Easy Authentic Pad Thai

Joyce's Tips for the Best Pad Thai

• Prepare Everything Ahead of Time - Making pad thai is a very quick process, so having everything prepared ahead and within your reach will make this recipe incredibly easy to make.
• Don't Overcook Your Bean Sprouts - One of the best things about pad thai is that the textures and fresh bean sprouts give the dish a crisp texture and a fresh flavor. Bean sprouts can be easily overcooked (which can also make your noodles waterlogged). Turn off the heat before mixing the bean sprouts in, you only need the residual heat from the noodles to wilt it enough for the best texture.
• Don't Overcrowd Your Pan - When you overcrowd your pan, the sauce doesn't get distributed evenly, and the noodles don't cook evenly as well. You will also need space to push aside the noodles before you add the scrambled egg to the pan. Use a large frying pan, but if you have a small one, split everything in half and do it twice.
• Never Par-Boil Your Noodles - The best part about pad thai is the chewy, flavorful noodles. You never want to par-boil your noodles because it will make them mushy when you stir fry them because you are essentially cooking them twice. For the chewiest pad thai noodles, you only need to soak the rice noodle sticks.
• Don't Use Boiling Water to Soak Your Rice Noodles - Rice noodles are very quick to cook and delicate, and soaking them in boiling water will overcook it. I like to use hot tap water instead to insure they don't overcook while they are soaking. To test if the noodles are at the right consistency, do a finger wrap test after it has soaked for about 9 minutes. Wrap a noodle around your finger, if it breaks - you need to soak it longer, if it wraps easily it's good to go.
• Try to Use the Exact Measurement of Noodles and Sauce for the Best Flavor - For the best sauce to noodle ratio, it's very important not to use more noodles than this recipe calls for because it will throw off the balance of the amount of sauce the noodles need to absorb to get that strong delicious flavors. If there are more noodles than sauce, there won't be enough liquid for the noodles to absorb, which will make the noodles dry and flavorless.

This one is the tricky part, the width of the noodle.

Once you found the section with the rice noodles, you'll notice that there are many different sizes.

• ⅛ Inch - I don't recommend this size of rice noodles because they are too thin and will break easily when used in any type stir-fry. They are best used for soup noodles like Pho.
• ¼ Inch - The best width noodles for pad thai is the ¼ inch wide ones and is what we use at home.
• ½ Inch - This is too wide to for this pad thai recipe, but it will still work if you cannot find any other size. If you do go for a wider noodle, you may need to increase the sauce amount because it absorbs a lot more sauce. That being said, rice noodles with this type of width is best for dishes like Drunken Noodle (Pad Kee Mao) or Chinese Beef Chow Fun.
• Thin Vermicelli - thin vermicelli noodles are used for dishes like Singapore Noodles or Vermicelli bowls and are not the right size for pad thai.

When it comes to giving pad thai that sour balance, there are a few ways to approach it. The authentic ingredient (and most delicious way) to give pad thai its tang is to use tamarind paste. It gives the noodle dish its sourness but also a bit of extra flavor as well.

There are 2 main types of tamarind paste on the market: tamarind pulp (which you need to soak in hot water, to remove the seed pods and skin, and tamarind concentrate.

When you are buying tamarind concentrate, you want to make sure it is made in Thailand because the one made in India is lot more stronger and concentrated and not good for Pad Thai.

If you can't find the jars of tamarind concentrate, you can make your own tamarind concentrate by soaking and mashing the tamarind pulp (which is a thick block of tamarind paste) in hot water and discarding the seed pods afterwards.

To learn more about how to prepare the tamarind pulp, you can reference my tamarind guide here, which goes into a lot more detail.

Alternatively, if you can't find tamarind concentrate, you can also use lime juice or white vinegar. Lime juice will give you a similar fruity sourness from the tamarind whereas white vinegar will give your pad thai sauce a bit of a sharper kick (it's still delicious, even if it's not authentic.)

Pad thai never uses ketchup and traditionally doesn't have a red color as well. The spice from the ketchup throws off the pad thai flavor, so I don't recommend it for making pad thai.

To get the salty flavors, you will need to use fish sauce. I highly recommend not using soy sauce as a substitute because it can be a hit or miss and it has a strong soy flavor.

Alternatively, you can also added finely chopped dried shrimp or salted pickles for more salt as well.

For the sweet, I like to use what I have in the kitchen which is cane sugar, but you definitely can use white sugar or light brown sugar as well.

If you want to keep this recipe authentic, you can also use palm sugar but keep in mind that palm sugar is not as sweet, so you may need to add more. The closest substitute I have found to palm sugar is light brown sugar.

If you buy palm sugar in discs or blocks, you will need to break it up by either microwaving at 20 second intervals until it is soft enough to use, or pounding it with a mortar and pestle.

To master pad thai, you must begin with the dish's foundation: the rice noodles. Noodles are the backbone of this dish and must be cooked perfectly to achieve the right texture and taste.

Start by soaking the noodles in hot water for 9 minutes. This will soften them up and make them pliable, perfect for stir-frying later on. Once the noodles are soft, drain them and set them aside.

To test if the noodles are at the right consistency, do a finger wrap test. Wrap a noodle around your finger, if it breaks - you need to soak it longer, if it wraps easily it's good to go.

First, peel the garlic and chop it into small pieces. Then, peel the shallots and slice them thinly. Set them both aside for later.

Cut the green onions and garlic chives (if you are using any), into 2 inch pieces. Cut the white parts of the green onion in half lengthwise as well.

In a large bowl add cold water and the bean sprouts and rinse it until the water runs clear. Remove any soggy brown bean sprouts and discard them.

Heat a non-stick pan or wok over medium-high heat and add oil. Once the pan is hot, add proteins like chicken, shrimp, or tofu in and stir-fry them until the protein is cooked through. Remove it from the pan and set it aside.

Add a bit more oil into the pan. Once the pan is hot, add in the shallots and stir fry it until they are soft, then add in the minced garlic and stir them together for a few seconds.

Add the noodles into the pan and drizzle a bit of oil over it and flip it around.

Pour the pad thai sauce over the noodles, making sure to coat each strand evenly. Continue to stir-fry the noodles for a few minutes until they absorb the sauce. If the noodles are too dry, add a few more tablespoons of water.

Now it's time to add the eggs to the pan.

Move the noodles to one side of the pan. Add a bit more oil to the pan, and crack the eggs into the pan on the other side. Break the yolks and gently move them around and let the eggs cook until set, then scramble them into the noodles.

Turn off the heat, and add the bean sprouts and scallions/garlic chives to the pan. Toss them with the noodles and scrambled eggs, allowing the residual heat to soften them slightly.

Place it on a serving dish and sprinkle some toasted peanuts on top and serve it with a wedge of lime!

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Easy Authentic Pad Thai

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