Sunday, July 6, 2008

Phad Thai



This evening involved a new foray into Thai cooking with an attempt to replicate a favorite dish from Seattle. Husband and I used to frequent this amazing Thai restaurant with the best phad thai in the universe. It was light and dry, peanut-y and just a touch spicy (for me at least, Husband's a Chile-Head). Since moving to California, all we've been able to find is a version of phad thai covered in a sickeningly sweet red oil with prevalent lime and cilantro. Apparently this is the
style of Western Thailand. Well, pshaw, I thought. I'll make my own.

This was before some water got into the hot oil at the beginning of cooking... The rest of the recipe was accomplished by Husband while I held my very burnt hand in a bowl of ice water. One cool thing though, I didn't know an electric burner could catch flame...

This is a recipe that still requires a little tinkering to get it to taste exactly how I'd like it to, but it's already quite fantastically delicious.



PhadThai

10 oz. Rice Stick Noodles, medium thickness
1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, sliced very thinly against the grain
4 Scallions, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
1-2 Green Chiles, minced
1/2 cup Unsalted Peanuts, chopped finely
1/3 cup White Vinegar
1/4 cup Sugar
scant 1/4 cup Fish Sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Paprika
1/4 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
8 oz. Mung Bean Sprouts




1. Soak Noodles in water for 45 minutes, or until soft

2.Heat oil over hight heat in Wok or large pan

3. Add chicken pieces and cook till almost done

4. Add garlic and fry till light brown

5. Add vinegar, fish sauce, sugar, paprika, and peanut butter

6. Mix until thoroughly combined

7. Add drained noodles, toss to coat

8. Push noodles to sides of wok or pan creating a hole in the center

9. Add beaten egg, wait until it begins to congeal, then fold into noodles, cook egg until dry

10. Stir in half of sprouts, scallions, chopped peanuts, and green chile. Toss several times to mix well.

11. Serve with cilantro and lime wedges to garnish, if desired

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This looks great! Now you can have homemade pad thai that is better than the restaurants!
Ouch, sorry to hear about your hand. I've had my fair share of burns on an electric stove too. And it's always nice to have someone else in the kitchen to help out too!

Sweet Bird said...

I'll never forget trying to prove to my mother that one of the burners on our electric stove wasn't working by putting my hand directly on it. Needless to say it had started working again. I did have a pretty cool spiral design scar for a couple years though...