Our Thai host ordered a very enticing-looking dish for dinner recently, and the next day, we followed suit.

Kra pao kai (pictured) or kra pao moo (if pork) translates as chicken (kai) stir-fried with holy basil. The kai dow on the end means fried egg, a popular addition to the dish, but you can leave it off when ordering if you don’t fancy it. The egg aside, it is a light, clean-tasting dish, inexpensive and seemingly very common.