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Thai fried noodles recipe. Pad Thai: the best recipes

Many tourists who have visited the "land of smiles" cannot come to a common denominator on the question of which of the local dishes tastes better: tom yam or pad thai. The recipe for both is rather intricate, and also requires both exotic ingredients and specific dishes. However, the desire to once again feel the sweet-sour burning taste of Thai dishes on their lips makes Europeans run to supermarkets in their cities in search of tamarind paste, coconut sugar and a wok.

Here we will talk about pad thai noodles. This is a favorite dish in Thailand. It is prepared by street makers, served in various places. Catering: from the most democratic cafes to expensive restaurants. is the basis, and various ingredients can act as additives: chicken, shrimp, pork, But these components appear at the very end of the culinary process, and therefore we will first tell you how to prepare a "regular" pad thai, the recipe for which is given below.

If you have a large one, you can not buy, but for most of the products you still have to go to the supermarket, to the Asian or exotic cuisine department. We'll need pad thai. The recipe recommends purchasing such that its width is about 5 mm. A sachet is enough for two servings. We also need Thai tamarind paste, the latter should not be confused with cane - it looks like caramel "Cow". Lazy people can be advised to buy ready-made "Pad thai sauce" in a bag. Then you will not need to fiddle with the above ingredients. In the regular market we buy limes, peanuts, eggs, shallots, as well as those ingredients with which you go to make pad thai.

We begin to prepare the dish with sauce. Chop 50 grams of lump palm sugar in a mortar. Dissolve it in a mixture of three tablespoons of tamarind paste and the same amount fish sauce... By the way, this seasoning can be prepared for future use - it is perfectly stored in the refrigerator. Fry a handful of peanuts without oil, peel the nuts, crush them not very finely. Now place the pad thai noodles in a colander and soak in hot water. The recipe does not indicate the cooking time - it depends on the quality and thickness of the pasta. The main thing is not to brew them with boiling water, otherwise it will come out on noodles, but gruel. The pasta should be elastic but still firm.

Fry in a wok in vegetable oil, very finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic and a small onion. When browned, add the filler (chicken or pork, shrimp, tofu). We take the colander out of the water, shake off excess moisture from the noodles, and throw it into the wok. Actively stir everything with a wooden spatula. Pour out the sauce. Rake the noodles to the walls of the wok, and break the egg into the middle, where the bottom is thinnest. Spill it, stirring with a frying pan, so that it forms like a pancake. Season the noodles with half a spoonful of red pepper, a handful of soy steams, chopped with a green onion. We remove pad thai from the fire. The recipe recommends pouring lime juice over the dish and sprinkling with crushed peanuts.

If you want to cook this dish with seafood, there is a little nuance to consider. It is better to buy shrimp already peeled, but not boiled. If purchased fresh or frozen, they must be freed from the shell, heads and legs. Pad Thai suggests to do it not with fish, but with oyster Thai sauce, after squeezing a small lime fruit there. The rest of the process is no different from the above recipe.

Thai rice noodles Pad Thai for the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Siam, it is food everyday and widely consumed. Whichever province of the country you visit, you will find it on the menu of any Thai cafe, as well as in the assortment of street food vendors, in the so-called. Moreover, among the latter, it is especially popular for its simplicity of preparation and invariably high demand. Even foreign tourists prefer it, as it is the least spicy of all that is served in Thailand. The popularity of Pad Thai can be compared, probably, with the Russian mashed potatoes or buckwheat porridge. Moreover, there are much more options for its preparation. Today we will share with you the most simple recipe by providing step by step instructions cooking. Well, before that, let's briefly talk about this Thai gastronomic phenomenon.

The main types of Pad Thai noodles

Pad Thai Rice Noodles Is the general name for a whole family of rice-based dough dishes. If you want to taste it at any point in the Thai catering, you will be sure to be asked which type you prefer. Street makers traditionally serve Pad Thai with chicken... This option is especially common in the northern continental, less often options are offered with pork and even less often with beef.

In the coastal regions of the country, the favorite dish of the Aboriginal people is Pad Thai with shrimps.

