Pad Thai

I dabble in the kitchen, and I know what Kaffir limes are and actually have leaves in my fridge.  I know where the lemon grass hides in the grocery store, but fear the fish sauce.  In short, I’m ok, but not great when it comes to cooking Thai food, and when a class popped up, I jumped at the chance to learn a little something something and hopefully get better.  I signed up for my class at the local community adult education program and am looking forward to class number two.

Pad Thai was on the docket for Class #1, along with papaya salad with spicy lime sauce (Som Tam).  I have to say, I was mildly apprehensive sitting there looking at the menu for the evening and wondered what I had gotten myself into.  I’m not a huge fan of Pad Thai and I don’t like papayas.  As it turns out, the papaya salad was made with a shredded green papaya that was complemented with palm sugar, lime juice, and hot chili peppers.   It… was… delicious.  The Pad Thai was probably the best Pad Thai I have ever had.  We didn’t eat until the end, though, so all along the way, I paid very close attention, but had serious doubts.

   

As I absorbed it all, our teacher who is originally from Thailand and who is a retired restaurateur cooked in the massive gas-fired stand-alone wok on the floor in front of the classroom.  He chatted and answered questions and kept pouring from the dribbly spout of the fish sauce container…. he kept adding fish sauce and fish sauce and all the ingredients and then more fish sauce....    finally the peanuts came and it actually started smelling pretty good after all that direct fish sauce over heat smell.....      Anyway, end of class comes and we all get our plates and there is tons of food in this crazy wok that will feed over 20 of us, and so I get a little bit of the salad and they scoop me a scoop of the pad thai and I settle in wondering if there is some way to discretely get rid of it if I don't like it.    

Well, I shouldn’t have worried.  It was awesome.  I went back for seconds.  Couldn’t stop eating it.   Best Pad Thai ever.  Seriously.

   

  This recipe has been shared already on the internet and so I am happy to spread the wealth with a few of my own observations included….

Pad Thai

10 oz. dried rice noodles – the thin ones, not the thick ones…   soak in cool water for at least 3 hours or over night (not hot – don’t cook them!!) drained

1/3 C oil – any kind, but corn/veggie won’t smoke as much as say, Olive oil….

4 smashed and chopped garlic cloves

4 eggs

8 oz. fried tofu chopped into bite sized nuggets (buy it already fried and you’ll save some time and it will probably taste better if you’re like me with tofu)

4 Tbs fish sauce (Squid Brand fish sauce is apparently the BEST)

2 Tbs tomato paste

2 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs Tamarind juice – you can buy tamarind in block form and use about a fifth of the block.  Soak it in about a cup/cup and a half of water for a couple of hours and squeeze out the solids.   Use the extraction.  Will keep in fridge for quite some time….

2 C bean sprouts

6 scallions coarsely chopped

2 Tbs ground/chopped roasted peanuts

You can substitute meat for the tofu if you would like…   and add hot pepper….sprinkle with paprika if you want a little color….

Prepare noodles and Tamarind juice ahead of time.  Heat oil very hot in wok.  Add garlic and then eggs one at a time.  When eggs begin to look mostly cooked and scrambled, add the tofu (or meat here).  Add noodles and toss until hot.  Add tomato paste and fish sauce.  Mix well.  Add Tamarind juice.  Add Sugar all the while mixing, tossing, mixing.  Add scallions and continue to toss.   Bean sprouts are next until nice and hot and then peanuts at the very end.   Taste and make sure the salt of the fish sauce compliments the sweet of the sugar and the tang of the Tamarind and tomato paste….  Adjust where needed.   Garnish with lime wedges and more chopped peanuts.

   

Delish.

Looking forward to Lemon grass soup and Stir fried chicken and basil in house spicy sauce next week.