Pad Thai Bangkok Street Food Style Recipe Video

Pad Thai is perhaps the most well known Thai dish outside of Thailand. It is a stir-fry dish containing gkuay dtiow (rice noodles) with a light sauce of tamerind, fish sauce, lime juice, chiles, shrimp, bean sprouts with a garnish of chopped peanuts and cilantro sprigs. Some Western kitchens add catsup, which results reddish noodles coated with a thick gooey sauce, which has a more sweetish flavor and color appealing to the American palate. Some restaurants use Sriracha bottled chile sauce instead of ground dried or fresh mobnced chiles, again serving reddish noodles.

Summary

Preparation Time20 MinCooking Time10 Min
Ready In30 MinDifficulty LevelVery Easy
Health IndexHealthyServings2
CuisineThaiCourseMain Dish
MethodStir FrySpecialityComplete Meal
Main IngredientOthers

Recipe Story

It's origin is thought to be Southern China as it really isn't a Thai dish. It was introduced in an attempt to lower the rice cosumption in Thailand. It was declared a national dish by Luang Phibunsongkhram when he was Prime Minister during World War II, partly for his nationalism campaign, and partly for a campaign to reduce rice consumption in Thailand at a time when the government faced a major budget crisis. The government printed and circulated instructions to make this recipe throughout the Kingdom. Pad Thai is made different by each and every cook as there are as many ways to make pad thai as there are cooks, geographical regions, moods, and creative entrepreneurial spirit. The dish is made to your liking with the ingrdients you have and adjusting to your taste the alance of hot, sour, sweet and salty flavors so typical of Thai cuisine. Variations can be made by using shrimp, veggies, or other meats and changing what ingredients are used to obtain the sweet-hot-sour-salty balance. Pad Thai is often eaten with pickled radish, cilantro sprigs, green onions, and lime wedges to adjust the sourness. I much prefer Pad Kee Mao another stir-fried rice noodle dish which I will share in another post.

Ingredients

 
4 ounces (rice noodles, also called Chantaboon Kuaytiow rice noodles)
 
2 teaspoons peanut oil (used in multiple steps)
 
1 tablespoon fish sauce (nam pla), to taste (used in multiple steps)
 
1+ tablespoon tamarind juice to taste
 
1 teaspoon date palm sugar, to taste
 
1/4 lb. fresh shrimp, shelled, de-veined and butterflied
 
1/4 lb. chicken (optional)
 
1/4 cup firm pressed tofu, cut into matchsticks 1" X 1/2" X 1/4"
 
4 cloves garlic, minced
 
1 shallot or red onion thinly sliced
 
1 tablespoon small dried shrimp
 
1 teaspoon roasted ground dried red chiles, to desired hotness
 
1 egg
 
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
 
Garnish
 
1/4 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
 
A few cilantro sprigs
 
2 green onion cut into flowers*
 
2 Thai Dragon Chile flowers*
 
Condiments
 
lime wedges
 
Chile Vinegar Condiment (Prik dong) follows
 
Chile Vinegar Condiment (Prik dong)
 
Slice 2/3 cup Phrik Kee Nue (Thai Bird’s Eye chiles)
 
or
 
Prik Chee Fa (Thai Dragon chiles)
 
Place chiles in a glass jar (1 pint size), Fill with rice vineagar. For a real zip I use coconut vinegar.

Directions

Place the rice noodles into a large bowl and cover with hot tap water to soften. From time to time move them around to help separate. This will take 20-30 minutes, but you want them still very firm to the touch.Set aside and continue.

Shell and de-vein the shrimp. Place them in a bowl of ice water with 1 teaspoon of sea salt dissolved in it. Slightly massage the shrimp in the water and let sit for 15 minutes to freshen them. Drain the shrimp, and butterfly and de-vein, set aside.

In a small bowl add the fish sauce, tamarind juice, and date palm sugar, mix until dissolved. Taste and adjust to achieve a total taste balance of salty- sour-sweet. Set aside.

Drain the softened noodles and set aside.

Place large wok over high flame and heat to the smoking point.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of oil and quickly stir-fry the shrimp until they turn slightly pink, but are still translucent. Add a splash or two of nam pla fish sauce. Remove from wok and place in a misen-plas bowl.

Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk. Add 1/2 teaspoon of oil to the wok add the eggs into the wok and let them cook a little, then turn them over and chop them up. Reserve.

Swirl in the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil to coat the wok surface and wait 20 to 30 seconds for it to heat. Add the tofu, frying 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pieces turn golden. Add garlic and stir-fry with the tofu for 15 to 20 seconds. Follow with the sliced shallots and cook another 15 seconds. Then add the dried shrimp, and ground roasted dried chiles. Stir and heat through a few seconds. Place aside into a bowl.

Add the noodles back into the wok, and all the reserved ingredients (egg, shrimp, and seasonings) and toss the noodles well with the ingredients in the wok to coat them evenly. Stir-fry 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until the noodles have changed their texture and softened a little.

Add the sweet-and-sour seasoning mixture. Stir well to evenly coat noodles. If the noodles are still too firm for your liking, sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of water over them to help cook. Taste and adjust flavors as needed to your liking by adding more fish sauce or tamarind juice; if the noodles are not sweet enough, sprinkle in a small amount of granulated sugar.

When the noodles are cooked to your liking, toss in 1/2 of the 1 cup of bean sprouts. Sprinkle with half the chopped peanuts and return the shrimp to the wok. Stir and when the vegetables are partially wilted, transfer to a serving platter, or dish onto individual serving-size plates, and garnish with the remaining bean sprouts and chopped peanuts, the lime wedges, cilantro and green onion and chile flowers.

Serves 2 as a one-dish lunch. Squeeze lime juice over each portion before eating.

Comments

psytek says :

OH MY GOD! This is the most awsome video recipe I ever seen!!! >D But I dubt in Europe I can find half of the ingredients! Like Red pork, saltet radish, pressed tofu... I'll try in western europe asian markets.
Posted on: 30 May 2008 - 1:45pm

s.durkee says :

I made this from your recipe and it is just like we ate in Thailand. THANK YOU so good.
Posted on: 17 September 2007 - 10:37pm

shantihhh says :

SORRY! I shouldn't do things when I am tired! It was a blonde-moment.
Posted on: 13 September 2007 - 5:01pm

admin says :

Photo is uploaded in video field. This will require backend cleanup and gonnas take time. Sorry not easy fix for this one. With Regards, ifood.tv Admin
Posted on: 13 September 2007 - 4:05am

shantihhh says :

should just be a photo, hummmm
Posted on: 12 September 2007 - 11:46pm

CookingMyWay says :

The video isn't working? Or did you just make a video of the photo?
Posted on: 12 September 2007 - 9:56pm

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