Any kind of rice noodles can be prepared in countless ways, and each of the chefs has own recipe cooking Pad Thai noodles and can rightfully claim the uniqueness of their product. The composition of the Pad Thai dish is multicomponent, with the ingredients being basic and additional. The first includes the actual noodles and their fillings - meat, chicken or seafood. And also an egg and a special sauce, which has the same name and is made from the pods of tamarind, which is also called the Indian date. The latter are like the cherry on the cake, they can be, for example, bean curd (tofu), vegetables, herbs, lime.

How much is Pad Thai in Thailand

Pad Thai dish- the food of commoners, so its cost is available to everyone who dwells on the blessed land of the kingdom of Siam. The cheapest offer can be found in the street, where it costs around 60 baht. In a cafe or restaurant, the price can double - up to 150 baht. This rule is true for the tourist regions of the country. Somewhere in a remote province, for example, in the northeastern lands of Isan, you will be served Pad Thai for 50 or even 40 baht.

The second question you will be asked after choosing a dish is your preferred way of eating. That is, whether you want to eat Pad Thai here and now or you wrap it up with you. For those wishing to eat in the cafe, noodles will be brought on a plate and complemented with a fork or chopsticks. They put it with them in a foam container, which plays the role of a thermos and allows you to bring the finished noodles, for example, to a hotel room in a state of full readiness (warm or moderately hot). The place of use does not affect the price.

Making Pad Thai at home is easy

Pad Thai noodles Is almost a drug, in the sense that you can get used to this simple but tasty dish in just a week of vacation in Thailand, and then suffer because of its absence in the historical homeland. Since there are not many Thai restaurants in every Russian city, the desire to try aromatic fried noodles once again becomes literally an obsession. Therefore, many who have returned from the exotic shores of Indochina are wondering how to cook the Pat Tai dish.

So, the promised recipe for Pad Thai with Chicken is quite simple, and the whole cooking process will take no more than a quarter of an hour. For one serving you will need the following ingredients:

  • 150-200 grams of flat rice noodles.
  • About the same amount of chicken fillet (breast).
  • One chicken egg.
  • Bean sprouts that can be replaced with cabbage - 30 grams.
  • A large clove of garlic.
  • Several green onion feathers.
  • Crushed peanuts.
  • Half a lemon (or better lime) or lemon juice.

The noodles are cooked in a wide, high-sided skillet. In Thailand it is called "Wok". An ordinary wide frying pan will fit in its place, but it will not be very convenient to cook on it.

Pad Thai sauce, which can be found in Russian supermarkets

- this is the only main ingredient that is worth buying in Thailand (or in online stores with Thai goods), since the rare fruit tamarind is used for its preparation, which we cannot find with fire during the day. You can also find it in our supermarkets in the Asian departments, however, the taste of this sauce may differ from the original Thai. In extreme cases, it can be replaced with Tkemali sauce, although the authenticity will be compromised.

Cooking Pad Thai with chicken - step by step instructions

  1. Chop chicken fillet slices (thinner), straws are also possible.
  2. Soak rice noodles in warm water... Ten to twelve minutes will be enough.
  3. Pour into a wok (or a regular frying pan) vegetable oil(3 tablespoons) and heat it up.
  4. Add the garlic crushed by the flat side of a knife to the heated oil, and then chop the garlic with it, lightly fry it.
  5. Fry the chicken fillet until tender - the degree is determined by your own taste. This must be done quickly, so we increase the heat to the maximum. Since the meat is not removed from the pan until the end of cooking, it is better to underfry it a little.
  6. We shift the meat by one half of the frying pan, and put it in the vacant space a raw egg and fry it with continuous stirring. You should get a crumbly omelette.
  7. Stir meat with egg, add soaked rice noodles. The degree of deoxidation of the latter is determined empirically, but it is necessary to act according to the Italian principle: so that it is a little hard. For soaking noodles, we recommend using water heated to 60-70 degrees, although Thais most often use extremely cold water, which is why their noodles are not so soft.
  8. Add Pad Thai sauce and mix thoroughly with the rest of the ingredients in a skillet.
  9. Add greens - bean sprouts or thinly sliced cabbage leaves, green onion feathers. If desired, you can add chopped carrots. Mix everything thoroughly. After a couple of minutes, the dish is ready.

