Paad Thai Pailin Recipes

AUTHENTIC PAD THAI RECIPE

Steps:

• Add palm sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once the sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in colour (see video for colour). Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. The sugar will harden immediately and this is okay.
• Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. The hardened sugar will not have dissolved at this point, but let it sit while you prep other ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it. Check that it is dissolved before you start cooking!
• Cut drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss and separate in the wok.
• In a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.
• Heat a wok or a large nonstick skillet over high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Sear shrimp, or whatever protein you're using, until done and remove them from pan.
• In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil. (Don't skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.)
• Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.
• Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they're still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!
• Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add add little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. Break the yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles.
• Toss the cooked protein back in, plus any collected juices. Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.
• Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top. For a classic presentation you can add a little extra side of bean sprouts and some garlic chives garnish.
• Be sure to squeeze a bit of lime on top before eating!

PAD THAI

Steps:

• Soak rice noodles in cold water 30 to 50 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.
• Heat butter in a wok or large heavy skillet. Saute chicken until browned. Remove, and set aside. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Crack eggs into hot oil, and cook until firm. Stir in chicken, and cook for 5 minutes. Add softened noodles, and vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and red pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix while cooking, until noodles are tender. Add bean sprouts, and mix for 3 minutes.

PAAD THAI PAILIN

Steps:

• In a large bowl cover rice noodles with cold water and soak 30 minutes, or until softened. Drain noodles.
• While noodles are soaking, wrap tofu in paper towels and put a heavy weight, such as a skillet, on top. Let tofu stand 30 minutes to press out any excess liquid.
• In a small bowl combine tamarind and 1/4 cup hot water and let stand, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Strain tamarind mixture through a fine sieve into another bowl, pressing hard on solids and scraping bottom of sieve, and discard solids. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved.
• Cut tofu into 1/2-inch dice. Put cornstarch and half of egg in separate bowls. In a heavy saucepan at least 4 inches deep heat 2 1/2 cups oil (about 1 inch) over moderately high heat to 360°F. on a deep-fat thermometer. Dredge a small batch of tofu in cornstarch, shaking off excess, and dip in egg, letting excess drip off. Carefully drop coated tofu, 1 piece at a time, into hot oil and fry until golden. Transfer tofu with a slotted spoon as fried to paper towels to drain. Coat and fry remaining tofu in the same manner.
• In a 12-inch heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking and stir-fry garlic until fragrant, about a few seconds. Add shrimp, radish, and fried tofu and stir-fry 3 minutes. Add remaining egg and stir-fry until egg sets. Add noodles, tamarind mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and fish sauce, tossing. Cook mixture, stirring, until noodles are al dente and most of cooking liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Add bean sprouts, chives, and red pepper flakes, tossing to combine well.
• Mound noodles on a serving plate and sprinkle with peanuts and chives. Arrange bean sprouts and lime wedges around noodles.