Authentic Pad Thai

Adrian Niman shows us an authentic take on this classic dish, inspired by his recent trip to Thailand.

Adrian Niman shows us an authentic take on this classic dish, inspired by his recent trip to Thailand.

Authentic Pad Thai

Ingredients:

Pad Thai

  • 8 oz. Thai rice noodles
  • 4 13 by 15 shrimp peel and deveined tail on.
  • 12 dried shrimp, optional
  • 1 or 2 fresh red chilies, minced
  • 3 cups fresh bean sprouts
  • 3 green onions
  • 1 bunch coriander
  • roughly chopped peanuts (or other nuts, such as cashews)
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • sesame oil
  • 2 limes
  • 2 eggs

Pad Thai Sauce

  • ½ cup finely chopped peanuts
  • 2 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 lemongrass stick finely chopped
  • coriander sprigs
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped chillies
  • 1 tbsp chopped ginger
  • 1 white onion minced
  • 1 clove garlic minced

Method:

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and dunk in your rice noodles. Turn down the heat to low and keep an eye on them: you will be frying the noodles later, so you don’t want to over-soften them now. Drain and rinse with cold water to prevent sticking. Set aside.
  2. Make Pad Thai sauce by adding sesame oil to a pot on medium heat. Add onion, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and chilies. Sauté for two minutes.
  3. Add fish sauce, tamarind paste and a cup of chicken stock and simmer for 10 minutes with a bunch of coriander sprigs.
  4. Remove coriander sprigs and blend mixture with hand blender (or regular). Add brown sugar and peanuts when blending. Season to taste or add a dash of soy sauce.
  5. Marinate and butterfly shrimp in a little bit of the sauce an hour prior to cooking.
  6. Make flat omelet by whisking 2 eggs and frying in oil for 1 minute on each side in a medium hot pan. Julienne in long strands and let cool.
  7. Add 1-2 Tbsp of sesame oil plus garlic and minced chili, add raw shrimp and dry shrimp (optional) if using. Stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds). When wok/pan becomes dry, add a little chicken stock, 1-2 tbsp. at a time, to keep the shrimp frying nicely (1 – 2 minutes, until cooked).
  8. Add the noodles, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over. Add egg. Stir-fry in this way 1-2 minutes.
  9. Garnish with roughly chopped peanuts, fresh bean sprouts, sprigs of coriander, and two shrimp per yield on top of the Pad Thai as the showstopper.

Serves 2

Courtesy Adrian Niman, @thefooddudesto