Pad Thai

When I first tasted Pad Thai, I honestly had a sense that this was the food for me. The Thai flavors are amazing and Pad Thai is one of my very favorite meals. When it comes to Pad Thai, what I prefer is the more authentic version of the meal than the more Americanized version. The very best recipe I found was this this one for Authentic Pad Thai from Hot Thai Kitchen

LIke with all recipes, I use them as a starting place and fiddle around with it from there. The key thing to pad thai are the ingredients. We are lucky here in the Seattle area to have access to all the ingredients that one might need from anywhere in the far East.

First you have to make the Pad Thai sauce

• 35 g palm sugar finely chopped filling 3 Tbs tightly packed
• 3 TBS of water
• 3-4 TBS of Tamarind Sauce (It’s pretty sour, so depending on your preferences use more or less. I use 4.
• 2 TBS of fish sauce

To make the fish sauce, start with the palm sugar, adding it to a small pot so it melts over medium heat. Once the sugar begins melting, stir until it begins to caramelize, and darken in colour. Immediately add the water, the fish sauce, and the tamarind paste. The sugar will likely harden immediately, which is fine.

Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. The hardened sugar will probably not have dissolved at this point, even so, let it sit while you prep other ingredients which will give it time to dissolve by the time you need it. Check to make sure that it is dissolved before you start cooking. If it isn’t, warm it and stir it till it is!

Pad Thai noodles are rice noodles that need to be soaked for an hour or so before you drop them in the wok. You need about 4oz (115g) dry rice noodles, medium size, soaked in room temp water for 1 hour. It’s a great idea to cut the soaked noodles in half so they are easier to handle in the wok.

Next I prepare the other ingredients and mix them in a bowl:

• The tofu needs to be pressed. Start with a firm tofu, and press it. I put a heavy bottle on top of the tofu till the water stops coming out. Then chop about a third of the brick it into small blocks, and drop them in the bowl.
• Add 2-3 TBS of roughly chopped dried shrimp
• Add 3 cloves or so of finely chopped garlic
• Add a 1.4 cup of roughly chopped shallots
• Add 3 Tbs of finely chopped sweet preserved daikon radishes
• Add dried chili flakes to taste

Heat the wok with just enough oil to cover the bottom, then sear the shrimp (or chicken or whatever protein you use). We prefer shrimp. I get 10 good size peeled and deveined shrimp, and sear them in a little olive oil with garlic, remove from the wok and set aside.

You also need:

• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups of loosely packed bean sprouts
• 7-10 stalks of garlic chives cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup of roasted peanuts roughly chipped
• A lime quartered

To make the Pad Thai,

In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil. (Important: Don’t skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.) 

Turn heat up to high then drain, and add the noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.

Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they’re still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!

Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add add little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. Break the yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles. 

Toss the cooked protein (shrimp) back in, plus any collected juices. Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.

Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top. For a classic presentation you can add a little extra side of bean sprouts and some garlic chives garnish.