Pad Thai (Stir Fried Noodles) ผัดไทย
Recipe from: Colonel Ian F. Khuntilanont-PhilpottPad Thai is often called the signature dish of Thai cuisine. There are several regional variations, indeed it has been said that Thailand has a different curry for every day of the year, but a different pad thai for every cook in Thailand! This is my wife's variation. This variation uses a small amount of khao koor (powdered fried rice), which occurs as an ingredient in several other Thai recipes. You can make a small amount and keep it almost indefinately in a well stoppered jar
You also need a cup of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts. We roast them in their shells on a charcoal brazier, but you can do it just as well in an oven, or even in a skillet... However they should be freshly roasted to bring out the full flavour for this dish
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8 ounces rice vermicelli (either the sen mee or the sen lek style of Thai noodles or indeed any rice noodles will do). These should be soaked for a short while (perhaps 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the brand of noodles) until soft.
5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
2 tablespoon chopped shallots
¼ cup dried shrimp (these should be rolled, or roughly pounded in a mortar and pestle to break them up)
¼ cup fish sauce
¼ cup palm sugar
2-3 tablespoon tamarind juice
2-3 tablespoon chopped, pickled raddish (mooli)
1 medium egg, beaten
¼ cup chopped chives
½ cup roasted peanuts, very coarsely broken up.
1 cup bean sprouts
Protein ingredient - this can be half a cup of fried tofu that has been marinated in dark sweet soy, or an equivalent amount of coarsely chopped pork or chicken method.
Heat a little cooking oil in a wok and add the garlic and shallots, and briefly stir fry until they just shows signs of changing colour. Add the remaining ingredients except the egg and the bean sprouts, and stir fry until the protein ingredient is nearly cooked. Continuing to stir with one hand, slowly "drizzle" in the beaten egg to form a fine ribbon of cooked egg (if you con't feel confident with this make an egg crepe separately, and then roll it up and slice it into quarter inch wide pieces, which you add to the mix at this point). Finely add the bean sprouts and cook for no more than another 30 seconds. Remove from the pan to a serving platter.Garnish
Mix a tablespoon of lime juice with a tablespoon of tamarind juice and a tablespoon of fish sauce, and use this to marinade half a cup of uncooked bean sprouts, half a cup of chopped chives, and half a cup of very coarsely ground roasted peanuts. Sprinkle this mixture on the cooked pad thai. Cut several limes into segments and also slice up some cucumber into rounds then halve the rounds. Put the lime segments and cuke segments around the serving platter.
You can also sprinkle a quarter of a sliced up banana flower and some Indian Pennywort leaves over the top as edible decoration.
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"Pad See Youe" - Thai Soy Sauce Noodles
This is a delicious stir-fried Thai noodle dish. It is basically noodles stir-fried with soy sauce- sounds kind of plain, but it is truly delicious.
Ingredients:
8 oz of meat (beef, chicken, pork, or seafood)
8 oz noodles of your choice (normally fresh rice noodles are used)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar (or substitute regular sugar)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup broccoli cut
Additional Ingredients for marinade of meat:
1 egg
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon black pepper.
Preparation:
1. Slice the meat into bite sized pieces then marinade it in recipe described above for 1 hour.
2. Prepare your noodles. If they are fresh, you do not need to do anything, but if you are using dry noodles, you will need to soak them in water for 15 or so minutes until they are soft.
You will need a medium to large sized skillet. Grease the skillet with the oil of your choice, and then cook the meat until it is almost done. Then add in the rest of the ingredients, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes.