Authentic Pad Thai recipe

Pad Thai (often spelt Phad rather than Pad). We've tried both these authentic Pad Thai recipes with good results. The flavour of Pad Thai is one of the most evocative in Thai cuisine giving it some claim to be the national dish and not just because 'Thai' is in the title. Taking only minutes to prepare – fast food never tasted better.

Our first Pad Thai recipe, a dried shrimp recipe, comes from Vatcharin Bhumichitr's excellent 'Taste of Thailand'. The next from Sisamon Kongpan's 'Best of Thai Cuisine'. More recipes from these masters of Thai cuisine can be found in The Elegant Taste of Thailand... and Vatch's Thai Street Food.



Recipe 1 Pad Thai recipe (shrimp)
This Pad Thai recipe needs:

4 tbs/60ml oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 egg

4 oz/120g dry Sen Lek noodles (a medium fat noodle approximately 2mm wide) soaked in water for 20minutes. (This is the Thai name but any medium flat noodle will work in this Pad Thai recipe.)

2 tbs /30ml lemon juice

1.5 tbs/22.5ml fish sauce

0.5 tsp/2.5ml sugar

2 tbs/30ml chopped roast peanuts

2 tbs/30ml dried shrimp, ground or pounded

0.5 tsp/2.5ml chilli powder

1 tbs/15ml finely chopped preserved turnip

1oz/30g beansprouts

2 spring onions/scallions, chopped into1in/2.5cm pieces

Sprig of coriander leaf, chopped

Lime wedges

In a wok, heat the oil, add the garlic, fry until golden brown. Break the egg into the wok, stir and quickly cook for a couple of seconds. Add noodles and stir, mixing well with the garlic and egg. One by one, add lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar, half the peanuts, half the dried shrimp, the chilli powder, preserved turnip, 1 tablespoon of beansprouts and the spring onions. Test noodles for tenderness. When done, serve arranging the remaining peanuts, dried shrimp and beansprouts around the dish. Garnish with coriander and lime wedges.

(The Pad Thai recipe from Vatcherin calls for Lemon wedges. I prefer limes in the recipe.)

Makes enough Pad Thai for a meal for one, or part of a meal for two.



Recipe 2 Pad Thai recipe (pork)
This Pad Thai recipe needs:

300g Sen Lek noodles (see description in Pad Thai recipe above)

0.5kg bean sprouts

3 eggs

50g pork cut into small slivers

50g chopped pickled white radish

1 cake soybean curd, cut into small slivers

0.5 cup ground roasted peanuts

1tsp ground dried chillies

1tbsp chopped shallots

1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

0.5 cup cooking oil

4 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp fish sauce

4 tbsp tamarind juice or vinegar

50g Chinese leek leaves

1 lime

1 banana flower

Indian pennywort leaves

Indian Pennywort leaves are optional. This authentic Pad Thai recipe calls for them but they are not essential.

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok and saute garlic and shallots. When yellowed, add noodles with just enough water to soften them and fry, turning constantly with spatula to prevent sticking. Remove noodles and set aside.

Put 3 tbsp oil into pan. When hot fry the pork, pickled white radish, bean curd and dried chillies, then return the noodles, mix thoroughly, remove and set aside.

Put 2 tbsp oil into pan. When heated, break the eggs into the pan and spread the egg in a thin layer over the pan. When set, return the noodles and mix together. Add half the bean sprouts and the Chinese leek leaves and turn to mix together. Serve with ground peanuts, beansprouts, banana flower, Chinese leek, Indian pennywort and lime wedges.

(Original Pad Thai recipe from Sisamon uses lemon wedges. I prefer limes in the recipe.)

This Pad Thai recipe uses a lot more oil than Vatcherin's recipe; however it is possible to use less than indicated above by adding small amounts from time to time instead of adding the oil oil in one go; just enough to keep the Pad Thai from sticking,

This recipe makes enough Pad Thai for a meal for two.

For more recipes follow the cookery link below.