Gapao kai kao is a Thai rice dish made with minced meat and Thai basil. It is very spicy and flavourful. I love this dish and it is my inspiration for this onigiri.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp + 2 tsp Vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp Minced garlic
- ½ Japanese red chilli (togarashi) according to taste, seeded and thinly sliced
- 50.33 oz (150 g) Minced chicken
- 50.33 oz (150 g) Minced pork
- 5 Japanese green pepper (piman), seeded and chopped
- 20 Thai basil or basil leaves, chopped + more for garnishing
- 140.33 oz (400 g) Cooked Japanese short grain rice
Seasoning
- 1 tbsp Fish sauce
- 5 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (shoyu)
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Sake
Egg Crepe
- 4 Eggs
- 4 tbsp Milk
- 4 tsp Potato starch
How to Make It
- Combine seasoning ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
- Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a frying pan and sauté garlic and Japanese red chilli until fragrant. Add minced chicken and pork and cook until meat changes colour. Add green pepper and fry for 1 minute. Add seasoning ingredients and stir well. Remove from heat and add basil leaves. Mix well and set aside.
- Meanwhile, combine eggs, milk and potato starch in a small bowl and mix well.
- Heat some oil in a clean frying pan and pour in one-quarter of the egg mixture. Swirl the egg mixture in the pan to form a thin crêpe about 15-cm (6-in) in diameter. Cook both sides and set aside. Repeat this process until the egg mixture is used up. You should have 4 egg crêpes.
- To make onigiri, combine rice and 6–7 Tbsp minced meat mixture in a bowl and mix well. Taste rice and add more salt if needed.
- Place cling wrap in a rice bowl and scoop one-quarter of the rice mixture into the bowl. Pull out rice together with cling wrap and mould rice into your preferred shape. Remove cling wrap and carefully wrap rice ball with an egg crêpe, sit the rice ball on the ends of crêpe. Make a cut on the top of the crêpe so the rice ball is exposed. Garnish with basil leaves. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
