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Thai

Traditional Pad Thai Recipe with Baby Bok Choy – The Classic Thai Standard (Video Post!)

Let’s face it, we all probably know and love Pad Thai in some respect. It’s perhaps the most popular Thai dish in America today, something that you’ll likely try before anything else if you’re not a seasoned Thai food connoisseur. We’ve tinkered with other Thai dishes in the past, such as this Pad Kee Mao recipe and this green curry with tofu recipe, but this Pad Thai may be the best one yet.

Pad Thai’s flavors are part salty (fish sauce), part sweet (brown sugar), part spicy (sriracha) and part sour (tamarind) – all of which combine with the peanuts, noodles and vegetables and are awesome on the palette. This recipe comes from the excellent blog of Chez Pim, who’s post seemed the most traditional and authentic to me, and really was excellent (Thanks Pim!!)

This video should explain most of it – this is @taylorbarstow making the same dish a few months back:

Here’s the recipe: The Sauce first!  This amount of sauce will make around 5-6 servings of Pad Thai

• 1/2 cup fish sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. Sriracha hot sauce (less or more depending on your level of spice needs)
• 2 Tbsp. tamarind concentrate (or 1/2 cup tamarind extract) – (likely you’ll need an Asian market to find this, but potentially you can get it at a standard super market)
• Water to thin out the sauce (see the consistency in the video)

Simply combine all of the ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Then kill the heat and let the sauce rest while you do the rest:  PLEASE NOTE, these quantities are PER SERVING, which you make separately!!!

• 1 medium package or thin rice noodles – soak them in warm water until pliable but not mushy
• Eggs – 1 per serving
• Tofu – around 5-6 thin slices per serving, so 1 standard block is sufficient
• 5-6 medium sized shrimps per serving – peeled and de-veined
• 1 generous handful beansprouts per serving
• 1-2 Tbsp Thai basil per serving
• Small handful coarsely ground peanuts per serving
• 1 handful Chinese garlic chives, green onion tops or regular chives – roughly chopped
• 2 baby bok choy heads – halved (optional) – Yes, you can use broccoli instead if you want!
• Peanut or canola oil
• 1/4 lime for finishing

See video for prep instructions!

Start with the oil in a hot wok until it’s basically smoking, then add the tofu (being careful not to splatter yourself with the hot oil).  Once the tofu starts to brown slowly, add the bokchoy (if using) and then the noodles and a small ladleful of sauce on top.  Keep things moving while you go, and cook the noodles until rather soft.

You’re then going to want to add the egg on one side of the wok, stir to incorporate, then add the rest of the vegetables and the shrimp and cook until the noodles reach the desired texture.  You then want to make sure it’s got the right amount of sauce and seasoning (add more sriracha if you want) and serve with lime juice squeezed on top.  Serve immediately and enjoy!