Recipe: Pad Thai

Recipe: Pad Thai 

Exploring the flavours of Thai Cuisine

I've always wanted to visit Thailand and it just hasn't been in the cards yet. It is definitely in a top spot on my bucket list though. In the meantime, I love experimenting and bringing Thailand to my kitchen. 

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. 

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.