Portions of Pad Thai are served on bowls and sprinkled with crushed peanuts. Put half a lemon on top and sprinkle with lime juice to taste. The recipe for making Pad Taiwesma Thai noodles is democratic, so you can replace the lemon with slices of cucumber. This option can also be found in Thailand. Europeans eat Thai noodles with a fork, but it is better to do it with chopsticks.

WITH aromatic sauce and vegetables. Now it is served everywhere, chefs add not only fish and seafood to the noodles, but also meat: pork and chicken. This article contains recipes for Thai noodles with photos. Traditional recipes are also given thai sauces.

Features of Thai cuisine

One of the main features of Thai cuisine is the pungency and spice, spices are added to all dishes and in large quantities. For the most intense taste of food, use peanuts, coconut milk, Green pepper, hot sauces, herbal sauces, vinegar, curry based coconut milk and other natural flavor enhancers.

Rice and noodle side dishes predominate. Depending on the region in which the rice was grown, it is sticky or crumbly. The most expensive variety is considered to be Noodles, which are mainly added to the first courses, for the second they are served in combination with vegetables, fish, meat, seafood.

An interesting feature of the kitchen is eating dried insects: spiders, crickets, and so on. In every region of the country, the cuisine is distinguished by the pungency of dishes, a variety of desserts, branded recipes, used spices.

To cook by this recipe Thai noodles with seafood, it will take no more than an hour. The dish is very simple, tasty and satisfying.

Foods needed in two large portions:

  • 100 grams of rice noodles;
  • 100 grams of shrimp;
  • 40 grams of squid and mussels;
  • 40 grams of soy sprouts;
  • medium bunch of green onions;
  • tablespoon olive oil;
  • 2 eggs.

Ingredients for Thai Noodle Sauce:

  • 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons (paste);
  • a teaspoon of sugar.

Soak the noodles in cold water. Meanwhile, peel the shrimp. Place them in a hot skillet and fry on all sides. The sign of the readiness of the shrimp is an appetizing pink color. Fried shrimps transfer to a separate container. Break two eggs into a frying pan, when the egg white grabs, add mussels, squid and shrimp cooked earlier. During the frying process (about two minutes), the seafood must be constantly stirred. Drain the noodles and add them to the wok. Pour the dressing consisting of soy sauce, sugar, pasta into the pan. After a minute, add finely chopped onion and soy sprouts. Prepare the dish for another two minutes, stirring it constantly. Spread on a portioned plate decorating it with herbs.

Thai Chicken Noodle Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 150 grams of chicken fillet;
  • 200 grams of noodles;
  • two large cloves of garlic;
  • medium sweet onion;
  • 1/3 teaspoon pepper
  • one egg;
  • lime;
  • a tablespoon of chopped peanuts;
  • 40 grams of soy sprouts;
  • a large bunch of green onions;

Sauce products:

  • 5 teaspoons oyster or fish sauce
  • 5 teaspoons of dry tamarind paste
  • 40 grams of brown cane sugar.

This Thai noodle recipe will only take an hour of your time. Heat the sauce with pasta over low heat, stirring thoroughly. Then add sugar to the mixture. The prepared sauce is poured into a container. Peanuts are lightly fried without adding oil, transferred to a separate bowl. Finely chopped garlic and onion are fried over medium heat with the addition of oil until golden brown. Rice noodles are left in cool water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the chicken is fried in a wok until it is fully cooked. The meat should be finely chopped. Then add the swollen noodles and the sauce prepared earlier to the wok. Cook over high heat. Fry the egg on the edge of the wok or in a separate skillet, stirring it well. Egg, sprouts, finely chopped green onions are added to the noodles. The noodles should not be tough, but only slightly fried, only in this case all the ingredients can be added. Soak for another 5 minutes - and the noodles are ready. Garnish with lime and peanuts.

