We are absolute South-East Asian food buffs (of the vegetarian kind, however), especially Thai food. On our recent trip to Thailand, we had the opportunity to sample some authentic Thai cuisine – from really good restaurants to the streets! We also took a cooking course up in Chiang Mai where we learned the subtle art of Thai cooking (it was one of our trip highlights!). Rahul has a blog post on that experience here.
Ever since we got back from Thailand, we have not had Thai food that is “good enough”. Especially, Pad Thai – the simple, yet tasty noodles cooked Thai style!
Surprisingly, Pad Thai is a recent creation (according to our cooking class instructor) – ~50 years old. In the 40′s/50′s someone up in the Thai government was looking for a “national dish” that could set Thailand apart from its neighbors. Just having noodles and stir-fries was not enough, since almost all Asian countries have this. Curries did not quite cut it for some reason. Hence, an entirely new dish was created. What makes Pad Thai stand out from the rest of the plethora of noodle dishes out there is the use of tamarind to get the sour flavor!
Unlike Indian food, most Thai recipes do not call for the long cooking and stirring of the food. You get your ingredients cut and ready, toss them in the pan, stir a bit and voila!
This simple dish is easy to make, full of fresh ingredients and has a mix of sweet and sour flavors. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Serves: 1 person
Preparation time: 10 mins
Ingredients
- 8 pieces of extra firm tofu (cut 2-inches long rectangle shape)
- 2 shallot (cut into thin long slices)
- 2 cloves of garlic medium size (finely chopped)
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 4 florets of broccoli
- 10-12 slices of carrots (cut into thin strip)
- 10-12 slices of Red pepper (cut into thin strip)
- 6-7 sticks of chives(cut around 2-inches in length)
- 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts powder (coarse powder)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 7-8 tea spoons light soy sauce(adjust if you have dark sauce)
- 1 tea spoon tamarind paste(adjust as per taste)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 5-6 table spoons of water
- 1 cup fresh rice noodles (check the note at the bottom)
Directions:
- Heat oil in the wok and stir fry tofu until it turns light brown (approx 1 min).
- Now add garlic and shallots and stir fry for another minute.
- Add noddles, water, soy sauce, tamarind paste and sugar and give it a quick stir.
- Now add the chives, bean sprouts, carrots, red pepper and broccoli and keep stir frying for 1-2 minutes.
- While serving sprinkle some roasted peanuts powder on the top and enjoy!
Note:
1) For the Pad Thai it is a must to have rice noodles. You can get fresh rice noodles in the grocery store. If you have dried noodles for Pad Thai then, follow the instructions on the packet and boil them accordingly. If you sprinkle few drops of water on the rice noodles they will fall apart if they are sticky. Do not add water (5-6 table spoons) listed in ingredients.
2) Soy sauce, tamarind paste and sugar can be adjusted more or less as per taste.
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