Cook's Country

-"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan visits Portland, Oregon, and shares his version of Khao Man Gai.

I tell the story of a sacred herb, holy basil.

And Lawman makes Pad Gra Prow.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-I went to Portland, Oregon, a city known for its vibrant food scene to get a taste of the savory, comforting Thai version of chicken and rice.

And there was no better place to go than Nong's Khao Man Gai.

I met with owner Nong Poonsukwattana, who has perfected the dish.

Tell me where you're from originally.

-I'm from Bangkok, Thailand.

-And what brought you to the States and to Portland in particular?

-To Portland, for love.

It didn't work out, so I decided to stay and build my life from the ground up.

-After working in restaurants for a few years, Nong opened up her own food cart.

-Food cart wasn't my first choice.

My first choice was restaurant.

But I have $8,000 saved up.

It's not enough to open a restaurant.

For me, at the time, it was one shot.

I gave it all on the table.

All my saving.

I don't have a fallback plan, but I was determined.

-She didn't always dream of being a cook, but she took what she learned from her mother and used it to build a life for herself here in America.

-We didn't have a lot of money, so we have to cook our own food.

I didn't think it's anything special, but I cooked for friends sometime, and they say, "Oh, your food, very good."

So I gave it a shot in 2009 to open a food cart.

-And when it came to the menu, she decided to focus on the one thing she could make really well all by herself, Khao Man Gai.

When was the first time you recall eating Khao Man Gai in Thailand?

-My boyfriend at the time took me to this -- his favorite Khao Man Gai shop.

It was a one-man show.

I thought that, like, "Oh, I can do that.

He did by himself.

I can do it, too."

Now, I think what I learned, that is harder than it looks.

-Nong's food cart became so popular that she eventually opened up a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

-People asked me, "Oh, you success.

What's next?"

And I was like, "What do you mean?

Like, I'm happy here.

I came from nothing.

I'm a immigrant.

I have this, my own business, this little food cart on the street.

This is happy for me.

I don't want what is next."

But you have to be willing to take that risk.

High risk, high reward.

-Hot soup.

-Today, she's got two restaurants in Portland with more items on the menu, and her signature sauce is sold in stores throughout the Pacific Northwest and online.

So tell me about some of the ingredients that go into the sauce.

-Fermented soybean, lots of ginger, pickled garlic, Thai chilies, vinegar, soy sauce, some syrup that we make in-house.

Thai food is for flavor.

It is a flavor bomb in your mouth, and it's balanced with the chicken and the rice together.

And then has the broth to kind of tie everything together.

-But Nong still doesn't see herself as a cook.

She sees herself first as an entrepreneur and a leader.

-The most important of all is the people that make Khao Man Gai.

And it become Khao Man Gai, chicken and rice for better life, better life for customer.

I offer a unique choice, a healthy food and better life for the people that are making it.

-Chicken and rice for a better life.

I love that.

-That's our mission.

-Look who's here with me.

It's Bryan.

Now, Bryan, that restaurant, Nong's restaurant that you visited in Portland, that's really all about that dish, Khao Man Gai.

-Yeah, it's called Nong's Khao Man Gai for a reason.

We went there, talked to Nong, and came back really inspired to make our own version of Khao Man Gai.

-Okay.

-And I'm happy to report that it's as easy to make in the home kitchen as it is in the restaurant kitchen.

-Perfect.

-We're going to begin by poaching our chicken in a very well-seasoned bath.

-Okay.

-So I have a 4-pound chicken here and 12 cups of water there.

But before we drop the chicken in this little bath, we're going to season up that liquid pretty well.

We're going to add one 2-inch piece of ginger that we're going to peel quickly.

You could use a spoon if you want to, if you're one of those folks.

-You could actually use something called a vegetable peeler.

-Yes.

I'm going to slice this ginger into 1/4-inch coins.

Now, we want to make sure this broth is really well seasoned because it's going to double as a little soup for us and we're also going to cook our rice in it.

-Great.

-And we have six garlic cloves here.

We're going to smash and peel these.

Peel our garlic and drop it in.

Our garlic is in there.

We're also going to add 2 tablespoons of table salt.

Now we can slide our chicken in nice and gentle like.

So we're putting it in so the breast is up top and the thighs and dark meat are down underneath the surface of the water.

That's because we want the breast to poach a little bit more gently than the thighs and the dark meat.

So we'll bring this up to a boil over high heat, come back, put a lid on it, and let it simmer.

-Sounds good.

-So our chicken has come up to boil.

We're going to reduce the heat to low.

Then we're going to cover it with a little bit of aluminum foil.

And that's going to really help trap the heat as it simmers.

-Okay.

-We're going to let this chicken simmer until it hits 160 degrees in the breast and about 175 or more in the legs and thighs, anywhere between 25 and 35 minutes.

-Sounds good.

-Okay, Bridget, it's been about 30 minutes.

We can take a look at our chicken.

Oh, smells wonderful.

-Smells great.

-So we want to just temp it and make sure it's at least 160 in the breast.

That's 161.

Now we can shut the heat off here.

And we're going to transfer our chicken to a bowl to rest.

Just lift it out with this carving fork.

-Little drainage going on there.

-We'll put it in a bowl to rest.

We're just going to cover it with our aluminum foil while we prepare the rest of the meal.

Even after a good 30 minutes or so, that chicken is still going to be plenty hot.

Before we push our stock to the side, we've created this wonderful, flavorful broth here.

We're going to reserve 3 cups of it for cooking our rice.

So we can set our 3 cups down there.

And now we can just cover our broth and set it aside.

At the end of the meal, we're going to have this as a little side soup.

-Gorgeous.

-So next, we could cook our rice.

We have 2 cups of jasmine rice here.

And jasmine rice is typical for this dish.

We've gone ahead and rinsed it and drained it.

Rinsing is important because it removes a lot of the excess starch on the surface of the rice and helps it cook up nice and light and fluffy.

-All right.

-We are going to heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil here in our sauce pan.

To that, we're going to mimic some of the flavors we added to the broth.

One of the new ones we're adding, though, is shallot.

We have one minced shallot here.

One 2-inch piece of ginger that we've just cut in half.

We have two minced garlic cloves and a 1/4-teaspoon of salt.

We're just going to let that cook, not to give it any color, but just to really let it perfume the oil.

-All right.

-Okay.

It's been about 2 minutes, and that smells wonderful, doesn't it?

-I know that rice is going to taste so great because it smells great already.

-We're going to add our rinsed and drained rice.

We're going to let that cook for just a couple minutes to coat the grains with a little bit of oil.

Again, this is to help them stay fluffy as they cook.

You'll smell the rice begin to get a little toasty and some of the edges of the grains will become a little bit translucent.

All right.

It's been about 2 minutes, and now we can add our 3 cups of broth.

We're using a ratio of one part rice to 1 1/2 parts liquid.

We are now simmering.

We're going to reduce the heat to low and we're going to put a lid on our rice.

And a lot of people get hung up on the proper way to cook rice.

So here's the tip.

You're going to let it go for 20 minutes on low with the lid on.

Don't remove the lid.

Don't look at the pot.

Don't think about the pot.

-What pot?

-Exactly.

Okay, so 20 minutes simmered on low with the lid on.

Then after that 20 minutes, shut off the heat.

And guess what?

Don't touch the lid.

Let it go for another 10 minutes.

-So at first I don't touch, don't think about it, don't look at it.

And then I continue to not even acknowledge it.

-It's pretty simple.

So while the rice is cooking, we're going to work on our sauce for the Khao Man Gai.

-All right.

-So this sauce really stands in stark contrast to the rest of the dish, which is a little bit subtle and gentle.

The sauce is very powerful.

It really pairs well with the dish.

-Great.

-So we're going to start off with 1/4 cup of Thai soybean paste, and that's made from fermented soybeans, and it adds a ton of umami to the sauce.

So it's really, really nice.

-Really savory.

-We're going to add to that 1/4 cup of distilled vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3 minced garlic cloves, 2 minced Thai chilies.

Obviously, if you like spicy, you could add a little bit more Thai chili if you like.

And a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.

-Nice.

-And we're just going to whisk this together.

Really just trying to whisk until we dissolve the sugar, about a minute or so.

Okay.

Our sauce is all set.

-That's it?

-We can wait for our rice to finish cooking.

-What rice?

-Exactly.

Okay, Bridget, it has been 30 minutes, and we're ready to take a look at that which shall not be named.