Vegetable noodle recipe

For those who do not eat meat, it is suitable traditional recipe Thai rice noodles with vegetables.

You will need:

  • 400 grams of noodles;
  • 1 pc. peppers, onions and carrots;
  • 2 cloves of garlic;
  • 200 grams of mushrooms and pea pods;
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or rice;
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon each of sesame oil and soy sauce;
  • tablespoon peanut butter;
  • 1/3 cup chopped peanuts
  • soy sprouts;
  • 1 teaspoon chili sauce
  • 3 teaspoons of honey.

Chop vegetables and mushrooms finely. Wash young pea pods and let dry a little. Combine minced garlic cloves with peanuts. Combine sauces, vinegar, oil in a separate container. Add the paste to the same container. Cook the noodles over medium heat (no more than 8 minutes). Chopped vegetables are fried for 7 minutes in a little oil. Garlic, sauce and noodles are also added there, mixing everything thoroughly. Decorate the finished portion of noodles by sprinkling with peanuts.

Sauce option for dressing Thai dishes

Thai cuisine is renowned for a variety of sauces of all sorts, with spicy and spicy flavors. For Thai noodle recipes, both hot and sweet sauces are suitable. Some of these recipes are listed below.

Required products:

  • 50 grams of chopped tamarind;
  • 50 grams of ketchup;
  • 17 grams of oyster sauce;
  • 125 grams of palm sugar;
  • 625 milliliters of drinking water.

The ingredients are combined in a container and mixed thoroughly until a homogeneous consistency. Cook the sauce over medium heat. After 35 minutes, remove the thickened sauce from the heat. They are usually seasoned with rice and noodle dishes. The sauce is stored only in the refrigerator.

For a sweet chili sauce you will need:

  • 4 chili peppers
  • 2 cloves of garlic;
  • 200 milliliters of water;
  • 1/4 cup rice wine, sweet will do;
  • 0.5 cups of sugar;
  • 0.5 tablespoon salt;
  • 1 dessert spoon of corn starch.

Pepper and garlic must be chopped to a smooth, mushy paste. Then add all the ingredients except the starch to boiling water and cook for three minutes over low heat. Mix the starch with a little water and add to the sauce. Refrigerate it before use. This sauce works well with rice.

According to the recipes, Thai noodles should be cooked in small portions. If you use a large frying pan and a lot of food, you can overexpose the dish, and then it will turn into a shapeless mass. If you replace the rare ingredients that are inaccessible to you, then the noodles will not lose their taste. Soy sprouts can be replaced with cabbage, and rare sauces - with ready-made mixtures from the store.

Fried Pad Thai noodles are a classic of Thai cuisine and a dish, the restaurant version of which is inferior to the street version, prepared by the true masters of mobile kitchens.

- culinary pride of Thais, occupying the top positions in the TOP of the most delicious dishes the world. Fried noodles with shrimp, meat, tofu or vegetables are a must on the menu best restaurants Asian cuisine. However, connoisseurs and connoisseurs of true Thai tastes argue that a truly delicious Pad Thai can be tasted only at the colorful chefs of mobile trolleys, "makashnits", which are strewn with the streets of Thailand. The main thing for an inexperienced gourmet tourist is to warn the seller in English in time: "Not spicy!" or in Thai: "May pat".


The opportunity to taste the street Pad Thai does not always fall, and not for everyone. But, as you know, if the mountain does not go to Magomed, then Magomed ... himself buys Thai products from Asian markets and prepares fried noodles according to authentic recipes right in his kitchen. The main criterion that distinguishes a real Pad Thai from a Pad Thai for Thai reasons is the correct transition of flavors. If the technology is followed correctly, it will be the first to appear in the mouth sweet taste, then it will be replaced by a sour one, and a symphony of taste will be completed by a sharp note or a whole spicy "orchestra". For such a transition to occur, special attention must be paid to the sauce. There is another secret of the magnificent Pad Taya. The cooking process should be lightning fast, so all ingredients should be prepared for frying in advance.

