Pad thai
Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Prawns and Tamarind
Pad thai is rice noodles stir-fried fast in a wok with prawns, egg, garlic chives and bean sprouts, in a sauce that is sour from tamarind, sweet from palm sugar and salty from fish sauce. The sauce is made ahead and keeps, and the dish itself takes about ten minutes.
Pad Thai is listed among the best-known dishes of central Thailand.
One recipe boils coriander root, garlic, shallot and dried chillies, blends them and simmers the purée with palm sugar and tamarind into a sauce of which about 1 cup is used; the other makes a tamarind syrup of equal volumes of tamarind water and sugar, with fish sauce and a pandan leaf, and fries tofu and preserved radish with the prawns.
Ingredients
For the pad thai sauce (makes extra)
- 3 coriander roots, scrubbed
- 150 g garlic cloves, peeled
- 150 g shallots, peeled
- 50 g large dried chillies
- 2 tbsp fine sea salt
- 960 ml water
- 240 g palm sugar
- 220 g tamarind purée
For the stir-fry sauce
- 80 ml chicken stock
- 1 1/2 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tsp palm sugar
For the noodles
- 125 g dried flat rice noodles
- 250 g raw peeled prawns
- 2 eggs
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
- 2 tbsp chopped sweet preserved turnip
- 10 g garlic chives, cut in 4 cm lengths
- 150 g bean sprouts
- 50 g roasted peanuts, crushed
- Lime wedges
Method
- Make the pad thai sauce Put the coriander roots, garlic, shallots, chillies, salt and water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and boil uncovered for 30 minutes. Blend until smooth, return to the pan with the palm sugar and tamarind and simmer over a low to medium heat for 30 minutes. Cool. You will use about 240 ml.
- Mix the stir-fry sauce Stir the stock, sweet chilli sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, soy sauce and palm sugar together until the sugar dissolves.
- Soak the noodles Soak the rice noodles in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain well.
- Cook the prawns Heat a wok until very hot. Add a little oil and cook the prawns until nearly done, about 1 to 2 minutes. Tip them out.
- Build the dish Add more oil, cook the garlic for 1 minute, then add the carrot and preserved turnip. Push to one side, scramble the eggs, then add the drained noodles and half the stir-fry sauce.
- Finish Add the bean sprouts, chives and prawns and toss. Add the pad thai sauce a little at a time, up to about 240 ml, until it tastes balanced between sour and sweet. The prawns must be pink and opaque all through, with no pink-grey raw flesh left. Serve with the peanuts and lime.
Food safety
Cook the prawns until pink and opaque all through. Keep raw prawns chilled and wash hands and boards after handling them. Contains peanuts and shellfish: warn anyone eating it. A wok at full heat spits: keep the ingredients ready and dry.
Cook in a hot wok, not a large batch, or the noodles stew.
The sauce keeps in the fridge. The source says it makes extra.