Pad Thai, literally "Thai-Style Stir-Fried Noodles", is a Thai food dish influenced by Chinese food. Originally the dish was called "Guay Tiew Pad" but later they’ve changed its name to "Pad Thai" and it became the most popular noodle dish in Thailand.
Pad Thai is a dish that is considered to be a good introduction to Thai food for a foreigner. Pad Thai is made from flat rice noodles and offers a good combination of classic ingredients like egg, tofu, peanuts, bean sprouts and the flavors of sweet, spicy and sour. The original Pad Thai recipe is as follows.
Pad Thai Recipe
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Pad Thai Ingredients
Pad Thai sauce (check below how to make it)
100 g thin dried rice noodles, soaked in water until soft
3-5 fresh shrimps, peeled removing black lines and deveined
3 tablespoons yellow tofu, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons sweet pickled radish, finely chopped
¼ cup raw bean sprouts
¼ cup Chinese chives cut into pieces
1 big egg
1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
Ground roasted peanuts
Pad Thai Sauce Recipe
2 tablespoons tamarind juice
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder (or more as your flavor)
How to make Pad Thai sauce
1. Mix palm sugar, tamarind juice, fish sauce and chili powder together.
2. Heat it up on medium-low heat until palm sugar is completely dissolved (if you want to keep it for several days, wait until it cools and then put in a container with a closed lid).
How to cook Pad Thai
1. Pour vegetable oil into the pan and heat it up. Add fresh shrimps and keep stirring until they are cooked. Remove the shrimps from the pan and set aside.
2. In the same pan, add tofu cubes and sweet pickled radish and stir fry together until they become golden brown.
3. Add the prepared Pad Thai sauce, stir to combine until boiling.
4. Add noodles and stir well together. You can add a little of water if noodles start sticking together.
5. Move noodles to the side of the pan, add an egg and break its yolk, then fry until everything is mixed.
6. Add bean sprouts and Chinese chives and toss everything. Turn off the heat.
7. Top with peanuts and serve with raw bean sprouts, banana blossom, a spoonful of chili powder and lime.
Price
The price of Pad Thai can vary a lot depending on where you eat. The original Pad Thai (with egg and no meat added) should cost about 30 baht. Pad Thai with pork can cost 40 baht while the popular Pad Thai with shrimps can be 50-60 baht at street stalls. The price of Pad Thai can easily be double or triple that at tourist-orientated restaurants.
Tips
If you want to cook Pad Thai at home, we would suggest you to shop around at one of bigger supermarket like Big C and Tesco Lotus where conveniently packed Ready to cook Pad Thai Noodle (100 baht) and Pad Thai Sauce (20-30 baht) are sold. You just need to add noodle, egg and meat of your choice and your Pad Thai will be as good as in Thailand.
Many of Thai people don't cook Pad Thai by themselves even if it’s easy to cook. Pad Thai has quite many ingredients and it is cheaper to eat at some local restaurant than to buy all the ingredients.
One of the best places to try Pad Thai in Bangkok is Terminal 21 Food Court where a restaurant called Pad Thai – Hoy Tod St. Louis serves few variations of well-prepared Pad Thai for a very reasonable price.
Pad Thai is the most popular noodle dish in Thailand but there are are many others to try. Check 5 Best Stir-Fried Noodle Dishes in Thailand and 10 Most Famous Thai Noodle Soup Dishes in Thailand to find more of delicious Thai noodle dishes.
