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