-Where did that come from?

-So I like to use this carving fork as a way to fluff the rice.

You can see it's nice and light and perfectly cooked.

-This recipe was brought to you by the Carving Fork Association of America.

-If you're not carving, you're not living.

-That's true.

-All right, so the rice is good.

We're going to turn our soup back on just to warm up.

-Okay.

-And for a garnish for our soup, we're going to slice up some scallions.

Shave off the root end.

Just barely shave the root end off.

I see people, like, cutting all the way up here.

Ooh, that gets me all worked up.

Peel off the exterior layer there.

And it pops off.

And then trim away any soft green parts at the top.

Sometimes they can be a little bit sandy.

Sometimes you give them a rinse under some water.

These look pretty clean.

-That's just character.

-That's just true grit right there.

All right, and we're just going to give them a quick slice.

-So white, light green, and we're moving into dark green territory.

-Yeah, I celebrate the entire scallion.

-I like that.

-Okay, so our scallions are good.

We're ready to carve our chicken that's been hanging out for 30 minutes.

Not much of a looker, but it does taste really good.

-No, I see a chicken that looks like that, I know it's going to taste good.

-Yeah.

-Good simple poached chicken.

Gorgeous.

-It's one of my favorite ways to prepare chicken, actually.

All right, so we'll drain off any of this excess liquid here.

We have a little bit of broth left over here in the bowl.

We can just add that to our other broth.

-I was going to drink it, but that's okay.

You're going to drink plenty of this later.

So we're going to remove the dark meat and shred all the dark meat, and then we're going to slice the breast meat.

-Okay.

Two different textures.

-Right.

So using our carving fork once again.

-Here we go.

-We can just separate these leg quarters.

-Mmm.

Juicy, juicy.

-This thing basically will fall apart on its own.

Take these wingies and get rid of the wing tips.

We can save the flats here.

And I like to carve off the drumettes.

-Lovely.

-And then we can just remove the breast meat by cutting on either side of that center keel bone.

Okay.

All right, now we're going to shred all the dark meat.

Why don't you grab a couple of forks there?

-Big chunks, little chunks?

-Like bite-sized pieces.

-How's that?

-Yeah, that's perfect.

Okay, while you continue to shred all the dark meat and stuff with the bones in it, I'm going to remove the skin from the breast here, and I'm just going to slice these.

So we're offering up two textures of chicken here.

We have the shredded dark meat and then the wonderfully sliced breast right here.

And we'll just continue to do this until we've taken care of all of our chicken meat.

-Sounds great.

-All right, Bridget, our chicken is shredded, our soup is hot, our rice is fluffed.

I think we're ready to eat.

-I would say so.

-Let's start off by portioning you some soup.

-Lovely.

-Some scallions in there.

That's for you.

-Oh, aroma's hit me.

-And now we're going to make this a little restaurant-y.

I'm going to portion your rice out in a nifty little molded bowl just to make it extra fancy for us.

The shredded chicken on top and then a few pieces of sliced chicken.

-Mm-hmm.

Little bit of the light and the dark meat.

-And typical garnish -- a little bit of cucumber and some cilantro.

-I don't have to tip you, do I?

-You know, it's not required, but it's appreciated.

-Right.

-And a little bit of the sauce here, just right over top.

-Mmm.

-So you want to eat the cucumber and the cilantro as like a little fresh reprieve there in the middle of your meal.

-It already looks stunning, so -- -That's because we molded the rice.

-Well, yes.

-It's a big thing.

-What rice?

-[ Chuckles ] -All right.

I'm just following your direction here.

Mmm.

-It's so good, right?

That's absolutely my new favorite chicken and rice dish.

-I just want to get a little bite of the rice on its own.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mmm.

It's bright.

Just really light flavor.

-Yeah.

And then the sauce makes it pop, right?

-Yes, it does.

Chicken is incredibly moist, very succulent.

And that's even the breast meat.

Mmm.

-All right, soup.

-Mmm.

-So good, right?

-If all that came out was just this broth, it would be worth it.

This is spectacular.

Just sends it over the edge.

And it was really simple to make.

And I love that you used the broth as the backbone.

Created the broth with the chicken, the broth flavored the rice, you served the broth at the end.

