Recipe: Pad Thai
Exploring the flavours of Thai Cuisine
The flavours have so much punch and are so unique that it can be a little daunting to approach.
That is the main reason I've taken so long in my culinary journey to attempt Pad Thai.
Pad Thai done well is:
- delicious
- savoury
- sweet
- tart
- crunchy
- tangy
- fresh
- spicy
- fragrant
In other words, it literally lights up almost all of your taste buds. It's always been on my list of dishes to attempt but I just never tried - until now. To be honest, I always thought tackling Pad Thai was too ambitious and that I'd be better off leaving it to the professionals at Thai restaurants. I think I was wrong. The homemade version blew my socks off and was (I'm convinced) much healthier than your average, calorie-packed restaurant version.
I did some research and came up with a combo that works for me and honestly, this time I impressed myself. I thought I'd share the recipe with all my friends so that you can also have a taste of Thailand in your home.
While the recipe is easy to prepare, it does require quite a few ingredients and steps. For this reason, I'd say it's an intermediate level dish to cook in your kitchen.
Hope you give it a try at home. While it might require a bit of planning ahead of time, I'm confident the finished product will be well worth it.
Hope you give it a try at home. While it might require a bit of planning ahead of time, I'm confident the finished product will be well worth it.
Pad
Thai
Preparation
time: 30 minutes
Servings:
6
Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil (vegetable, olive or canola)
1 pkg of rice noodles, soaked in warm water for ten
minutes
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp Thai Chili sauce
3 tbsp of fish sauce
2 tbsp Tamarind chutney/sauce
1 carrot, julienned
½ tofu package, cut into small pieces
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded
1 green chili pepper, chopped or ½ teaspoon of chili
flakes
1 egg
1 tsp sugar (I used cane sugar)
1 cup of bean sprouts
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (garnish)
1 lime, cut into wedges (garnish)
2 green onions, chopped (garnish)
a handful of thai basil (garnish)
chopped peanuts (garnish)
salt to taste
Method:
Step One In a wok
or large pan heat oil on Medium
Step Two add the chicken breast and sauté until it is
cooked, remove chicken and set aside
Step Three In the same pan, sautee the tofu and then
remove from the pan once it starts to brown
Step Three Add Onions and sautee
Step Four When the onions start to cook add red
peppers, green chili and carrots
Step Five crack the egg in a separate bowl and whisk
with a fork
Step Six add the chicken and tofu back into the pan
Step Seven add the fish sauce and chili sauce and
combine
Step Eight Add the noodles to the pan and combine
everything together over medium heat
Step Nine In a separate bowl, beat one egg with a
fork
Step Ten make a well in the pad thai and scramble the
egg in the pan
Step Eleven Once the egg is cooked, mix it into the
noodle mixture
Step Twelve Add the bean sprouts (only add them at
the very end of the cooking process as they quickly become soggy. You want them
to still have a bite to them)
Step Thirteen Add sugar and salt to taste
Step Fourteen Add the Tamarind sauce and mix together
Step Fifteen Taste and adjust your seasonings/sauces
Step Sixteen Garnish with green onion, cilantro,
peanuts and basil
Step Seventeen Serve with lime wedges and squeeze the
juice on top just before you eat it
I truly hope you try this at home as I know I felt such an amazing sense of accomplishment when I got this recipe down.
If you are vegetarian or vegan just omit the chicken, egg and fish sauce and try a vegetarian fish sauce instead.
I'm going to try this on Friday night!
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