Pad Thai Recipe

Last Wednesday, I took a day off just to clear my leave and in a way, I could relax and make dinner. Our dinner has been salad for as long as I could remember but since it's a day off for me, I've decided to clear the Pad Thai stocks which has been sitting in my larder for quite a while. It tasted fantastic when I ate it hot but I can't say the same for the next day. I have made some modification to the original recipe which I got from joythaifood.com and importfood.com . Here's the recipe that I would like to share : Ingredients : 8 big prawns (shelled but leave the tail on) 2 handful of rice stick noodles (Pad Thai) 3/4 cup diced firm tofu (tau kwa) 1/4 cup salted minced radish (chai po) 3 tbsp. water 1/4 cup fresh chives, cut into one inch long pieces (cut some 3 inch long for garnishing) 1 cup bean sprouts 1 tbsp. sliced red onion 2 tbsp. minced garlic 1 tsp. dried red chili powder 2 tbsp. roasted peanut (crushed) 1 tsp. sugar Fishcake & chicken or pork (optional) Oil for frying Pad Thai Sauce: 1/2 cup palm sugar/ or castor sugar 1/3 cup good quality fish sauce (nampla sauce) 1/2 cup vinegar 1 cup tamarind juice Method: 1. Rinse minced radish several times under cold water. Drain it. 2. Soak the rice stick noodles in hot water for 10 – 15 minutes. Leave in cold water after that to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other. 3. Heat oil. Fry some garlic, then add in radish. Fry till color change and add in a little sugar. Set aside. 4. Heat oil. Fry some garlic, then add in the prawns and cook till done. Set aside. 5. Heat oil and add in the remaining garlic and onions. Sautee for while. Then add fishcake/meat , sauté for a while and then add in tofu. After a while, add in rice noodles. 6. Stir fry the rice noodles for about 5 – 6 minutes, add in water, then add in the prepared Pad Thai Sauce. Taste it and add additional fish sauce or sugar or tamarind according to your own taste. Sprinkle in the dried red chilli powder . Add more if you prefer spicy. 7. Add in the radish and prawns which you have earlier on set aside. 8. Stir for another 1 – 3 minutes and add a little water if it’s too dry. 9. Just before you dish out the noodles, add in beansprouts (leave some for garnishing) and 1 inch long chives. Stir for a while and you’re done. Turn the fire off, transfer the noodles in a nice plate and garnish it with peanut, the 3 inch long chives, beansprout and slice fresh lime. Here are some pictures of the ingredients I used, plus a packet of Instant Pad Thai noodle boxkit. Million of thanks to Piyanard my Thai colleague, for getting me the shown ingredients and subsequently refused my money after that.