Absolutely amazing.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, Bryan.

And if you would like to make this incredible dish, poach the chicken to create a flavorful broth.

Cook the rice, but don't look at it.

Use plenty of garnishes like sauce and cukes and herbs for that Khao Man Gai experience.

So from "Cook's Country," what might be the pinnacle of all chicken and rice dishes, Khao Man Gai.

Thanks, Bryan.

-Thank you.

-Gra Prow is the Thai name for holy basil.

It's the star ingredient of Pad Gra Prow and has a unique flavor and aroma that is distinct from the Italian or Thai varieties of basil.

It's more peppery with notes of clove.

The herb is cultivated throughout Southeast Asia, but in India, where it is known as tulsi, it's considered sacred.

In Hindu mythology, the plant holds the spirit of Lakshmi, one of Vishnu's consorts.

The plant is the living embodiment of the divine.

Holy basil has been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments, everything from stomach aches to arthritis to insect bites.

Red Clover Farm in Wisconsin sells a mood-boosting tincture made of their own holy basil.

Whether you want to try it for its many medicinal uses or in our delicious stir fry, holy basil is worth getting your hands on.

Pad Gra Pow is a garlicky Thai stir fry known for its sweet but spicy flavor.

It's popular not only in Thai restaurants, but also Thai home kitchens.

And today, Lawman's going to show us how it's done.

-Julia, I love stir fry.

It's simple, it's unpretentious, and above all, it's delicious.

-Mm-hmm, but it requires some prep.

-Exactly.

We spoke to Chef Nuit Regular, co-owner and executive chef at Toronto-based PAI and Kiin to get some help with this recipe.

The popularity of this dish on her menus speaks for itself.

We're going to start with a chili fish sauce known as Nam Prik Nam Pla.

You can use 1 to 4 chilies.

I'm going to use four.

-Oh, you're going to ramp it up on me.

-You know what they say.

If you can't handle the heat... -I should go in the back.

-Yeah.

-Okay.

-I'm going to stem them first.

So, you notice I'm wearing a glove.

-Yes, Doctor.

-You don't want any chili oil on you because if you rub your eye, it's not going to be a good thing.

-No.

-Then I'm slicing them thin.

Add this right here.

Then I'm going to add 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of water, 2 tablespoons of lime juice.

-Mmm.

-2 teaspoons of sugar.

And last, one garlic clove minced.

-This kind of sauce I put on everything.

It makes everything taste good.

-It is delicious.

Stir that up.

I'm just going to put this aside and let the flavors meld a little bit.

-Okay.

-Next, we're going to make our stir fry base.

Here I have 8 Thai chilies.

-More chilies?

-Yes.

These guys, I'm just going to stem them.

And they're going to go right in the food processor.

I have two shallots.

I'm just going to give them a rough chop.

And eight garlic cloves that I'm just going to smash.

And then you want to pulse this, 10 to 12 pulses until it's chopped fine.

-Whew.

That's quite an aroma coming out of that food processor.

That's no joke.

-Yeah, it's going to give the dish a lot of kick.

Last but not least, we're going to make our stir fry sauce.

Here I have 2 tablespoons of the Thai fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of Thai oyster sauce.

Now, the fish sauce is going to add some umami.

The oyster sauce is also going to add a little bit umami, plus some body to it.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm adding 3/4 teaspoons of white pepper.

And then we're using two different types of Thai soy sauce.

Now, it's very important to get these because it gives the dish its unique flavor.

I'm adding 2 tablespoons of thin soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce.

Thin soy sauce adds a mild saltiness to the dish.

Sweet soy sauce is going to add some body and it's going to temper the heat.

Both of these Thai soy sauces do have sugar, but obviously the sweetened one has more sugar.

-Gotcha.

I like how you're prepping everything ahead of time before you start cooking, because as with most stir fries, once you get the pan hot, you're off to the races.

-Exactly.

Mise en place is, I would say, more important for stir fry than anything else.

-All right.

-Just going to clean up a bit, and then we can start cooking our stir fry.

-Okay.

-Julia, I have a 14-inch wok here.

It's over medium-high heat.

You want it just till it's smoking.

-Just smoking.

-Now we're going to add our stir fry base.

So this stir fry base has our eight Thai chilies, the two shallots, and all that nice, smashed, fragrant garlic.

