Pad Thai is a stir fried noodle dish, traditionally made with shrimps or prawns but can also be made with pork, chicken, beef, and even tofu. It can be made to be dry and light or heavy and oily depending on your tastes.
A delicious, quick, easy to prepare, and healthy dish, with low cost ingredients. It’s easy to see why this dish is so readily available on the streets of Bangkok, and why it’s so popular with budget conscious backpackers.
Flavours are somewhat complex, combining hot, salty, sweet and sour, but together a good balance is created.
Ingredients:
Serves 2
200g of Shrimps or prawns (raw preferred)
2 medium sized eggs
approx 130g of dry rice noodles
4 tablespoons of pad thai sauce
1/2 lime
1/2 cup chinese chives
1 cup of bean sprouts
1 tablespoon of crushed chillis
1 tablespoon crushed peanuts
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
1 carrot (optional)
2 spring onions (optional)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Pad Thai cooking instructions:
Step 1: Soaking the noodles – Fill a large bowl or container with warm water, and place the 130g of dried Thai rice noodles (approx 1/3 of the pack) into the bowl so that the water is completely covering the noodles. They will need about 10 minutes of soaking, so that they become soft, but not cooked.
Step 2: Take the 200g of prawns and using a sharp knife, make a cut along the back to open them up slightly, removing any stringy vein type material from inside. Once this is done, wash them all under cold water.
Step 3: Cut away the bottom 1/3 of the Chinese green chives and put aside for use later. Chop the other 2/3 of the chives up for cooking. Follow by slicing the spring onion diagonally into thin pieces. Also slice the carrot into thin slices, or grate it, keeping a handful aside for use later. Finally cut your lime into quarters, wash the bean sprouts, and your preparation is complete.
Step 4: By now the noodles should have been soaking for about 10 minutes, poor them into a sieve and drain all excess water.
Step 5: Put 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil into a wok or pan, and set your cooker to a high heat. When the wok is hot, put the prawns in (ensure they have been drained of any water to you don’t get hot oil spat at you!) Immediately after the prawns, crack the 2 eggs and put the white and yoke into the wok. Stir contents thoroughly adding more oil if required. After a few stirs, add the noodles, and continue to stir quickly and frequently.
Step 6: Add the 4 tablespoons of pad thai sauce, and stir in. Ensure all ingredients are thoroughly mixed together and the sauce evenly distributed. By this stage, all ingredients should have been cooking for just a couple of minutes on a high heat, cook for too long and the dish will become too dry.
Step 7: Add the chopped Chinese green chives, spring onions, some of the chopped carrot, and the bean sprouts into the wok. Once again stir everything together so the ingredients are well mixed. Add the 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, and continue stirring.
Step 8: Now the noodles should be soft and tangled – the cooking is complete. Pour contents onto a plate, and add to the side of the plate the bottom 1/3 of the Chinese green chives, bean sprouts, the 1/4 of lime, 1 table spoon of crushed chillies, and 1 tablespoon of crushed peanuts. Sprinkle some of the grated carrot you kept back earlier over the noodles.
Serve and Enjoy!