TOP 5 recipes for how to cook Pad Thai

Recipe 1: Classic Pad Thai with Chicken from Fr. Samui


1-2 servings will require: 200 g of rice noodles, 100 ml of any broth or water, daikon root (2 cm), 2 eggs, a large handful of soy sprouts, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dried shrimp (shrimp paste), 1 white sweet onion or 3 shallots, 0.5 teaspoons of thick soy sauce (dark), 1 chicken fillet, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of peanuts (fried, salted), 0.5 tbsp. tablespoons of chili powder, green onions, 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil.

Pad Thai dressing: 1 teaspoon each of soy and fish sauces, 2 teaspoons of fried garlic, 2 teaspoons of oyster sauce, 2 tbsp. spoons of tamarind sauce, a pinch of black or white pepper, 2 teaspoons of sugar.

  1. Mix all ingredients for Pad Thai dressing in a separate bowl.
  2. Pour noodles cold water, withstand half an hour. Drain the water, and add soy sauce mixed with black pepper to the noodles. Leave the noodles to soak a little.
  3. Grind the daikon and pour over the fish sauce (the workpiece can be stored in a refrigerated place for up to 2 months).
  4. Cut the chicken fillet into convenient slices and fry in well-warmed oil in a wok. It takes 30-45 seconds to brown the meat.
  5. Move the meat to the edges of the pan, beat in the eggs, stir everything and cook for another half minute.
  6. Add to the wok: seasoned daikon, dried shrimp or pasta, onion half rings. Mix the ingredients and pour the broth into the pan. Cook, stirring, for a minute.
  7. Put the noodles to the meat. Cook until tender. If necessary, add some liquid.
  8. Before completing the frying process, pour the dressing into the pan, add coarsely chopped green onions, chili powder and part of the soy sprouts.
  9. Serve the Pad Thai hot with chopped peanuts and fresh sprouts.

Recipe 2: Pad Thai with Shrimp by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Bonneville


For 2 servings you will need: 180-200 g of rice noodles, 3 tbsp. spoons of peanuts, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of dried shrimp, 3-4 tbsp. tablespoons of sesame oil, a pinch of dry chili and a piece of fresh chili, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tamarind sauce, 1 spoonful of rice vinegar and soy sauce, a bunch of chives, a bunch of basil, 2-3 shallots, 50 g of tofu, a handful of soy sprouts, 50 g of raw peeled shrimp, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of palm sugar, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of grated pickled daikon, 1 egg, a few mint leaves, half a lime.

  1. Fry unsalted peanuts in a wok with a traditional Thai ingredient - dried spicy shrimp.
  2. Pour sesame oil into a frying pan and add a pinch of dry chili pieces for pungency. Shake the wok by weight to mix the products evenly.
  3. Pour the lightly fried shrimp and nuts into a mortar and crush to break the peanuts into pieces.
  4. Dilute the tamarind paste with a spoonful of water, add an incomplete spoonful of fish sauce and rice vinegar. Pad Thai dressing sauce is ready.
  5. Prepare other products: soak noodles for half an hour, chop green onions (chives) coarsely, shallots into rings, tender tofu into 1-inch cubes, tear Asian basil into pieces, chop palm sugar.
  6. Start Pad Taya: Pour sesame oil into a wok, add shallots, half of the shrimp-nut mixture and part of the bean sprouts. Mix the products.
  7. Continuing to shake the pan, add in turn: raw shrimp, pickled daikon, Chinese chives, beaten egg, tamarind sauce, bean sprouts, tofu cubes, palm sugar and half of the basil.
  8. Throw the noodles last in the pan. Fry everything until the noodles are done.
  9. Pad Thai lay out on portioned dishes, garnish with torn mint leaves, chopped chili, crushed peanut and dry shrimp mixture. Drizzle with lime juice before use.

Recipe 3: Pad Thai with vegetables


For 2 servings you will need: 150 g of egg noodles, 100 g of tofu cheese, half a lime, 2 eggs, several pieces of baby corn, green beans and pieces of pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste, green onions, tomato and cucumber for decoration, chili pepper, 1-2 garlic cloves, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of fish sauce, crushed roasted peanuts for sprinkling, a handful of bean sprouts.

