Description
Real pad Thai is nothing like the sloppy, ketchup-sweet version most restaurants serve. It is a carefully balanced dish of rice noodles stir-fried with tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar, eggs, and tofu, finished with peanuts and lime. The noodles should be slightly chewy, the sauce should hit sweet, sour, salty, and spicy all at once, and every strand should be coated — not drowning.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 8 ounces dried flat rice noodles (pad Thai noodles)
- 1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 4 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into small cubes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar or palm sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 3 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons roasted peanuts, crushed
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Soak the rice noodles in warm water for 20 to 30 minutes until pliable but still firm. Drain.
- Mix the sauce: tamarind paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and chili garlic sauce.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over high heat. Cook the shrimp 2 minutes per side. Remove. Add the tofu and cook until golden, about 3 minutes. Remove.
- Add remaining oil. Cook garlic 15 seconds. Crack eggs into the wok and scramble lightly for 30 seconds.
- Add the drained noodles and sauce. Toss with tongs, cooking 2 to 3 minutes until the noodles absorb the sauce and become tender.
- Return the shrimp and tofu. Add bean sprouts and green onions. Toss 30 seconds.
- Serve topped with crushed peanuts, cilantro, and lime wedges.
Notes
- Tamarind paste is the defining flavor of pad Thai — it provides a sour, fruity acidity that nothing else can replicate. Find it at Asian markets.
- Soak the noodles in warm, not boiling, water. Boiling water makes them mushy before they even hit the wok.
- A smoking-hot wok is essential. If you hear a gentle sizzle instead of an aggressive crackle, the wok is not hot enough.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Thai
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 480
- Sugar: 12
- Sodium: 880
- Fat: 18
- Carbohydrates: 52
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 28
- Cholesterol: 195