If you have ever been to a Thai restaurant or to Thailand, then you have likely tried pad Thai. It’s a delicious noodle dish that is sweet and sour, salty and spicy. The dish is very versatile, and can be prepared with chicken, prawns, tofu, egg or other proteins. Personally, I prefer a recipe for Pad Thai that has both prawns and tofu. While in Thailand, we had many versions of pad Thai, and it was impressive how quickly they could stir-fry up a dish to order. In fact, I think the trick was having the noodles pre-soaked and soft, sauce prepared, and all of the ingredients chopped and ready to go. One ingredient that cannot be missed out is the tamarind, which is sweet and sour. Hope you enjoy this recipe for Pad Thai, and feel free to experiment!
Ingredients
Sauce
45 g palm sugar, chopped or 3 Tbsp packed brown sugar
4 Tbsp water
5 Tbsp Tamarind paste
3 Tbsp fish sauce
Pad Thai
200g dry rice noodles, medium size, soaked in warm water for 1 hour
2 Tbsp dried shrimp, chopped (or 1 Tbsp fish or shrimp sauce)
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 shallots, chopped
100 g firm tofu, cut into small pieces
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
15-20 medium sized shrimp
2 eggs
200g bean sprouts
Bunch of spring onions, cut into 2-inch lengths
Large handful of roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
Dried chili flakes, to taste (optional)
Instructions
Sauce
First, add the palm or brown sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once sugar is melting, keep stirring then add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat and set aside.
Pad Thai
First, drain noodles and cut them in half with scissors. Next, in a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, and dried shrimp or fish or shrimp sauce then set aside.
Heat a wok or a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Then sear shrimp until they are cooked, remove them from pan and set aside.
In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil. Then add the tofu mixture and sauté for a few minutes until the shallots start to soften. Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed. Taste the noodles to make sure that they are tender. If not, then add a couple Tablespoons of water and continue cooking until the noodles are done.
Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add a little extra oil to the empty side 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. Add prawns, bean sprouts, spring onions and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed. Sprinkle with chili flakes, if desired.
Finally, serve immediately, garnished with lime wedges and extra peanuts on top.
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