Authentic Pad Thai
Servings: Yield: 2 servings Source: hot-thai-kitchen.com
Ingredients
Pad Thai Sauce
35 g palm sugar, chopped (3 Tbsp tightly packed)
3 Tbsp water
4 Tbsp tamarind paste/concentrate (see note 1, and also see how to make tamarind paste from pulp)
2 Tbsp good fish sauce (how to choose good fish sauce)
Pad Thai
4oz (115g) Erawa brand dry rice noodles, medium size, soak in room temp water for 1 hour (see notes 2,3)
2 Tbsp dried shrimp, medium size, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup roughly chopped shallots
85g pressed tofu (1 square piece), cut into small pieces
3 Tbsp finely chopped SWEET preserved daikon radish (see note 4)
Dried chili flakes, to taste (optional)
2–3 Tbsp vegetable oil
10 medium sized shrimp, or as many as you like (to sub other protein, see note 5)
2 eggs
2 ½ cups bean sprouts, loosely packed
10 stems garlic chives, cut into 2” pieces
¼ cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 lime
Garnishes and condiments for serving: chili flakes, roasted peanuts, bean sprouts and garlic chives.
Directions
Add palm sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in colour (see video for colour). Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste-sugar will harden immediately, this is okay.
Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. The hardened sugar will not have dissolved at this point, but let it sit while you prep other ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it. Check that it is dissolved before you start cooking!
To make pad thai (see note 6):
Cut drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss and separate in the wok.
In a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.
Heat a wok or a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Sear shrimp, or whatever protein you’re using, until done and remove them from pan.
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. (Don’t skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.)
Turn heat up to high then add 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 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 back in (unless you’re using shrimp and want to place them on top when plating). Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives and half 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.
Be sure to squeeze a bit of lime on top before eating!
Notes
Do not use the black, sticky “tamarind concentrate” that is a product of India as it is a much more concentrated version and cannot be used in the same way in this recipe. Make sure you either make it from pulp as shown here, or buy the brown paste that is a product of Thailand or Vietnam.
You can soak noodles in advance, drain, and keep them well sealed in the fridge for a few days.
I use Erawan brand noodles. Some brands, such as Thai Kitchen, have thinner noodles, so I would soak them only until the noodles become white and completely pliable (no resistance when bending); check them at 30 minutes. I would also use only 1 Tbsp of water in the sauce and you can always add more when cooking needed (I show you when to do this in the video).
Thai SWEET preserved radish is made from daikon radish and it is a difficult ingredient to find unless you have a well-stocked Thai grocery store. You can instead used chopped Japanese “takuan” which is also a sweet preserved daikon radish; it’s the yellow pickle you often see in sushi rolls. There also exists the SALTY version of the Thai preserved radish and they look exactly the same as the sweet, but do not use the salty kind as it will be too salty. See text above on how you can turn the salty kind into sweet.
If using chicken, pork or beef, slice into bite-sized pieces and marinate them with just a bit of fish sauce or soy sauce so the meat isn’t bland.
You can make a big batch of sauce in advance and store indefinitely in the fridge. When ready to use, you will need 5 oz (150ml) of sauce for this recipe.
If making large amounts, don’t crowd the pan or noodles will steam too much and become mushy. I recommend cooking no more than 3 servings at a time in a wok (1.5 times this recipe), and less if you’re using a small pan.
