Pad Thai was introduced to Thai nation as 19th century campaign to reduce rice consumption in Thailand. Thai economy in that time was depending on rice exports, the campaign spread very quickly and gave the poor more opportunity to start small business such as produce rice noodles and prepare ingredients for selling in small restaurants as well as street food vendors. From the effort, rice noodles became firmly rooted in the country and have widespread into staple other foods.
Pad Thai in Thailand is dry and light than Pad Thai you found in western countries, which add tomato paste or sometime ketchup that make it less dry and saucy Pad Thai, also turn the noodle red color.
When I was asked to cook Pad Thai to American family, I didn't know that the way my noodle turn out was different than what they had tasted in the Thai restaurant there, so I went to buy the American pad thai in fusion Thai restaurant and tried it out. I could taste the different that they used peanut butter instead of ground peanuts and add hot sauce instead of ground dried chili. Poor Pad Thai, that was my impression to the American pad thai.
So when I moved to Canada, I introduced the Canadian family to original pad thai, they loved it and have been asking for more. So I'm going to write how that I make my Pad Thai as close as original Pad Thai you will find in Thailand.
Pad Thai with Chinese Sausage
( I used sausage this time because that what I had in my fridge, but you can substitute with shrimp or chicken )
Ingredient;
1/2 lbs of dry rice noodle, soak in hot water until soft
4 Chinese sausages, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup of diced bean curd ( hard tofu )
1 cup of bean sprout, cleaned
3 eggs, scrambled
15 g of tamarind1 1/2 cup of hot water
1/2 cup of Palm sugar or 3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of fish sauce
1 tbsp of soy sauce
2 Tbsp of minced shallot
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 - 1 cup of chicken stock
3 tbsp Vegetable oil
Ground peanuts, sliced green onion, hot chili pepper flakes, limes
Direction;
1. Preparation, cooked sausage and drain access oil, cooked bean curd just for crispy outside but still soft inside and scramble eggs, set these aside
2. In a wok, with medium heat, add 1 tbsp of oil, garlic and shallot, stir until smell aroma, pour in tamarind juice, fish sauce and add sugar, stir until the the sugar melt and let it shimmer, about 3 minute or the sauce have thicken up.
3. Turn up the heat to medium high heat, stir in the noodle and coating with the sauce, slowly add more oil from outside of the wok, when the noodle become stick together, slowly add chicken stock, stir until the noodle soft and tender,
4. Add scrambled eggs, sausages, bean curds, Optional, ground peanuts, hot chili pepper flakes and lime juice. Stir in bean sprout for 30 second and turn off the heat, spring with chopped green onion and serve with fresh bean sprout, ground peanut, hot pepper flakes and lime wedge.
Extra meats that will go good with Pad Thai : you can substitute sausage with cooked shrimps or chicken.
