Pad Thai

Name: Pad Thai
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 200 g dried sen lek (thin flat rice noodles), soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained; 200 g raw prawns, peeled (or firm tofu cut into 2cm cubes, or chicken strips); 3 eggs; 3 tbsp tamarind paste (from a concentrate or soaked block); 2 tbsp fish sauce; 1.5 tbsp palm sugar or light brown sugar; 1 tbsp oyster sauce; 100 g bean sprouts; 3 spring onions, cut into 4cm lengths; 50 g preserved radish (chai poh/tang chai), rinsed, optional but traditional; 2 shallots or 1 small red onion, finely sliced; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 60 g roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly crushed (some fine, some coarse); 1 lime, cut into wedges; 1 tbsp dried red chile flakes; 1 tbsp white sugar (for the table condiment tray); 2 tbsp fish sauce (for the table condiment tray)

Thai stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind, fish sauce, egg and roasted peanuts

Origin: Bangkok, Thailand (1930s–1940s)

From the journey of Peanut.

Pad Thai has an unusually documented origin for a street food: it was deliberately promoted by Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram's government in the late 1930s as part of a nationalist campaign to create a unified 'Thai' noodle dish, reduce rice consumption, and encourage street food entrepreneurship. Vendors were given subsidised carts and the recipe to sell. The dish the government promoted drew on Chinese stir-fry technique, Vietnamese-influenced rice noodles, and, critically, peanuts, which had been in Thai cooking for over three centuries. Ground roasted peanuts play two distinct roles in pad thai: they are the seasoning component stirred into the sauce during cooking, and the textural counterpoint scattered over the finished dish. Without peanuts, pad thai is not pad thai. The tamarind-fish sauce-palm sugar base is the flavour architecture; the peanut is the flavour and texture that makes the dish whole. In under a century, pad thai has become one of the most eaten noodle dishes on earth.

Ingredients

Noodles

200 g dried sen lek (thin flat rice noodles), soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained

Protein

200 g raw prawns, peeled (or firm tofu cut into 2cm cubes, or chicken strips)

Egg

3 eggs

Pad Thai Sauce

3 tbsp tamarind paste (from a concentrate or soaked block)
2 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tbsp palm sugar or light brown sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce

Vegetables

100 g bean sprouts
3 spring onions, cut into 4cm lengths

Flavouring

50 g preserved radish (chai poh/tang chai), rinsed, optional but traditional
2 shallots or 1 small red onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced

Fat

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Peanuts

60 g roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly crushed (some fine, some coarse)

To Serve

1 lime, cut into wedges
1 tbsp dried red chile flakes
1 tbsp white sugar (for the table condiment tray)
2 tbsp fish sauce (for the table condiment tray)

Method

Mix the tamarind paste, fish sauce, palm sugar, and oyster sauce together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Taste; it should be sour-forward, savoury, and just faintly sweet. Set aside.
Heat a wok over the highest possible heat until smoking. Add 2 tbsp oil. Add the shallots and garlic; fry for 30 seconds. Add the prawns (or tofu/chicken) and cook for 1–2 minutes until just pink.
Add the drained noodles to the wok. Pour in the sauce. Toss everything vigorously with tongs or chopsticks for 2 minutes until the noodles absorb the sauce and begin to colour slightly.
Push the noodles to one side. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil to the empty side. Crack in the eggs and scramble briefly with a spatula until just set, then fold the semi-cooked egg into the noodles.
Add the bean sprouts, spring onions, preserved radish (if using), and half the crushed peanuts. Toss for 30 seconds; the bean sprouts should retain their crunch.
Plate immediately. Scatter the remaining peanuts over the top. Serve with lime wedges and the condiment tray: dried chile flakes, extra fish sauce, sugar, and white vinegar. Instruct diners to adjust to taste.

Notes

Pad Thai must be cooked in small batches; maximum 2 portions per wok load. The high heat required cannot be sustained with a full wok. For a restaurant volume, cook in sequential batches. Soaking dried noodles in cold (not hot) water is important; hot water makes them mushy before they hit the wok. Sen lek noodles (3mm flat rice noodles) are the correct width; vermicelli is too thin, and wide rice noodles are for pad see ew.

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control