Thailand · Thai street food cuisine
Pad thai
Chewy rice noodles stir-fried in a wok with sweet, sour and salty tamarind sauce, prawns, tofu, egg, crunchy bean sprouts and garlic chives, finished with crushed peanuts and a squeeze of lime.
Cookhuddle Editorial Cookhuddle | Thailand
Editorial selection: recipes cross-checked against several documentary sources. They have not been tested in our kitchen: follow the precautions given and adapt times to your own oven.
Photo: PattayaPatrol · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · cropped
original Original text, written in English.
Read this recipe infrançais · translationEnglish · originalespañol · translation
- Servings
- 4
- Preparation
- 30 min
- Cooking
- 15 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
Cuisine / tradition: Thai street food cuisine (TH) — declared by the author
- Main dish
- Street food
- Quick
Ingredients
For 4 servings
- 250 g dried flat rice noodles (3 to 5 mm)
- 6 tbsp tamarind paste (pulp), about 90 ml
- 4 tbsp palm sugar (or dark brown sugar)
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 6 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 12 piece medium raw prawns, peeled and deveined
- 30 g dried shrimp, coarsely ground
- 3 clove garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 piece large shallots, thinly sliced
- 80 g firm tofu, cut into small matchsticks
- 2 tbsp preserved salted radish, rinsed and chopped (optional)
- 4 piece eggs, lightly beaten
- 150 g bean sprouts
- 30 g garlic chives, cut in 3 cm pieces
- 50 g roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely crushed
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes, to serve (optional)
- 2 piece limes, in wedges, to serve
Method
- Step 1. Soak the noodles in lukewarm water for 30 minutes, until flexible but still firm, then drain well.⏱ 30 min
- Step 2. Make the sauce: mix the tamarind, the palm sugar, the fish sauce and 2 tablespoons of water in a small pan and warm for 1 minute, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Have all the other ingredients prepared and within reach of the wok.⏱ 1 min
- Step 3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Cook the prawns for about 1 minute on each side, until just pink and curled into a loose C. Remove and set aside.⏱ 2 min
- Step 4. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok over medium heat. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds, then the shallots for 1 minute. Add the tofu, the dried shrimp and the preserved radish and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant.⏱ 2 min
- Step 5. Turn the heat to high. Add the drained noodles and the sauce and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes, lifting and turning the noodles so that they take up the sauce, adding a splash of water if they are dry, until tender and chewy.⏱ 3 min
- Step 6. Push the noodles to one side, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the empty space and pour in the eggs. Fold gently until about 70 percent set, then mix them into the noodles.⏱ 1 min
- Step 7. Take the wok off the heat. Add the bean sprouts, the garlic chives, the prawns and half of the peanuts and toss gently. Serve at once, topped with the rest of the peanuts, with lime wedges and chilli flakes on the side.
Story and cultural note
Pad thai is a Thai stir-fry of rice noodles seasoned with a sauce of tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce. The sources agree that the essentials are tamarind (not lime juice and not peanut butter), fish sauce, palm sugar, dried shrimp and preserved salted radish, which give the depth that a westernised version lacks; brown sugar is the usual stand-in for palm sugar. They differ on the soaking of the noodles (20 minutes in hot water, or 1 hour in lukewarm), on chicken, prawns or tofu, and on the quantity of dried shrimp.
Tips for success
Soak the noodles only until flexible: they finish cooking in the wok and soak up the sauce. Prepare everything before heating the wok, as pad thai cooks in minutes. Cook in small amounts over very high heat, or the noodles will steam instead of frying. Use tamarind, not lime, for the sour note; add the lime at the table.
Serving and presentation
Serve immediately on a warm plate with the crushed peanuts on top, a lime wedge, extra bean sprouts and garlic chives and the chilli flakes on the side, so that each person can adjust the heat and sourness.
Diet and allergens
Information declared by the author. CookHuddle does not verify or certify it. If you have an allergy, check the ingredients yourself.
DietDairy-free
ContainsCrustaceansFishEggsPeanutsSoy
