How to Cook Pad Thai
There are many recipes to choose from if you want to cook delicious Asian noodles, and one of the most popular kinds you can try is Pad Thai. This culinary noodle masterpiece is among the most beloved dishes in Thailand, known for its mix of flavors and alluring scent. For a beginner, cooking Pad Thai can be a challenge because of the many ingredients, but once you master this, you’ll certainly come seeking more.
What You’ll Need:
Eight ounces of Thai rice noodles
¼ cup of warm water
¼ cup of tamarind paste
three tablespoons of fish sauce
four ounces of fried tofu
Four ounces of chicken breast, boneless
Eight large shrimps, shelled and deveined
½ cup of vegetable oil
Two tablespoons of lime juice
Two tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
One cup of bean sprouts
Two stems of green onion, sliced in 1-inch pieces
Fresh coriander leaves
½ tablespoon of roasted chili
Red pepper strips
Two eggs
Lime wedge
Procedure:
Put some cold water in a bowl, then submerge the rice noodles in it. Leave it for an hour there. While it sits, you can do the other cooking tasks.
Get another smaller bowl, then combine the warm water with the tamarind paste. Let this soak for 15 minutes.
Fry the tofu, until it’s golden brown. Cut it into ¾ inch cubes, then set aside.
Get the chicken breasts and slice them into strips, each one at least ¼ inch thin. Fresh poultry can be difficult to cut through, so if you struggle with this, you can just put it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, so it will slightly harden. Slice it and set aside, too.
Blend the peanuts. If there’s someone who’s allergic to peanuts eating this meal, you should just leave out this ingredient.
Get the tamarind paste that you set aside earlier. Use a fork to mash it, until it becomes a mud-like mixture. Transfer this to a strainer with a bowl underneath it. Use a spoon to push and mash the tamarind, so the liquid is strained. Scrape juice that clings to the strainer’s underside. Get five tablespoons of juice from the bowl, and set the rest aside. You can discard the solid tamarind pieces in the strainer.
Add the sugar, lime juice and the fish sauce, then mix thoroughly.
Get a large frying pan or a wok, the pour in the vegetable oil. Wait fir it to heat up, until it starts to smoke. Put in the garlic and stir around, allowing it to cook for half a minute.
Add the chicken then continue stir-frying. Add the shrimp and tofu, then stir-fry for another minute.
Get the eggs then crack them open over the wok. Fry them for a couple of minutes, but don’t break them up.
While you’re cooking the eggs, go to your noodles, then drain them quickly with the help of a larger strainer. Add them to your wok, stir-frying them for a minute, folding them from the bottom up, so they cook evenly. Add the leftover tamarind juice, continuing stir-frying and mixing everything for a minute or two. By this time, the noodles now have an “al dente” softness.
Get 2/3 of the ground peanuts and add them to the noodles.
Add 2/3 of the bean sprouts, as well as the green onion. Sitr fry for another 30 seconds, then remove from heat.
Put the noodles in a serving dish, then top with the roasted chilies, the rest of the peanuts and sprouts, fresh coriander leaves and strips of red pepper. Add two lime wedges to the side, then serve.
You can put pepper, fish sauce and sugar on the table, so your guests can blend and mix in additional flavors, if they want to.
If you want a taste of Thailand, then Pad Thai is your best bet. Don’t mind the number of ingredients and the procedure, because once you taste your masterpiece, you’ll realize all your hard work is worth it!