It has been exactly 2 weeks since I moved. The packing and unpacking tasks are finally over! Probably still need final touch here and there. It’s a relief to have got everything done and try to settle in the new place!
Oh yeah, my broadband is up and running, (yey!!) else this post would not have been published! Well, I have been cooking. Even though I was kind of tired a few days after the move, but, I was quite motivated to cook some simple dishes (for dinner and lunch next day!)
One day, I was craving for a quick Asian stir-fry. And it has to be some kind of noodles. Not only that!! I don’t know the real reason for me to crave for spicy food these days. I probably have missed having spicy food for a long time! Then, it came to my mind that I have long missed this popular Thai dish – Pad Thai.
Pad Thai or Phad Thai (Thai fried noodles) needs no introduction! It’s one of the Thailand’s national dishes that everyone knows and loves! Pad Thai is a stir-fry dish of flat rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chilli, shrimps/chicken, tofu, bean sprouts and eggs. The main feature of Pad Thai? Well, it’s usually served with lime and crushed toasted peanuts. In most occasions, coriander is used as a garnish.
Pad Thai is a Thai street food that you can find at any corners from the street vendors. I personally think that Pad Thai is equivalent to the Char Kway Teow (fried flat noodles). Char Kway Teow is also one of the national dishes in Malaysia and Singapore. Moreover, Char Kway Teow is also a street food! There are only slight differences in ingredients and seasonings between Char Kway Teow and Pad Thai. Otherwise, both could look pretty similar.
As much as I love Char Kway Teow, Pad Thai is great too! It’s light and dry, very easy to tempt anyone who hasn’t tried or even those who have tried! I like my Pad Thai to be spicy. I think that brings the whole characteristic of Thai food – sweet, sour and spicy!! What a good combination that never fails to satisfy my hunger!
Recipe: Pad Thai
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Peanut oil, 2-3 tbsp
Wide rick stick noodles, 250g
Lime juice, 1
Fish sauce, 2 tbsp
Brown sugar, 2 tbsp
Prawns (shelled & deveined), 400-500g
Garlic (chopped), 3 cloves
Tamarind juice, 2 tbsp
Chili paste, 1 tbsp
Eggs (beaten), 2
Bean sprouts (trimmed), 200g
Firm tofu (cut into thin strip), 40-60g
Toasted peanuts (crushed), 50-70g
Chinese chives/Spring onions (thinly sliced diagonally), 1-2
Lime wedges and coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
1. Soak noodles in a large bowl filled with luke warm water for about 10-15 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.
2. In a bowl, mix lime juice, tamarind juice, fish sauce, and brown sugar.
3. Heat a wok on high heat. Put in oil. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and not brown. Add prawns and cook until they turn pink.
4. Add in eggs and scramble until almost cooked. Then, add in tofu.
5. Stir in noodles. Add in lime juice mixture, toss to combine. Then, add in chili paste, stir and mix well.
6. Add bean sprouts and chives/spring onions and toss well.
7. Spoon Pad Thai onto plates. Sprinkle with toasted crushed peanuts and coriander leaves. Serve with lime wedges.
Subscribe by Email
Subscribe by RSS
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
yummy looking pad thai! Great pictures, love the first one!
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
WOW look at those pics!
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Always love good fried noodles, yours a complete one, superb
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:23 am
humm, I love Pad Thai, beautiful photo too
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:04 am
That looks delicious.
Cool looking chop stick.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:28 am
beautiful pad thai!! now you make me wanna to make one myself!! looking forward to your new kitchen:P
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:54 am
Both CKT n pad thai are my favourite! Sounds like the new kitchen has given you a lot of inspiration in cooking! Your pad thai looks so appetizing!
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:32 am
Yeay!.. you got internet..
Your Pad Thai looks so yummy.. buat aku lapar la..
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I love your Pad tai pictures Leemei, so colourful.
I’ll give this a try very soon..makes me hungry!
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
So beautiful!! I wanted to dig into that bowl of Pad Tai.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
piggy,
Hehe.. thanks for your kind words!
Jaden,
Thanks for dropping by and your comment!
Zita,
Thanks for dropping by!!
Like you, I adore noodles
Christelle,
Thanks!
Kay,
Thank you!
