What exactly is Pad Thai and where does it come from?

Pad Thai is Thailand's national street food. It is a quick stir-fry dish made with flat rice noodles, scrambled egg, vegetables, and a unique, flavorful sauce. It is known for its harmonious combination of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.

What does tamarind paste do in Pad Thai and can I substitute it?

Tamarind paste is the secret ingredient that gives Pad Thai its characteristic, fresh, sweet-and-sour flavour. You can find it in almost every supermarket or Asian speciality shop these days. Don't have it at home? Then, in a pinch, you can use a combination of extra lime juice and a little brown sugar, although the dish will then lack that typical, authentic depth.

How do I keep my rice noodles from sticking together?

The golden rule: cook the rice noodles exactly as indicated on the package (often they only need to be cooked or soaked for a very short time). Immediately rinse them thoroughly with cold water afterwards. This stops the cooking process and washes away excess starch, ensuring your noodles remain perfectly separated in the wok.

Can I also make this Pad Thai recipe with meat or shrimp?

Absolutely! This basic recipe is vegetarian (apart from the fish sauce), but you can easily add pieces of chicken fillet, pork, or succulent scampi. If you do, quickly stir-fry the meat or scampi together with the onion, carrot, and garlic in the wok, then set them aside until you mix in the noodles.

How do I make this dish gluten-free?

Rice noodles are naturally gluten-free, which is super convenient! Just make sure to use a gluten-free fish sauce. Always check the labels of sauces if you're cooking for someone with a gluten allergy.

Pad Thai

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30min

•

Easy

Fancy a delicious culinary journey to Thailand, but right in your own kitchen and super quick to prepare? Then this homemade Pad Thai is definitely for you! It's one of my absolute favorites when I need a quick weeknight meal, but still crave a flavor bomb full of texture and color. What I love so much about Pad Thai is the perfect balance between the sweetness of cane sugar, the freshness of lime, and the deep, savory taste of tamarind and fish sauce. And best of all? It's incredibly easy to make!

Fancy a delicious culinary journey to Thailand, but right in your own kitchen and super quick to prepare? Then this homemade Pad Thai is definitely for you! It's one of my absolute favorites when ...

Ingredients

What do you need?

Quantity: 4P

Peanut oil for frying
300 g flat rice noodles
250 g bean sprouts
4 tbsp peanuts
4 spring onions
4 fresh eggs
3 cloves garlic
5 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp cane sugar
5 tbsp fish sauce
4 carrots
1 onion
2 small chilies
1 bunch coriander
3 limes

Preparation method

How do you make this?

Chop the nuts coarsely and finely chop the chili and spring onion.

Peel the onion, carrot, and garlic and cut them into fine diagonal strips.

Quickly stir-fry everything in a wok with 2 tbsp of peanut oil, set aside.

Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and stir-fry briefly with a splash of oil, set aside.

Cook the noodles as per the package instructions, rinse them well, and let them drain.

In the wok, add the fish sauce, tamarind paste, and sugar and bring to a brief boil.

Add the cooked noodles and mix well, add the juice of 1 lime, if it’s too thick add a splash of warm water, stir in the bean sprouts and eggs and divide onto plates.

Finish with nuts, coriander, spring onion, chili, and half a lime.

If you have children, they usually eat the noodles, soy, carrots, eggs, and nuts. Let them choose whether they want the chili and coriander based on their taste and age.

That’s why I like to serve everything separately on the plate instead of mixing it all together.

It actually looks nicer too 😉