Recipe Pad Thai, Thai Cooking Class Phuket

Worldly famous, Pad Thai is (not surprisingly) the national dish of Thailand. Pad Thai with Prawns is ordered over and over again. You can quickly wok it up in your own kitchen, too. Here’s how!

Ingredients

Pad Thai Sauce (makes 10 portions, and can be saved in the fridge)

3/4 cup palm sugar
1 1/4 cup tamarind juice (made from 50g seedless sour tamarind and 1 cup water)
1/2 cup fish sauce (or soy sauce for vegetarian)

Pad Thai Ingredients (makes 2 portions)

1+2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 Tbsp thinly sliced shallots
120g fresh Pad Thai rice noodles, or dried one soaked to soften and drained
1 cups chicken stock or water
1/4 cup Pad Thai sauce
100g medium prawns (optional), peeled and deveined
2 eggs
1/4 cup firm tofu (bean curd), diced and shallow fried until golden (and crispy if preferred)
1 tsp small, dried shrimps (optional)
1 Tbsp sweet preserved radish, finely chopped
1-2 cups bean sprouts
2-3 Tbsp roasted peanuts, crushed
1/4 cup garlic chives, reserve a few young stalks for serving, cut the rest into 2.5 cm pieces
1 tsp chilli powder, to taste (you know your limit!)
1 tsp sugar, to taste

Directions

The Sauce

Combine all the sauce ingredients together in a saucepan. Note that if your palm sugar is very firm you should chop it with a knife on a chopping board first, to help it dissolves quickly.
Place the saucepan on medium heat and keep stirring until sugar is dissolved completely. Simmer and reduce the sauce until it thickens and turns dark like molasses; about 10-15 minutes.
Turn off the heat. You can use the sauce right away or cool and keep in a jar in the fridge for later use. This recipe makes enough sauce for about 10 dishes or so. It should keep for about a couple of months in the fridge.

Pad Thai

In a wok, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium high heat until very hot. Add the prawns and keep an eye on them until they are just about cooked through. Remove prawns from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add another 2 Tbsp of oil. Add the shallots and garlic, stir until just starts to become fragrant. Add preserved radish, the small, dried shrimps, and tofu. Cook until the garlic starts to brown.
Add the noodles and the sauce, and keep stirring for a few second to “fry up” the sauce, before adding 1/2 cup of water or stock and cook until the noodles absorb all the water.
Once all liquid has been absorbed check the consistency of the noodles. If they are still too chewy, add another 1/4 cup stock or water (you may not need to use the full 1 cup specified in the ingredient list).
When all the sauce has been absorbed, push the noodles to one side of the pan and add the eggs. Scramble the eggs a little bit and let the eggs set about half way before adding back the pre-fried prawns and combining everything together in the wok.
Add the bean sprouts, garlic chives, and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss just to mix.
Plate the noodles and sprinkle with the remaining peanuts and chilli powder. Serve with a wedge of lime, extra bean sprouts, garlic chives stalks, and extra chilli powder if desired.

See short Video recipe here.