What is Pad Thai??
Thai noodle stir-fried in a sweet-savory-sour sauce and topped with crushed peanuts is called pad Thai. Made with thin, flat rice noodles, it nearly always includes firm tofu, scrambled egg, bean sprouts, and a protein (shrimp or prawns are the most common).
The quintessential taste of authentic Thai street food, pad Thai has a distinct fishy/prawny “funk” that, despite its utterly unappealing appearance, is incredibly addictive. Try this shrimp/shrimp version I shared from Spice I Am Thai restaurant if authenticity is what you’re looking for.
On the other hand, a quick Google search yields a plethora of basic westernized versions, most of which are made with sugar, soy sauce, and something sour (vinegar, lime juice). These recipes won’t taste anything like restaurant-served pad thai.
This recipe I’m sharing today is in the middle of two extremes: extremely basic westernized recipes that usually have too much sweetness and lack the right depth of flavor, and hardcore authentic versions that even I find borderline too fishy.
It tastes just as good as your favorite takeaway Thai food, minus the grease (restaurants usually use a lot of oil). The ingredients are readily available, so you won’t have to rummage through obscure Asian stores to find them.
What is Pad Thai Sauce made of?
Oyster sauce, brown sugar, tamarind, and fish sauce are the ingredients of Pad Thai sauce.
The key component of Pad Thai sauce istamarind, which gives the sauce its distinctively sour flavor. It’s a component of recipes from South East Asia, such as this Malaysian beef rendang.
Tamarind pulp, which comes in the shape of a soap bar and is used to make authentic pad thai, is soaked in hot water before being pressed through a sieve to create tamarind puree.
I use ready-made tamarind puree, which is available in supermarkets in Australia, to make things easier. Or Asian stores, obviously (and it’s cheaper).
Believe it or not, a great substitute is ketchup. You can get an equally delicious result by making a few minor adjustments to the recipe!
Flat dried rice noodles, which are available in regular supermarkets, are used to make pad thai.
Instead of the genuine Thai brand rice noodles (Erawan Rice Sticks, red pack below), which are available at supermarkets, I suggest Chang’s “Thai style” rice noodles.
Chang’s are less likely to break and only need to soak in hot water for five minutes.
When stir-frying, the Erawan Rice Sticks break much more easily.
Other ingredients in Pad Thai
Two more ingredients that are highly characteristic of Pad Thai are firm tofu and garlic chives.
Firm tofu is also available at supermarkets; choose the firmest plain tofu you can find by squeezing the packet and reading the label. Soft tofu will just crumble away if you even consider trying this with it!
Garlic chives are the big brother of normal chives. They resemble grass blades in shape and taste like garlicky chives (I know, you’re shocked, right? ). In Australia, supermarkets also carry these (along with other fresh herbs). If you can’t find green onions and extra garlic, substitute them.
