Best Homemade Pad Thai Recipe
Take it from a Thai, it is hard to find a really-good & authentic pad-thai outside of Thailand. I have searched high & low, & concluded that the best option is to master cooking it at home. This recipe is real deal with all ingredients of traditional pad thai - no-compromise.
Ingredients
For PAD THAI Sauce
- Water - 3 Tablespoon (45 ml)
- Palm sugar, chopped - 3 Tablespoon tightly packed - (35 g)
- Thai cooking tamarind - 4 Tablespoon
- Good fish sauce - 2 Tablespoon
For PAD THAI
- Dry rice noodles, medium size - 4oz (soak in room temp water for 1 hour)
- Dried shrimp, medium size - 2 Tablespoon (roughly chopped)
- Garlic cloves - 3 (Chopped)
- Roughly chopped shallots - ¼ Cup
- Pressed tofu, cut into small pieces - 3 oz (85 g)
- Finely chopped SWEET preserved daikon radish - 3 Tablespoon
- Dried chili flakes, to taste (optional)
- Vegetable oil - 3 Tablespoon (45 ml)
- Medium sized shrimp - 10
- Eggs - 2
- Bean sprouts - 2 ½ cups (120 g) (loosely packed)
- Garlic chives - 7-10 stalks (70 g) (cut into 2” pieces)
- Roasted peanuts, roughly chopped - ¼ Cup
- Lime - 1
Garnishes & condiments for serving:
- Roasted peanuts, Chili flakes, Bean sprouts & Garlic chives.
Preparation:
TO MAKE PAD THAI SAUCE:
Step 1:
Add palm-sugar to small pot & melt over medium-heat. Once sugar is melting, keep stirring till it darkens in colour. Immediately, add fish sauce, water, & tamarind paste. The sugar will harden immediately & this is okay.
Step 2:
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 prepare other ingredients & it should-be dissolved by time you need-it. Check that it dissolved before you start cooking!
TO MAKE PAD THAI:
Step 1:
Cut drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss & separate in wok.
Step 2:
In bowl, mix garlic, tofu, shallots, dried shrimp, preserved radish & chili flakes.
Step 3:
Heat wok or large nonstick-skillet over high-heat & add just enough oil to coat bottom. Sear shrimp, or whatever protein you are using, till done & remove them from pan.
Step 4:
In same wok over medium-heat, add little more oil if needed, then add every-thing in tofu bowl & sauté for few mins till garlic starts to turn-golden & shallots are wilted. If wok looks dry, add little more oil. (Donot skimp on oil other-wise the noodles will clump-up together.)
Step 5:
Turn heat up to high, then add noodles & sauce. Keep tossing till all sauce is absorbed.
Step 6:
Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn-off heat & taste the noodles for doneness. If they are still undercooked, add little more water & continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!
Step 7:
Once noodles are done, push them to one side of pan. Add little extra oil to empty space & eggs. Break the yolks, then put noodles on the top of eggs & cook for about 30 secs. Flip & toss to mix eggs in-to noodles.
Step 8:
Toss cooked protein back-in, plus any collected juices. Then add garlic chives, bean sprouts & half of peanuts. Turn-off heat & toss till well-mixed.
Step 9:
Serve immediately, with a lime wedge & extra peanuts on the top. For classic presentation you can add little extra-side of bean sprouts & some garlic-chives garnish.
Step 10:
Be sure to squeeze bit of lime on the top before eating!
