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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Pad Thai

  • Pad Thai Recipe

  • 1/2 package Thai rice noodles
  • 1 -1/3 cup bean sprouts Optional
  • 1/2 banana flower Optional
  • 1-1/2 cup Chinese chives Optional
  • 2 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
  • 2 tablespoon sugar
  • minced shallots
  • 1 tablespoon preserved turnip Optional
  • 1/3 cup extra firm tofu
  • 1/2 lime
  • 2 tablespoons peanuts Optional
  • 1/2-1/4 lb shrimp Optional
  • ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground dry chili peppers
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 4 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 egg

Pad Thai Origin

This Pad Thai recipe  actually originated from  Bangkok, Thailand and comes from testing hundreds of different variations from food carts all over the city. Pad Thai is the pinnacle of street food. While "street food" may sound dirty and unappetizing , food cart cooks are in such  competitive situations. Due to the circumstances of having  limited space, ingredients and tools, they need to specialize in a dish or two just to stay in business. These accomplishing cooks have cooked the same dish day-after-day, year-after-year, and consistently perfecting this dish.
The ideal Pad Thai is dry, light bodied, fresh, complex, and  balanced flavor. It should be reddish and brownish color and not bright red and oily like I've seen in the US. The ingredients listed above can be somewhat frightening ,but many are optional. If you would like to make authentic Pad Thai, just like in Thailand, then use all of these ingredients.
Alternatively, Pad Thai is a perfect vegetarian dish, just remove shrimp and replace soy sauce for fish sauce. Add more tofu if you want.

1 comment:

  1. Pad Thai is my favorite! I wish people walked around with mouth watering food like that in Miami!

    ReplyDelete