Chicken Pad Thai Recipe – Just Like in Thailand
Pad Thai Recipe
Ingredients
- 120 g dried flat rice noodles 3 mm wide
- OR
- 300 grams fresh flat rice noodles 3 mm wide
- 100 grams thinly sliced chicken —the chicken can be replaced with prawns or omitted for a vegetable Pad Thai
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 shallot
- 4 tbsp dried shrimp
- 100 g firm tofu
- 2 eggs
- 20 g Chinese chives or spring onions
- 100 g mixed vegetables, such as carrots, Chinese cabbage, white cabbage and bean sprouts
- 4 tbsp of peanuts roasted, unsalted, chopped
- 4 tbsp oil for cooking
- Sugar, chilli powder, fish sauce and lime wedges, to serve
Homemade tamarind sauce for Pad Thai
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp tamarind paste
Instructions
Rice noodles
- If using dried noodles, soak them in room-temperature water for 15 minutes, then drain thoroughly.
Sauce
- In a bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients.
Preparing the ingredients
- Cut the tofu into 1 cm cubes.
- Cut the spring onions into 5–6 cm lengths.
- Peel the garlic and shallot, then slice them lengthways.
- Wash the vegetables and dry them thoroughly.
- Beat the two eggs with a fork in a bowl.
Cooking
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan with fairly high sides. Fry the tofu cubes for 2 minutes, until crisp on the outside. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
- Fry the dried prawns for 1–2 minutes, until crisp. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
- Wipe the pan clean, then heat 1 tsp oil. Stir-fry the bean sprouts, carrots and cabbage until just tender, taking care not to overcook them. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.
- Add 1 tbsp oil to the pan and sauté the garlic and shallot. Add the sliced chicken and cook until lightly browned.
- Add the noodles and sauce. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. If the noodles are taking too long to soften, add 2–3 tbsp water—but only a little at a time, as too much liquid can make them mushy.
- Once the noodles are tender and no longer firm in the centre, push them to one side of the pan. Increase the heat and pour the beaten eggs into the empty space.
- Stir the eggs as they cook. Once set, mix them into the noodles.
- Return all the previously cooked ingredients to the pan and add the spring onions. Cook for 1 minute, mixing everything thoroughly, then remove from the heat.
- Sprinkle the chopped peanuts over the Pad Thai.
- Serve immediately with lime wedges, fish sauce for those who prefer a saltier flavour, sugar for those who like it sweeter, and chilli powder for anyone who enjoys a little heat!