Beachloverkitchen,
hehehe.. the new kitchen is better… not the best.. hopefully the best one will come one day!
lk, ,
I am like you, love these 2.. I guess growing up eating CKT, I just like the simplicity of it. Well, with the new kitchen, I am sure I will cook more delicious food.
azma,
Yeah, baru ja ada internet access. U selalu duk lapar ni.. I duk tunggu assam laksa hang ni.
Mike,
Thank you! I hope so far you have tried all my recipes
Gertrude,
Thank you! How I wish we could try each other’s food, this for you and I can try the chicken fingers
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I have not had Pad Thai for a long time….
You made perfect Pad Thai!
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Hi,
I stumble upon your blog by chance and am mesmerized with all the malaysian dishes you cook. I am a Malaysian living in London too for the past 2.5 years and i love cooking and introducing malaysian dishes to my friends and work colleagues. I would love to exhcange emails with you and and it would be interesting to know where you get certain die hard ingredients to make the msian dishes more authentic. I had my mum couried stuff from malaysia inclusinf home made curry powder.
Hoping to hear from you soon
Regards
Naveena
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I like all the ingredients you use like the lime, fish sauce, tamarind…pictures are so appetizing.
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Strange thing about this dish is that I’d never had this before coming to the US!
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
tigerfish,
Thank you! I haven’t had it for a long time too! That’s why I had a sudden crave for it.. cos in my hometown, this dish is very popular…as there there’s a Thai village near where I live… talking about this, I really miss all the food
gastroanthropologist,
Hey!! I am back online!! Luckily the broadband activation is pretty smooth.. BT got it spot on time! The only thing is that I wouldn’t have been without internet if my previous provider BE have got their exchange in this area
Rasa Malaysia,
Really?
April 24th, 2009 at 12:07 am
You just gave me a shot of inspiration with this recipe! There’s something immensely pleasing to me about being able to make popular street food dishes in my own kitchen. Beautiful photo and great post. Thanks for sharing this!
April 24th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Naveena,
Thanks for your note. It’s great to know another Malaysian in London especially! Will be contact!
Sapuche,
Thank you for your kind words and dropping by my blog!
April 25th, 2009 at 6:36 am
great pics. i’ve never been brave enough to try making pad thai at home.
April 26th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Pad Thai is one of my favorites. It has an amazing combination of flavours and textures. Nice photos!
April 27th, 2009 at 8:22 am
WOW, all these comments
) i love Pad Thai and this one looks AMAZING!!! 
April 27th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
gorgeous photography! I just bought some pad thai pastes not so long ago and your beautiful creations made me wanna try them soon!
May 1st, 2009 at 3:27 am
Hi, nice post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing. I’ll certainly be subscribing to your site.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:59 pm
justcooknyc,
You should try to make.. it’s easy.
Kevin,
I totally agree with you! Thanks for your compliment!
Kristin,
ehehe.. thank you!!
noobcook,
Thank you! I think you should try to make as it’s easy!
Healthy Diet Lets Woman Lose Thirty Pounds in Thirty Day,
Thanks for your kind words!
May 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 am
It’s 10:30pm now and I am seriously craving for Phad Thai after looking at this!! I am sooooo following you now!
May 4th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Pia,
eheheh…. you should try this and let me know!!
May 4th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Try this Thai cooking website.
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com
It’s got about 30 recipes each one with a cooking video to go along.
One of the video recipes is for pad thai
May 4th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Norris,
Thanks for that!
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 am
Beautiful photos! Pad Thai is one of my favorites. I will have to try this very soon.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Hi Meseidy,
Thank you for your comment! I love Pad Thai too. Try and let me know!
September 4th, 2009 at 1:13 am
awesome recipe! just cooked it this week for dinner and it was great. just beware, it is extremely spicy! so i am going to tone down the chili paste next time! thanks!
September 11th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Hi Jules,
Thanks for letting me know. Yes, it could be spicy for people who can't take spice.. so do tone down the chili paste!
December 15th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
thanks im gonna cook this today for dinner..love phad thai so much! nice photos
December 18th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Thanks! Let me know how your Pad Thai turned out
January 24th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
There's another great recipe for a pad Thai at My Thai Beach Restaurants Santa Cruz Capitola if you are interested.