They flood the noodles in an overly sweet sauce, and fill it with other items folks kind of expect in a Thai dish: shrimp, chicken, crinkle cut carrots, peas, string beans, and baby corn. But often, restaurants truck down that safe road to an extreme. Pad thai is definitely chock full of wonderful, tasty "safe" things: chewy flat rice noodles, crunchy peanuts and fresh bean sprouts, scrambled egg, green onions, all in a mildly hot, sweet-ish sauce.
But I guess it's not hard to see why I thought that. For a long time I thought pad thai was even an American invention, akin to chop suey. One of the most well known of all Thai dishes, pad thai is the "safe" dish on a Thai menu-the one that your parents might order if you take them out for Thai, or if you don't like your spice burning hot, or haven't learned yet to have an appreciation (or a craving in my case) for fish sauce.
Until recently, for me there was always a stigma around pad thai.
Prepping the ingredients ahead ensures the pad thai will come together quickly and efficiently. Adding a protein like chicken makes this dish hearty enough for dinner. Pairing the dish down to flat rice noodles, crunchy peanuts, fresh bean sprouts, scrambled egg, and green onions puts the focus on the tamarind, fish sauce, and caramelized palm sugar. Stir in the chives, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Add the cooked shrimp or your chosen protein and tofu. Mix well. Stir until the noodles have softened and are coated with the sauce and egg mixture, about 30 seconds. Once the egg is fully cooked, add the noodles and 3-4 tablespoons of the reserved sauce. Break the yolk and stir gently, but do not scramble. Increase heat to high and crack the egg over the garlic and shallots. Remove cooked protein to a bowl and set aside. Add the shrimp or protein of your choice and lightly cook, stirring, for about 1-2 minutes, until just pink (or 3 minutes for thinly sliced chicken, beef or pork). Add the garlic, shallots, and pickled turnip and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute (do not brown). Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Keep hydrated noodles in water till ready to use. 5 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked (try your best to find this at the Asian market in the refrigerated section) 8 oz pad thai rice. This can take as long as 45 minutes, depending on the noodles, but don’t use hot or warm water - this will turn the noodles mushy. Hydrate rice stick noodles in a shallow dish of room temperature water until just al dente. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and set aside.
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