If you have ever been into a Thai restaurant then you have have certainly seen Pad Thai on the menu: a delicious blend of stir fried noodles, crunchy vegetables & peanuts. My family and I love this warm spicy dish. It is wonderful by itself but I often top it off with peanut dressing and a salad….It is so good! What I love about Thai food and many Asian dishes are the layered or complex flavors created using a balance between sweet, sour, salty & spicy. Your tongue is never bored!
A few weekends ago I decided to make Pad Thai at home but of course I had to put my own spin on it. A little bit of fusion cuisine. I enlisted my teenage sons to help me knowing they would be eating most of it anyway. As you know growing boys are always eating and so this was the perfect tasty filling dish. Instead of lighter rice noodles which is the traditional ingredient to use, I chose to use Linguine instead and it was a hit!
Ingredients
Pad Thai Sauce:
3 tablespoons Palm sugar or white sugar for the “sweet”
3 tablespoons Tamarind, fresh lime juice or rice vinegar for the “sour”
3 tablespoons fish sauce or soya sauce for the “ salty”
3 or more tablespoons of chilli sauce and or sriracha sauce for the “spicy”
½ cup of water
One package of dry Rice stick noodles (traditional recipe) or Linguine
One or all of the following: Thinly cut chicken breast, shrimp, extra firm tofu.
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion or shallot diced
2 cups of bean sprouts
3-5 scallions
2 eggs
½ cup of dry roasted unsalted peanuts
1 fresh lime
A few teaspoons of oil
Optional: a handful of fresh cilantro
Instructions
- For the Pad Thai sauce mix the sugar, tamarind sauce, fish sauce , chilli sauce, sriracha sauce and water in a small container or pot.
- To your wok or large wide pot heat up a few teaspoons of oil and chopped garlic and add thinly sliced chicken and or tofu & shrimp.
- Once your protein is almost done and is no longer pink or pale add diced onions or shallots and saute.
- Add linguine that have already been soaked in warm water for 15 minutes or boiled (al dente) and drained. Toss with cooked protein.
- Push pasta or noodles to the side, add a teaspoon more of oil and scramble two eggs.
- Once eggs are cooked fold into the noodles/pasta.
- Add diagonally cut scallions to center of noodles/pasta and fold. To avoid burning the scallions which will spoil the flavor keep them near the center away from edge or bottom of pot.
- Add the bean sprouts and mix.
- Add the Pad Thai sauce and mix. The sauce will steam the vegetables. Cook off all the liquid.
- Remove from heat and toss in chopped cilantro and crushed peanuts. Enjoy!
Watch me make it here
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