Thai Basil Pork with Red Lentil Fusilli

When planning for a dinner for two, one of the most common go-to dishes is pasta. Fast and easy to cook, it’s no wonder why pasta is a classic dish for quick dinner fixes! But eating western-style pasta every night might get a little taxing on our Asian taste buds, so Peiwen’s Thai Basil Pork with Red Lentil Fusilli is the perfect dish for us!

The dish has that aromatic and spicy Asian flavour that we all love from the Thai Basil Pork. And, the red colour of the fusilli evokes a sense of happiness when we are savouring the dish! The Red Lentil Fusilli is not your traditional Italian pasta as it is made from red lentils instead of wheat flour. Hence, it is higher in fibre and lower in carbs so you can eat it without feeling gelak or guilty!

Thai Basil Pork with Red Lentil Fusilli

Here are the ingredients that you’ll need: Red Lentil Fusilli, water, salt, minced pork, fresh western sweet basil, red chilli padi, garlic, long beans, eggs, oyster sauce, fish sauce, light and dark soy sauce, and sugar.

The first step is to prepare the red chilli padi, garlic, long bean and seasoning sauce for cooking. If you are new to cooking and still unsure with your way around a knife, these preparation tips will be useful to you!

Cut the red chilli padi into small pieces.

Cut the chilli into small pieces

To prepare the garlic, flatten it slightly with the flat of the knife and cut off the bottom part. The skin will come off easily. Then, slice the garlic and mince it.

Flatten garlic with the flat of the knife

Cut off the tip and the garlic skin will peel off easily

Mince the garlic

#Tip: If you love spice, you can use a pestle and mortar to pound the chilli padi and garlic into a rough paste to further enhance the flavour of the dish.

Cut the long beans into half then line them up and cut into 1cm long pieces. #Tip: do not cut the long beans into too small pieces as it will lose its texture and the gravy will overpower its flavour.

Cut into 1cm long pieces

For the seasoning sauce, add the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar into a bowl and give it a good mix.

Mix well until the sugar has dissolved

The second step is to cook the Red Lentil Fusilli.

Boil a pot of water and add in salt and the pasta. Stir well to dissolve the salt and let the pasta cook for seven minutes. #Tip: if you are frying the pasta after boiling it, boil it for a minute less than instructed on the packaging to prevent overcooking.

Add salt and the pasta into the boiling water

While the pasta is cooking, go onto the third step that is to cook the Thai Basil Pork. Do remember to set a timer so that you do not forget about your pasta!

Heat up some oil in a pan and add the red chilli padi and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant.

Fry the red chilli padi and garlic until fragrant

Add in the minced pork and quickly use the spatula to break it up.

Break up the pork quickly so they don't cook in big pieces

When the pork is cooked ¾ of the way through, add in the seasoning sauce that was prepared earlier and mix well to combine.

Pour the seasoning sauce and mix well

Add in the long beans and stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add in the long beans and cook for 30 seconds

Add in the basil leaves and fry for another 30 seconds to infuse its flavour into the meat.

Add int the basil leaves and fry for another 30 seconds

Once the meat is ready, add in the cooked pasta and mix well. #Tip: when removing the pasta from the water, do not throw the water away! Save some of it to add into the pan to wet the dish if it becomes too dry while frying.

Add in the cooked pasta and mix well

Add some pasta water if needed

Taste the dish to see if you need to add any more seasonings and if the pasta is still hard on the inside, add more pasta water and let the dish simmer for a while.

For the last step, cook a Sunny-side up.

Heat up some oil in a frying pan and gently crack in an egg and cover with a lid. Cook the egg for a minute for until the edges are brown and crispy.

Fry until the rim is brown and cripsy

Top the dish off with the Sunny-side up and your Thai Basil Pork with Red Lentil Fusilli is ready!

Thai Basil Pork with Red Lentil Fusilli and sunny side up

Get the recipe below!