I love food. This is something that you should know about me. I love cooking, I love baking, I love looking for new recipes and remaking my old favourites and of course EATING! I love trying new foods, especially favourites from other cultures. One of my all-time favourites is Pad Thai. My first experience with Pad Thai was from Thai Express, which I highly recommend. But for those times you don't go to Thai Express and want to cook at home, here is a Pad Thai for you!
Looks good doesn't it?!
You will need some type of rice noodle. This time I used the flat sticks but I like the long rice vermicelli best.
Get your pans ready. Hot water on the boil for the noodles and get your wok screaming hot.
This is where the magic comes from. If you look up Pad Thai recipes they have at least 20 ingredients. This is probably half of them!
The finishing condiments are very important for this dish. Thai Express will serve lime, Sriracha, and chopped peanuts on the side. I didn't have any peanuts but I added crushed chilies for extra heat.
Prepare your ingredients. One egg, beaten, big handful of bean sprouts, zucchini, green onion, and mushrooms. I made this vegetarian but you would usually have beef or chicken cut up very thinly.
I also added carrot, thinly sliced.
The water should be boiling, drop your noodles. These rice sticks will take a few minutes to cook so you'll want to start them first. If you are using rice vermicelli you will want to drop them closer to the end of the cooking time because they take way less time. You can also just pour boiling water over them and let them sit until you are ready to add them. The package will tell you the best cooking method.
Once the wok is hot, add oil, let it start smoking and add the egg. Using chop sticks move the egg around in the hot oil. It will form longish scrambled ribbons. As soon as the egg has started to set but is still soft (not runny though) move it back to its bowl. Don't worry if they aren't fully cooked, you will finish cooking them later. The important thing is to not burn them.
Add more oil and then add in your longest cooking veggies. In this case it would have been the carrots but they were sliced very thinly so I put everything in at once. Keep back the green onion and bean sprouts.
Let the veggies cook a bit until they start to soften.
Next you'll add 6 Tbsp of the pad Thai sauce. Your noodles should be partially cooked if not mostly cooked by now. Add them now but keep their water to add to the sauce later if necessary. Add in the soft egg scramble and toss everything together. Sorry for the steamy photo here!
Oh my, look at that! Once your noodles are completely cooked add in the bean sprouts and green onion. If your pad Thai is getting too sticky add in some of the cooking water from the noodles. The noodles will keep taking up moisture so add water as you go. I also like a bit of a saucier pad Thai so adjust to taste as well.
Time to dress the dish and eat! Add dried chilies, Sriracha, and lime. Serve with chop sticks and enjoy!
The most of the cooking time is taken up with the prep for this dish so make sure you get everything ready before you start your wok or you'll have something burn and it will not be nearly as tasty.
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