Pad Phet (ผัดเผ็ด)

The Stir-Fry Built On Herbs

ผัดเผ็ด is a template, not one dish: the name just means "stir-fried spicy", and the sources apply it to sliced pork, crispy catfish, and braised pig's trotter alike. What stays constant is the herb cast — fingerroot (กระชาย), kaffir lime leaves, green peppercorns (พริกไทยอ่อน), holy basil, and sliced fresh chilli. Kapook's guide to the family puts it plainly: these are stir-fries where the herbs are the point, "เผ็ดร้อนเค็มนำนิด" — hot and salty with just a touch of sweet.

The structure is the same in every source: fry the curry paste in oil until the oil turns red and fragrant, season, then herbs in last, wilted only — never cooked down. Toncooking's Cookpad version times it to five or six basil leaves and three sprigs of green peppercorns, tossed at the end. That's the dish's whole trick: the herbs stay bright because they barely meet the heat.

From there the schools split. Kapook's catfish version is the jungle original — catfish fried crisp, 300 grams of fingerroot, no coconut at all, and holy basil in two forms: fried crisp for the garnish, fresh for the toss. The pork versions soften it with a spoon or two of coconut milk — Wongnai's trotter recipe uses 100 grams "for the richness". And Aroifin's catfish version runs wet, the paste dissolved in 300 ml of water into a sauce rather than a dry fry. All of them are pad phet; only the texture changes.

The Recipe (pork, from Toncooking on Cookpad)

The jungle original (Kapook): 500 g catfish fried crisp, 100 g curry paste, 300 g fingerroot, 4–5 spur chillies, 7–8 kaffir leaves, 3–4 green peppercorn sprigs, 2–3 tbsp palm sugar, crisp-fried + fresh basil. Wongnai's trotter version: braised trotter, 100 g coconut milk, 10 kaffir leaves, 2–3 tbsp curry paste, its own braising water as the liquid.

The Method

1. The paste. Oil hot, curry paste and pork in, fried until the pork is cooked; a splash of water to stop the paste catching.
2. The season. Fish sauce, sugar, salt and coconut milk in — toss until the paste dissolves into the meat.
3. The herbs. Fingerroot, green peppercorns, fresh chilli, holy basil and kaffir leaves — all at once, at the end.
4. The wilt. One or two tosses, just until the herbs soften. Serve with jasmine rice.

Where Thai Sources Disagree

How Western Versions Get It Wrong

• Calling it "spicy pork stir-fry" with no herbs. Without fingerroot, kaffir leaves and green peppercorns it's just meat in curry paste — the herbs are the dish.
• Cooking the herbs down. They go in last and wilt only. Stewed fingerroot loses everything that makes this dish.
• Adding vegetables. Carrots and broccoli are pad krapow westernisation — the sources use none.
• Substituting dried peppercorns. The green peppercorn sprigs are a specific ingredient — the fresh, soft, piney kind, not black peppercorns.
• Too much coconut. Where it's used at all, it's a spoon or two for gloss — not a curry. A cup of coconut milk makes it a different dish.

UK Ingredient Notes

• Fingerroot: Thai grocers sell it fresh (กระชาย); sometimes labelled "lesser ginger".
• Green peppercorns on the stem: Thai grocers, usually frozen or vacuum-packed. Capers are NOT a substitute.
• Kaffir lime leaves: fresh or frozen, any Thai grocer.
• Holy basil (ใบโหระพา): Thai basil from supermarkets is close; true holy basil is at Thai grocers.
• Red curry paste: any Thai brand — this is exactly what Thai home cooks use.

Sources

This recipe is translated from the following Thai-language sources. Where they disagree, we've said so.