  1. Soak noodles in water room temperature for 30 minutes.
  2. Crush the garlic with a knife blade, chop coarsely and season with fish sauce, tamarind paste and chili. Dilute the sauce with a quarter glass of water.
  3. In a deep frying pan, fry the pumpkin slices in oil, add the soaked and dried noodles. Mix.
  4. After a minute, pour the beaten eggs into a frying pan, add pieces of soy cheese. Fry everything for two to three minutes. Do not stop mixing.
  5. Put the bean pods, corn, soy sprouts in a frying pan and pour everything with the prepared sauce. Fry the noodles for another five minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.
  6. Transfer Pad Thai to a flat dish. Garnish with slices of cucumber, tomato, lime and green onion feathers.

Recipe 4: Thai Pad Thai with Pork and Vegetables


For 3 servings you will need: 300 g pork tenderloin, 210 g rice noodles, half a daikon radish, 1 small eggplant, a few stalks of green onions, 1 egg, half a chili pepper, 1 carrot, 3 shallots, half a lime, 3 tbsp. spoons sunflower oil, 2 tbsp. spoons of roasted peanuts.

Gas station Pad Thai: 1 tbsp. a spoonful of fish, oyster and soy sauces, 2 tbsp. spoons of tamarind sauce, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of sweet chili sauce.

  1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce. Pour boiling water over the noodles for five minutes. Excess water should be drained off in a colander.
  2. Prepare food: cut vegetables into large slices or grate with long stitches on a special grater; cut the meat into thin strips; chop peanuts into coarse crumbs.
  3. Heat oil (peanut, sunflower or corn oil) in a deep frying pan. Fry the onions quickly. Add the meat, eggplant stitches and fry over high heat until the meat has a firm crust (5-7 minutes).
  4. Pour noodles, remaining vegetables to the meat, pour the sauce. Stir and fry for a couple of minutes.
  5. Move the mass to the edges of the pan, and drive an egg into an empty space. Stir quickly into the noodles. Allow a few moments for the egg to curdle. Remove the wok from the heat.
  6. Put the pad thai on a plate, garnish with peanuts and chopped onions. Pour the juice of half a lime over the dish.

Recipe 5: Thai fried noodles from Leonid Zatulivetrov


For 3 servings you will need: 2 tbsp. spoons of soy and fish sauces, 200 g of rice noodles, 2 cloves of garlic, 100 g of chicken fillet, 8 king prawns, 1 onion, 50 g of pickled daikon, 2 eggs, 50-70 g of tofu cheese, 2 tbsp. spoons of tamarind paste and dried shrimp, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar, a handful of soy sprouts, a bunch of green onions, a large bunch of cilantro, 50 g of green beans, 1 chili pepper, a handful of fried unsalted peanuts, vegetable oil.

  1. Soak the noodles in lukewarm water. Finish soaking when the stitches of the noodles are wrapped around your finger, while remaining slightly firm. Rinse the noodles and dry in a colander.
  2. Mix Pad Taya sauce: sugar + tamarind paste + fish sauce.
  3. Prepare products for frying: chop the garlic into strips, the onion with feathers. Remove the shell from the shrimp, remove the intestines.
  4. Cut the chicken fillet into stitches, chop the cilantro branches, cut the green onion feathers diagonally (4-5 cm each), half the chili into rings, tofu into cubes, the bean pods into oblique halves.
  5. In a hot frying pan-wok with oil, fry the onion until transparent, add the garlic, then the chicken fillet. When the fillet turns white, send the beans to the pan and pour in the soy sauce.
  6. Remove the wok from heat, add the noodles and continue to fry. All mixing, add to the content at least 3 tbsp. spoons of tamarind paste and fish sauce.
  7. Move the noodles with vegetables to the side of the pan, beat the eggs into the vacant space. Mix. Without stopping the stirring process, add chopped pickled daikon, the other half of the chopped chili, peeled shrimp.
  8. Once cooking is complete, add tofu, salt to the wok and, if necessary, add fish sauce. Stir in the green onions, cilantro and some of the bean sprouts.
  9. Transfer the prepared Pad Thai to a dish, sprinkle with crushed peanuts, soy sprouts, dry shrimps. Decorate the plate with cilantro leaves. Place green onion feathers, small chili peppers, whole peanuts on the sides.

