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Pad Thai Recipe Print E-mail

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About The Recipe

Pad Thai is a very common dish in Thailand, and can be found throughout the country. Like a lot of foods in Thailand, the best Pad Thai can be usually be found at the street vendors. Pad Thai's combination of succulent shrimp on a bed of noodles, surrounded by crispy fresh vegetables makes it a favorite dish with westerners too.

The real secret though to Pad Thai is the sauce, the sour of the tamarind paste should not be overwhelmed by the sweetness of the palm sugar. Add in the fish sauce, and you have a sauce that's equal parts sweet, sour, and salty, perfectly balanced together. This is where Pad Thai's signature taste comes from.

Personal tastes being what they are, Pad Thai is usually served with additional lime, chili, peanuts, chives and sprouts on the sides so that people can flavor the dish to their preferences. A quick tip: if you are one of those people who don't like things "too fishy", we'd recommend leaving out the dried shrimp in this recipe.

Please keep in mind Pad Thai is not really "easy Thai food", in that there are a lot of ingredients and prep time, and the proportions have to be just right. If you are just starting out cooking Thai food, you may be better off starting with one of our other recipes. But so many people asked us how to make this recipe we thought we would share our version, please let us know how you like it.

 

Recipe Info

  • Serves: 2-3
  • Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
  • Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Equipment and Utensils
  • Wok
  • Sauce Pan
  • Spatula

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons of cooking oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • ½ lb Rice noodle (also called Rice Sticks).
  • 6 medium sized Shrimp
  • ½ cup firm Tofu
  • 2 Eggs
  • ¼ Cup Dried Shrimp (optional)
  • 1 cup of Bean Sprouts
  • ½ Cup Chives or Green Onion
  • ¼ Cup Ground Peanuts
  • 1 tsp. of Ground Chili Pepper (optional)
  • ¼ Cup of Water
  • ¼ Cup of Tamarind Sauce
  • ¼ Cup Fish Sauce
  • ¼ Cup Palm Sugar

 

Purchase Asian Ingredients for this Recipe Online Here.

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Preparation

  • Soak the noodles in warm water about 15-20 min or until soft.
  • Chop the garlic into small pieces.
  • Dice the tofu into small cubes.
  • Cut chives into 1" long pieces.
  • Chop the roasted peanuts.



Cooking

Making the Sauce

  • Turn the stove to the medium heat, and place sauce pan on burner.
  • Heat the pan, and add the Tamarind Sauce, Fish Sauce, and Palm Sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
  • When the sauce starts to boil remove from the heat and set aside.

 

Making Pad Thai

  • Turn on the stove to the high heat, and place your wok on the burner.
  • Add the oil.
  • When the oil is hot add the garlic.
  • Fry garlic about 1 min but don't let it turn to yellow or brown.
  • Add the Tofu and stir.
  • Add Dried Shrimp, if you can't find it or don't like a fishier taste, you can skip it.
  • Stir for about 30 seconds.
  • Add Fresh Shrimp.
  • Stir until the shrimp is pink and cooked through.
  • When the Shrimp is cooked, reduce the heat to medium.
  • Add the Noodles, and stir it together.
  • Add the Water to soften the noodles.
  • Add the sauce that we already pre-made, stir it until the noodles are soft, about 2 minutes.
  • Add the Eggs , and stir for about 30 seconds, until the Eggs start to cook.
  • Add Ground Peanuts and stir it all together
  • Add Bean Sprouts and Chives
  • Stir it all together for about 1 min and then it's done!

 

Serve

Serve with sprouts, chives, lime, ground peanuts and chili on the side, so people can flavor to their tastes.
 

Comments  

 
+1 #14 Valerie 2012-01-04 02:01
Thank you for your nice video and so good recipes!
with my family, we are leaving in thailand for one year and it is so nice to cook with your help!
we love local food, we love thai food!
Do you have a recipe for Larb (Gai Larb is our favorite)
thank you!
have a wonderful day!
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0 #13 Myrna 2011-08-03 20:49
Love your recipe. Your instructions are easy to follow. I would like to learn how to cook drunken noodles if you hace the recipe.thanks.
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0 #12 Ryan 2010-11-12 05:27
I like your recipes and instructions how to cook your recipes.simple and not so complicated.Thank you.
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0 #11 Pam 2010-11-03 05:31
My favourite street food when we go to Thailand.

Can't wait to try out your recipe.
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0 #10 gillian 2010-05-18 20:08
This is delicious - and I hate to admit it, but this is one of the first times I have EVER cooked a meal and it turned out great! So simple and so yummy. I seem like a pro, but really I'm a total amateur... Thanks for making cooking a little less scary - Gillian, Halifax Nova Scotia.
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-1 #9 johnathan 2010-03-11 05:27
Your videos are wonderful - I have the laptop in the kitchen watching.Can't thank you enough - great job!
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-2 #8 herb 2010-02-23 10:45
this does not look like pad kra poa. am married to thai her father own restuarant. only think look good id koong and forget to mention can substiteute koong with moo gai or nua
presentation is very bad.
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0 #7 ann 2010-02-10 20:23
hello

i am thai and i watching many webside is look like not real thai food , i want to tell you your webside is the best and real thai food ,
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0 #6 Jodi Lu 2009-08-01 01:56
Khob Khun Mak!!!! Your website is wonderful and I've learned how easy it is to prepare delicious thai cooking in my own kitchen. Your shows are fantastic and I certainly hope you will continue adding more recipes to it.

Thanks again,
Jodi
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0 #5 Lolit 2009-07-23 15:14
hello anchalee,

sawasdee kah!

thanks for all the recipes here! If you don't mind, please teach us/me also how to cook the hard-boiled egg with pepper flakes, palm sugar, and tamarind sauce. It would be nice to see how it's also done step by step. Also, kindly add how to make a yummy deep-fried egg salad. I remember, it has tomatoes, onions, peanuts, fresh white seaweeds, etc. I will appreciate your big help! Oh, by the way, I live in North Carolina, and every Saturday at church, we do have a potluck. I always want to cook a Thai food every Saturday. They now think I'm Thai. My recipes always get complimented. Thanks in advance for more recipes you'll teach me to make. I am vegetarian, so I just replace chicken with tofu, or sometimes, fri-chik. Thanks!
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