Authentic Pad Thai Food

AUTHENTIC PAD THAI RECIPE

Steps:

• Add palm sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once the sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in colour (see video for colour). Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. The sugar will harden immediately and this is okay.
• Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. The hardened sugar will not have dissolved at this point, but let it sit while you prep other ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it. Check that it is dissolved before you start cooking!
• Cut drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss and separate in the wok.
• In a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.
• Heat a wok or a large nonstick skillet over high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Sear shrimp, or whatever protein you're using, until done and remove them from pan.
• In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil. (Don't skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.)
• Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.
• Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they're still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!
• Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add add little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. Break the yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles.
• Toss the cooked protein back in, plus any collected juices. Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.
• Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top. For a classic presentation you can add a little extra side of bean sprouts and some garlic chives garnish.
• Be sure to squeeze a bit of lime on top before eating!

AUTHENTIC PAD THAI

Steps:

• Place rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with several inches of room temperature water; let soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain.
• Whisk sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, and tamarind paste in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat.
• Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir until chicken is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil and minced garlic in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Stir in eggs; scramble until eggs are nearly cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add cooked chicken breast slices and rice noodles; stir to combine.
• Stir in tamarind mixture, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, and salt; cook until noodles are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in peanuts; cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with bean sprouts, chives, paprika, and lime wedges.

PAD THAI

Steps:

• For the Pad Thai Sauce: In a small bowl, stir together the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind paste, lime juice, vinegar, paprika and chili sauce. Set aside.
• For the Pad Thai: Soak the noodles in enough warm water to cover for 1 hour.
• If using, cut the banana leaf into round shapes using an overturned bowl. Place on the serving platter and hold for plating.
• Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add the oil and coat the skillet completely. When the skillet starts to smoke, add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 5 seconds. Add the tofu and dried shrimp and cook, stirring, until they begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and cook, stirring, until no longer pink, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Push ingredients in the skillet to one side and let the oil settle in the center of skillet. Crack the eggs into the oil and let set until half-cooked, about 30 seconds, then lightly scramble. Combine with the remaining cooked ingredients in the skillet, scraping the bits from the bottom before they burn. Add 3 cups of the drained noodles and cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve the noodle soaking water.
• Add the salted turnip and shrimp. Cook until both the chicken and shrimp are at medium doneness, about 1 minute. Add the sauce and fold together until all the liquid is absorbed, about 2 minutes.
• Place half of the bean sprouts, half of the crushed peanuts and the garlic chives (or scallions) in the center of noodles, and then spoon some noodles over them to cover and let steam for 30 seconds. If the skillet seems dry, add a small amount of the noodle soaking water. Transfer to a serving plate with the banana leaf circle, and garnish with the remaining bean sprouts, peanuts and lime.

AUTHENTIC PAD THAI NOODLES

Steps:

• Soak rice vermicelli noodles in a bowl filled with hot water until softened, 30 minutes to 1 hour. Drain and set aside.
• Heat peanut oil over medium heat in a large wok.
• Cook and stir tofu in the wok, turning the pieces until they are golden on all sides.
• Remove tofu with a slotted spoon and drain on plate lined with paper towels.
• Pour all but 1 tablespoon of used oil from the wok into a small bowl; it will be used again in a later step.
• Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok over medium heat until it starts to sizzle.
• Pour in beaten egg and lightly toss in the hot oil to scramble the egg.
• Remove egg from the wok and set aside.
• Pour reserved peanut oil in the small bowl back into the wok.
• Toss garlic and drained noodles in wok until they are coated with oil.
• Stir in vegetable broth, lime juice, soy sauce, and sugar. Toss and gently push noodles around the pan to coat with sauce.
• Gently mix in tofu, scrambled egg, salt, chili flakes, and 3 tablespoons peanuts; toss to mix all ingredients.
• Mix in bean sprouts and green onions, reserving about 1 tablespoon of each for garnish. Cook and stir until bean sprouts have softened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Arrange noodles on a warm serving platter and garnish with 3 tablespoons peanuts and reserved bean sprouts and green onions. Place lime wedges around the edges of the platter.

AUTHENTIC PAD THAI

Steps:

• Soak the dry noodles in lukewarm water while preparing the other ingredients, for 10-15 minutes.
• Julienne tofu and cut into pieces 1 inch long.
• Cut up Chinese chives into 1 inch long pieces. Set aside a few fresh chives for a garnish.
• Rinse the bean sprouts and save half for serving fresh.
• Mince shallot and garlic together.
• Heat the oil in a wok on high.
• Fry the peanuts until toasted and remove them from the wok.
• Add shallot, garlic and tofu and stir them until they start to brown.
• The noodles should be flexible but not expanded at this point. Drain the noodles and add to the wok. Stir quickly to keep things from sticking.
• Add tamarind, sugar, fish sauce, chili pepper and preserved turnip. Stir. The heat should remain high. If your wok is not hot enough, you will see a lot of juice in the wok at this point. Turn up the heat, if it is the case.
• Make room for the egg by pushing all noodles to the side of the wok. Crack the egg onto the wok and scramble it until it is almost all cooked. Fold the egg into the noodles.
• Add shrimp and stir for a minute.
• Add bean sprouts, chives. Stir a few more times. The noodles should be soft and very tangled.
• Pour onto the serving plate and sprinkle with the fried peanuts. Serve hot with banana flower, a wedge of lime, raw Chinese chives and raw bean sprouts.