Thai tips will help you cook delicious, and most importantly - real Pad Thai:

  1. It is better to take rice noodles for Pad Taya, and only its flat appearance, where the width of the stripes is about 5 mm. Street chefs use small noodles to make Pad Thai.
  2. The noodles are soaked following the instructions on the package. But if it is "unreadable", then experts advise to soak the noodles in hot water for the time it takes for an elastic state. As a rule, it takes up to half an hour. However, it should be remembered that it is better to underexpose noodles than overexpose them.
  3. Thais do not have strict recipe proportions, as Thai cuisine often ignores measuring units (grams, spoons, etc.). Street chefs add food to their expert eye for authenticity. Therefore, the composition of the dish and the proportions are more advisory in nature.
  4. The main ingredient in Thai noodle sauce is tamarind paste. They buy it in Asian shops in finished form, or prepared for future use from pressed tamarind pulp. Tamarind juice, like the prepared sauce, can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
  5. Do not cook double Pad Thai at a time. Increasing the amount of food will impair the quality of the roast and the taste of the dish will suffer. Better to cook Pad Thai twice.

Pad Thai is a Thai food that you should definitely try in Thailand and then recreate at home. Thai fried noodles are among those culinary masterpieces that can and should be cooked on home kitchen to experience the soul of an authentic dish.

The national dish of each culture has a special, unique taste, and is very popular with all residents of the country. Pad Thai noodles are no exception. This dish is truly unique in that it combines all possible tastes: spicy, sweet, sour, and salty, which cannot be found in other national dishes.

What is Pad Thai Noodles

Pad Thai noodles are one of the national dishes inherent in Thai culture. This type of noodle is made from rice flour using a small amount of water. The noodles are prepared using the stir-fry method, that is, they are fried in a sauce in a frying pan called a wok.

At the same time, the pan must be hot. Thanks to its high temperature and constant stirring, the dish cooks very quickly, which is why it has received recognition among the street food lover. The history of this noodle is still not exactly known.

Someone says that a dish with fried noodles was invented in China and brought to Thailand when the kingdom of Ayutthaya still existed. It is said that these merchants, not wanting to put up with the Thai culture, prepared Pad Thai noodles for themselves, and the local population, having tasted and appreciated the dish, adopted it into their culture, eventually making it national.

There is another, more possible version about the appearance of this noodle in Thailand. During World War 1941-45, despite the fact that Thailand was a neutral territory, food was scarce and people were starving. Rice supplies were running out quickly. But most of all, people were crippled by the flood, which was a real collapse for the whole country. Most of the fields that were planted with rice were literally washed away.

To conserve food, the government has suggested that residents consume noodles instead of rice. The consequence of this was the creation of noodles, which were referred to as "sen chan", after the name of the province of Chanthaburi. Even after the war, this dish did not disappear from the diet of people. They began to add meat in the form of chicken or pork to their favorite dish, although the government was against pork, since it was believed that this meat was Chinese.

Until now, some food manufacturers keep the same recipe, that is, they do not use pork.

The main types of Pad Thai noodles

If a visitor wants to eat these noodles, then he will be sure to ask what kind of noodles he prefers.
The choice is great. Noodles can be cooked with chicken, seafood (most often with shrimps), pork meat, beef. However, the most popular is noodles with chicken and shrimp. These two most beloved types of Pad Thai noodles can be found in all the cities in the country with access to the sea.

Chicken noodles

As already mentioned, chicken noodles are the most beloved type of noodles not only among locals, but also among tourists. It is most common in the hinterland of Thailand.

The nuance of this dish is that the chicken is put in hot peanut butter first. The chicken needs to be cut into small pieces so that cooking takes a minimum of time. You need to cook for 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.

