Pad Ka Prow w/ Goat Meat

About a month ago, I did a demo at Austin Farmers Market downtown on the same day Pamela Walker had her book signing. Her book Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas is an essay of eleven farms in Central Texas. I was cooking up some Pad Ka Prow or stir fried basil with ground goat meat. I was using all the vegetables from the market that day from holy basil and Thai Apple eggplant from Simmons Family Farms, mushrooms from Kitchen Pride, bell peppers from Chris at Milagro Farms, Thai eggplants from Cas at Animal Farms and Thai chilies from Two Happy Children Farms. The goat meat was from Singleton Farms. I have only used goat meat to make Thai style Biryani and I just absolutely loved it. I thought the ground meat should work with this dish very well.

This post might have come a little late especially after the first hard freeze we had last Friday night. All my tender plants were frozen and we are done with Spring/Summer garden. Mushrooms are all year round and you can use only those in this dish. I hope this post will help you decide what to plant in your garden next Spring. Check out an article in Edible Austin on how to grow your own Thai garden.

Those vegetables were picked less than 24 hours before I cooked them. They were sweet and firm. The bell peppers from Milagro were exceptionally delicious. They were the best bell peppers I have ever tasted.








The show started with the wonderful smell of fried garlic and chili paste that brought people in from the other end of the market. The recipe is from this post back in Spring 2008 when I harvested some green beans to make this dish. You can use pretty much anything as long as it's firm. You can turn this into a noodle dish, Pad Kee Mao or Drunken Noodles by adding noodles after the meat. You can use flat noodles. If using dry flat rice noodles, soak them for about an hour. You can also use cooked spaghetti noodles or Penne pasta in this dish as well. Add some dark soy sauce to give some dark color and a little bit of molasses flavor. You can also make Basil fried rice from this same recipe.





As for basil, I used holy basil or Bai Ka Prow, in this dish.



You can substitute Thai sweet basil or Bai Ho Ra Pa for this dish. Thai holy basil is very tender and they have to be used the same day it's harvested. Simmons Family Farms brings it to the market every Saturday morning. It is spicier and sweeter than sweet basil. Thai basil plants are annual in central Texas. If you have them in pots, you can bring them in during the winter and it should come back in the spring. Some friends who grow Thai basil in the ground cut it down during winter and cover it with plastic tarp to protect it. If the plants make it through winter, they will come back stronger and bigger.

Eat Local Week: Eat at the Source

Austin Third Annual Fundraiser Eat Local Week is sponsored by Edible Austin to benefit Urban Roots. The event kicks off this coming Saturday at Austin Farmers Market on December 5th. Thai Fresh is joining the team for the second year to help raise the money for the event.





Eating local is so much better in so many ways. By eating closer to the source of the food, you save so much energy and resources that goes into shipping, packaging and storing before the food gets to you. I love to shop at the farmers' market. I love to talk to people that grow the good. I enjoy hearing their stories and how they are passionate about what they are doing. I have grown to appreciate their hard working spirits.





When I started selling my food at Sunset Valley Farmers Market 4 years ago, none of my ingredients were local. My stand was next to Amador Farms and Hillside Farms and I started to add ingredients from those farms into my cooking. I thought to myself, this makes so much sense!!!!!





At Thai Fresh, we are committed to eating and cooking as close to the source as possible. As a Thai restaurant, it is difficult to find many of the important ingredients locally. But whenever we can, we will use meats and produce that are raised and grown locally. Everyday, you will find selections of dishes that we rotate. Our menu changes all day long reflecting what is in season and abundant. When you eat at Thai Fresh, you can be sure that 100% of our meats and seafood are from Texas. We will use whatever vegetables in season as much as we can. We are so proud of our farmers and ranchers. Read more about who we buy from on our website.

Shop, eat and cook locally.