Pad Thai

Pad Thai isn't an ancient recipe at all — it was engineered in the late 1930s and '40s as part of a government campaign to unify the country around a single national dish and cut rice consumption during wartime shortages.

Rice noodles are stir-fried with egg, tofu, dried shrimp and bean sprouts in a tamarind-and-fish-sauce sauce, then finished with crushed peanuts, chili flakes and a lime wedge. Cart vendors fry it to order over blazing wok heat, sometimes wrapping it in a thin egg net for the deluxe version.

What is Pad Thai?

Pad Thai is a stir-fry of flat rice noodles with egg, tofu, shrimp or chicken and bean sprouts, seasoned with a sour, salty and sweet sauce of tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar. It is finished with crushed roasted peanuts, chilli flakes and a wedge of lime, and it is cooked to order on street carts and in small restaurants all over Thailand.

It is a young dish rather than an ancient one. It is commonly said to have been promoted from the late 1930s and 1940s under Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram as a national noodle dish, as part of a national-identity and rice-saving drive, though historians debate how much of that story is firmly documented. Stir-fried noodles themselves came to Thailand through Chinese cooks. Today pad Thai is probably the Thai dish most familiar to visitors.

How to make pad Thai with shrimp and tofu

Serves 4 (cooked in 2 batches) · prep 50 min · cook 15 min

Ingredients

• 300 g dried flat rice noodles, about 3–5 mm wide (often labelled 'pad Thai noodles')
• For the sauce: 5 tablespoons tamarind paste (the thick, seedless kind sold in jars), 4 tablespoons fish sauce, 5 tablespoons grated palm sugar (about 60 g; soft brown sugar works), 3 tablespoons water
• 200 g raw peeled shrimp (or 250 g sliced chicken thigh)
• 150 g firm tofu, cut into small cubes
• 4 eggs
• 3 garlic cloves and 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons small dried shrimp, rinsed (optional but traditional)
• 150 g bean sprouts
• A bunch of garlic chives (about 50 g), cut into 4 cm lengths, or spring onion greens
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 60 g roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly crushed
• To serve: lime wedges and chilli flakes

Method

1. Soak the noodles in lukewarm tap water for 30–40 minutes, until they bend easily but still have a firm, slightly chalky core. Drain well. Do not boil them: they finish cooking in the wok and will turn to mush if cooked first.
2. Make the sauce: stir the tamarind paste, fish sauce, palm sugar and water in a small pan over low heat for 2–3 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Taste it. It should taste strongly sour, salty and sweet on its own, because the noodles will mellow it. Adjust with a little more sugar or tamarind (brands vary in strength).
3. Have everything within reach before you start, because the cooking takes only a few minutes. Divide the noodles, sauce, shrimp, tofu, eggs, sprouts and chives into two equal batches.
4. Heat a wok or large frying pan over the highest heat until very hot. Add 2 tablespoons oil, then half the garlic, shallot and dried shrimp. Stir for 15 seconds, then add half the tofu and fry for a minute.
5. Add half the shrimp and stir for 1 minute until pink and opaque (if using chicken, cook until no pink remains and it reaches 74 °C / 165 °F). Push everything to one side, crack in 2 eggs and scramble for 20–30 seconds.
6. Add half the drained noodles and half the sauce. Toss and fold constantly for 2–3 minutes, adding a splash of water if the noodles are still hard and the pan looks dry, until they are tender and have absorbed the sauce.
7. Add half the bean sprouts and chives and toss for 20 seconds, just to wilt them. Plate with a sprinkling of crushed peanuts, a lime wedge and chilli flakes. Wipe out the wok and repeat for the second batch.
8. Squeeze extra lime over the noodles at the table if you like, and add more chilli flakes to taste.

Tips

• Cook in two batches. A crowded wok steams the noodles instead of frying them and they clump.
• Under-soak rather than over-soak: noodles that are slightly firm after soaking finish perfectly in the pan.
• Get the pan very hot before the oil goes in, and keep the noodles moving so they do not stick.
• Tamarind paste varies a lot between brands, so always taste the sauce before it goes in. A home stove cannot match a street cart's flame, so expect a slightly softer, less smoky result.

Regional versions

• Pad Thai goong (shrimp), gai (chicken) and just tofu or vegetables are all common choices.
• Some vendors wrap the finished noodles in a thin egg omelette for a deluxe version.
• Cooks vary the sweetness, and many add pickled radish or extra garlic chives.
• To make it vegetarian, swap the fish sauce for light soy sauce, leave out the dried shrimp and use extra tofu.

Questions

What is pad Thai made of?

Stir-fried flat rice noodles with egg, tofu, shrimp or chicken and bean sprouts, in a sauce of tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar, topped with peanuts, chilli and lime.

Why are my pad Thai noodles sticky or mushy?

Usually they were boiled or soaked too long, or too many went into the pan at once. Soak until just pliable and cook in small batches over high heat.

What can I use instead of tamarind paste?

Nothing matches its fruity sourness exactly. In a pinch, use lime juice with a little extra sugar, but the flavour will be brighter and less rounded.

Is pad Thai gluten-free?

Rice noodles are, but check the fish sauce and any added soy sauce, as some brands contain wheat.

Roughly what's in it

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