Pad Thai
After 15 years of relentless cravings, I finally have the pleasure of creating my favorite Thai dish right in the comfort of my kitchen. No more waiting in long lines or enduring the winter blues without my beloved Pad Thai.
After 15 years of relentless cravings, I finally have the pleasure of creating my favorite Thai dish right in the comfort of my kitchen. No more waiting in long lines or enduring the winter blues without my beloved Pad Thai.
- 2 eggs
- 8 tbsp oil (sunflower, peanut or grape seed)
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 12 oz medium flat rice noodles soaked for 10 minutes in warm water and drained
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tbsp shrimp paste
- 6-8 oz. protein (chicken, pork, thinly sliced or 10 fresh prawns, tempeh or tofu)
- 3 tbsp natural crunchy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 3 oz. cabbage thinly chopped
- 4 green onions chopped
- Carbohydrate 87.967959 g
- Cholesterol 122.572 mg
- Fat 45.8021025 g
- Fiber 4.29848252378106 g
- Protein 19.678884 g
- Saturated Fat 5.49057375 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (278g)
- Sodium 1896.28905 mg
- Sugar 83.6694764762189 g
- Trans Fat 3.52825149999999 g
- Calories 840 calories
Step-by-step
- Add oil to hot wok or deep frying pan, and fry the garlic until golden brown. Break the eggs into the pan and stir rapidly to scramble with the garlic.
- Add the noodles and stir well, scraping all the ingredients together.
- One by one, add the following ingredients, stirring once between each addition: lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar, the main protein of choice, peanut butter and shrimp paste (I pushed the noodles away from the center of the wok and smeared the p.b. and paste around until they started to liquefy together, then tossed the noodles, mixing the hot paste in well), chilli powder, cabbage, and the spring onions. Stir constantly.
- Test the noodles for tenderness and check that the main ingredient is just cooked through, and serve with extra peanuts and cabbage and garnish with lemon and coriander leaves and hot sauce, if desired.
Why are my noodles clumping together into a sticky mass instead of frying individually? Achieving restaurant-quality stir-fries relies entirely on thermal mass and thermal conductivity. Standard home burners rarely pump out enough BTUs to keep a standard round-bottom wok hot once cold ingredients hit the steel. Utilizing a heavy-bottomed cast-iron skillet provides the necessary heat retention when cooking on a standard electric range. Maintaining high heat ensures moisture evaporates instantly rather than steaming the rice noodles into mush. Soaking those dried flat rice noodles for exactly 10 minutes in warm water hydrates them just enough so they finish softening in the pan without breaking apart. High-heat cooking demands that every component is measured and staged within arm's reach before the oil goes into the vessel. Leftovers keep adequately in a sealed container for up to two days, though reheating requires a splash of water and a hot skillet to restore the original texture rather than using a microwave.
