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10 cloves of garlic

2 fresh birdseye chillies

250 g minced pork

40 g Holy basil or Thai basil

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

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1. Wash and pick the leaves from all of the basil.

2. Lightly bash the garlic and chilli in a pestle and mortar into a very chunky paste (see below).

3. Add a tablespoon of neutral cooking oil to a non-stick pan and place on a maximum heat* (if you have a wok and powerful gas burner, see the below note on preferred cooking equipment).

4. When the pan is as hot as possible, add the garlic/chilli paste and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.

5. Crumble in the minced pork and fry until it has just turned opaque, breaking it up with a spoon as you go.

6. Add the sauce ingredients and fry for 30 seconds more. Taste and adjust to your liking (you want a pleasant balance of saltiness and sweetness).

7. Add the basil and stir for a final 10 seconds. Immediately take off the heat (you don’t want to overcook the basil once it is wilted as it will lose its punch).

8. Serve straight away with plain white rice, prik nam pla** and a fried egg.

Prik nam pla – the ubiquitous table condiment in Thailand, at its simplest a combination of fish sauce and chillies (sometimes with additional lime juice and sugar – which I personally love). To make, simply mix fish sauce and lime juice in a roughly 2:1 ratio. Add sugar to taste, plus plenty of finely sliced birdseye chillies.