Pad Thai is one of the most popular Thai dishes in the states. It is among one of the many delicious street foods accessible all over Thailand, and is quick and easy to make.
With a few unique ingredients (that keep basically forever in your fridge) you too can make this savory, sweet, and tangy dish.
Some of these ingredients you may not be use to seeing; palm sugar, tamarind concentrate, and sweet preserved radish. If you don’t have palm sugar, you could absolutely substitute regular granulated sugar. Palm sugar comes in many different varieties, it can be found soft and scoopable in a jar, or in small mounds like these found here. If you purchase them in the small mound (or rounds) form, just use a knife to thinly shave and chop the sugar into small bits.
Tamarind concentrate is something I always keep in my fridge. Tamarind is a pod-like fruit that contains edible pulp. You can purchase it fresh, in concentrated blocks, powder, or in a liquid concentrate. It’s great for making Tom Yum Soup, or Vietnamese Canh Chua. I like to purchase the liquid concentrate, it is 100% tamarind that has been extracted from the pulp and strained. Find it at your local asian market or here. For the preserved sweet radish (found here or at your local asian market), slice or chop up into small bits. These tiny nuggets will add sweet and salty bits of favor throughs your dish and add additional crunch. These three ingredients are key components to achieve the flavor and texture that people love in Pad Thai.
Traditionally pad thai is made in a wok. If you don’t have a wok, you can make it in a large sauté pan. Either way, you will be cooking quickly at a high temperature so it is important to have your ingredients prepped and ready to go. This recipe goes quick – I was able to prep, cook, plate, and take pictures all under 20 minutes. I used left over sautéd shrimp that I had as apart of this Left Over Series, but feel free to use any protein you’d like. Thinly sliced beef, chicken, or pork can be quickly sautéd, set aside, and tossed back into the dish right before plating. Enjoy this Thai take out dish in the comforts of your own home.
Slightly adapted from Hot Thai Kitchen, original recipe found here.
- 35 grams palm sugar, finely chopped (about 3 tightly packed tablespoons)
- ¼ cup tamarind concentrate
- 2 tablespoons Red Boat Fish Sauce
- 3 Tbsp water
- 4 ounces of dry rice noodles
- 8-10 left over cooked shrimp
- 2 TBLS high smoke point cooking oil (coconut or avocado oil are my favorites)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 piece pressed tofu, cut into small pieces
- ½ tsp of thai chili flakes
- ¼ cup sweet preserved daikon radish, finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 2.5 cups bean sprouts
- 1 cup garlic chives, cut into 2” pieces
- ¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts
- 1 lime
- An hour before cooking, soak dried rice noodles in a large bowl of water. After an hour, the noodles should change from transparent to white in color.
- Before cooking, make sure everything is prepared and remeasured. For the sauce, add all of the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl (I used a glass measuring cup) and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir with a spoon to make sure sugar is dissolved.
- In a heavy bottom wok on medium high heat, add garlic, preserved radish, pressed tofu, and chili flakes. Cook until garlic is lightly golden, stirring frequently.
- Add the sauce and the noodles, continuously tossing the noodles until they have absorbed the sauce. Add the noodles and the sauce, and keep stirring and tossing until the noodles have absorbed all the sauce.
- When the sauce is absorbed, push the noodles onto on side of the pan and add the eggs. Scramble the eggs gently and allow the eggs to slightly set. At this point, toss back in your cooked shrimp or whatever cooked protein you're using. Once set, put the noodles on top of the egg mixture and flip the eggs over using a spatula and break up the eggs.
- Add the beansprouts and garlic chives. Turn off the heat and toss to mix.
- Plate the noodles, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and serve with a piece of lime, extra bean sprouts, garlic chives, and chili flakes.
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