-Now, I appreciate that you're using a wok here, but what if you don't have one?

-You can use a 12-inch nonstick skillet.

-But if you have a wok, you should use it.

-It's going to be more fun.

-Yeah.

-We're going to cook this until it's just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Okay, it's been about 2 minutes.

Now I'm going to add 1 1/2 pounds of ground pork.

Just going to break it up.

And you want to cook it for 3 to 5 minutes till the pork is almost cooked.

You could use tofu here or ground chicken.

-That's starting to smell pretty good, Lawman.

-The pork is just about there.

Every once in a while, that chili really hits you.

Want to make sure that there's no pink in the pork, cooking it just till it's almost done.

Now I'm going to add our stir fry sauce.

Cook that for 3 to 5 minutes until the liquid is evaporated, the pork is darkened and sizzling.

So the Gra Prow of the Pad Gra Prow is holy basil.

And I actually have some right here.

Even though it's very hard to source, I have some right here that we can taste.

-So this is an herb like basil?

-Exactly.

-But it has a different flavor.

-It's very peppery, clove-y.

-Licorice-y.

This is a very different flavor than, say, Italian basil.

-Correct.

-But as you mention, it's hard to source.

So if you can get some, great.

But if you can't get the Gra Prow, what do you do?

-Chef Nuit, she has it grown special for her.

But we're going to be using Thai basil.

Now, I have 3 cups of Thai basil here.

I'm going to add one handful at a time and let it wilt down for a minute and then add the next handful.

-Okay.

So no chopping involved?

-No, not at all.

-Just whole leaves.

-Add a little bit.

Starting to wilt down a little bit.

Going to add another handful.

Looks great.

Now we're going to transfer it to our bowl.

So now all I have to do is clean out the wok, then we're going to cook our egg, and then we get to eat.

So traditionally this dish is served with a Khai Dao, or a crispy fried egg.

-Mmm.

-I have 1/2 cup of oil in here.

We're heating it to 350 degrees.

We're going to cook the egg for about 30 to 60 seconds.

-I must confess, I've never cooked an egg in a wok before, and I'm really excited to watch you do this.

-I'm glad.

Now, this dish is for four people, but because it's just me and you, I'm only going to cook two eggs.

-And you're cooking one egg at a time.

-Yep.

So you want just the edges to get fried and then the whites to no longer be opaque.

-And look how the white bubbles up like that.

And so you're just spooning the hot oil to help cook it on the top.

-Right?

It takes 30 to 60 seconds.

Get right out of there.

And right on the paper towel.

Let it absorb some of the oil.

And we're going to add the other guy.

Again, we're looking for the crispy edges and the white to be opaque, splashing a little oil over the egg.

-Mm-hmm.

-Loosen it up a little bit so we make sure it doesn't stick.

-Lawman, that's very cool.

-Nice, right?

-It's really cool.

-Take this guy out.

Tilt it a little bit just to get a little bit the oil off of it.

Now we can eat.

-All right.

-So we have some jasmine rice here.

Give us some of this.

-Lawman, this looks incredible.

-Thank you.

-It has all the components -- has the fried egg, has the stir fry.

Well, I love how you put this Nam Prik Nam Pla in individual bowls so we can add it as we want.

Ohh.

I'm going to start out with a little.

Got to break the egg yolk.

Oh, perfectly cooked egg.

Mmm.

It is a complex layer of flavors.

You can taste the meat, but you can taste the fish sauce.

-Sweet, salty, peppery, even though I put all those chilies in there.

-It's spicy.

-Spicy, but it's well-balanced spicy.

-Yeah.

There is a good, sweet component that's adding some balance.

But let's not -- let's not beat around the bush.

This is spicy.

-[ Laughs ] -And the fried egg on top just gilds the lily.

Thank you, Lawman.

This is delicious.

-You're welcome.

It was my pleasure.

-So if you want to make Pad Gra Prow at home, make two sauces, one for cooking and another for serving.

Add the basil right at the end.

And top with a wok-fried egg.

From "Cook's Country," a sweet but spicy recipe for Pad Gra Prow.

You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and select episodes at our website, CooksCountry.com/tv.

That wok-fried egg was super cool.

I've got to try that.

-[ Chuckles ]