usually when i attempt thai or chinese at home it always seems simple but doesn't turn out that way. but this is truly as quick and simple as it seems, just make sure to get your ingredients together before you cook. i used regular soy sauce, thai basil from my kitchen plant, and steak tips (not to be confused with tip steak) - easily sliced into thin bite size pieces while frozen. i used 5 red bird's eye chiles and it had a nice heat to it without being overpowering. 1/2

2/2 additionally, i threw in a bunch of scallions sliced into one inch lengths on the bias with the beef. served over coconut rice. i can actually get all of the ingredients at market basket, a decidedly un-fancy chain grocery store in the northeast. both the lime leaves and the chiles are sold in bulk but freeze well. (remove the stems of the chiles by hand first - do not cut off the tops with a knife.) alternately, amazon and ebay are great, easy, affordable options.

Try lime zest Used 1 habanero and 3 Serrano. Super hot but Mark liked it.

Pretty flavorful recipe! I added a little bit of sesame oil, thinly sliced broccoli, and onion. Before serving I mixed 2 teaspoons of corn starch with a tablespoon of water in a bowl and added to the pan to thicken the sauce. The kaffir lime leaves add a lot of flavor to the dish if you can find them.

Loosen up people, just because you can't buy this or that don't let it stop you. Experiment, improvise, have fun, invent a new dish. Scallions and ginger, how can you miss? And in case you missed it regular basil is okay, the dish just gets a slightly different name.

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Credits

Adapted from Leela Punyaratabandhu

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