Shrimp noodles

Shrimp noodles are also popular, but Pad Thai with shrimps is most popular in areas near the sea. Shrimp can be used either peeled and pre-cooked, or raw. However, it is not convenient to eat such a dish.

Pad Thai Ingredients and Recipe

The noodles are made using rice flour and water. The mixture quickly thickens, becomes sticky, turning into a dough, thanks to the high starch content of rice flour. Therefore, the preparation of the noodles themselves does not take long.
A special art is to make noodles from a piece of dough.

Most of Thailand's indigenous street food traders do not recognize noodle makers, but use their own hands. They stretch the dough, fold it in half, then stretch it again. And so hundreds of times, until the noodles acquire their traditional appearance of thin stripes.

After that, the noodles are placed in boiling water and boiled like ordinary pasta, but to the state that the Italians also call "al dente". What is it for? Due to the fact that Thais do not eat these noodles just like that. For them, Pad Thai noodles are the basis of the dish, to which many more ingredients are added.

Required Ingredients

A standard Pad Thai noodle dish should contain meat, vegetables, an egg, hard cheese from soy milk called "tofu" and many spices and sauces. However, it is worth noting that seafood is most often used as meat, mainly dried shrimp.

Seasonings must be very spicy. Hot spices for Thais are a kind of disinfection method.
The list of such disinfecting seasonings most often includes red hot chili peppers. Fish sauce is also an integral part of the dish.

Its peculiarity lies in the fact that this sauce is made from fermented fish. This sauce has a peculiar smell, reminiscent of not fresh fish, but it is appreciated for its high taste qualities, which give the final dish a light trail of fishy taste.

Palm (coconut) sugar is also an important ingredient in making noodles. Unlike ordinary cane or beet sugar, coconut sugar contains a large amount of nutrients, trace elements, which is why it has become famous in the field diet food... Its main advantage is its high content of vitamin B, which makes it an unprecedented leader among the existing types of sugar.

Necessarily in the dish and the presence of bitter notes, which gives either garlic or shallots popular in Thailand. Street food Thais chop one of these ingredients into small pieces, so they don't feel very good in the dish, but without them the dish would be “faded”. An unusual ingredient is the pulp of tamarind.

Tamarind is a fruit that belongs to the legume variety. Another name for tamarind is "Indian date". It grows on a huge tree, the height of which exceeds 3 meters.

The fruit of the tamarind tree itself is a fruit that looks like a date. It also has a seed, but it is radically distinguished by differences in green color and taste. Tamarind has a sour and slack taste, in contrast to the sugary-sweet date.

It is worth noting that tamarind contains great amount vitamins and acids, which once again proves the usefulness of the whole dish with Pad Thai noodles.

Recipe

The preparation of this dish is very simple and does not take much time. This is why it has gained such popularity in the street food category in Thailand.

Let's analyze one of the recipes that will help you understand the principle of cooking Thai noodles. Some of the ingredients you need to prepare a meal are hard to find in modern cities. Unfortunately, any deviation from the standard recipe will affect the taste, so it is advisable to visit the special sections of the stores, which would sell ingredients for preparing Thai dishes.

However, one of the ingredients can be replaced - "Mash" pea sprouts. No matter how simple it sounds, but familiar to everyone White cabbage If cut into thin strips, it is a great substitute for the fancy bean.

Ingredients:
1. Rice flour noodles - 100-130 grams
2. Peanut butter - 50 ml or ¼ cup
3. Tamarind paste - 2-3 tablespoons, depending on taste
4. Fermented fish sauce (fish sauce) - 50 ml or ¼ cup
5. Honey - 70 grams or ⅓ cup
6. Rice vinegar - 2 tablespoons
7. Hot red chili - half a teaspoon (you can vary the amount, depending on taste preferences)
8. Green onions- taste
9. A clove of garlic - 1-2 pieces
10. Egg - 2 pieces
11. Chinese cabbage - 1 medium-sized head of cabbage
12. Pea beans "Mash" (sprouted) - 1 glass
13. Tofu cheese - 100 grams
14. Shrimp - 100 grams
15. Peanuts - half a glass
16. Lime - 2 pieces

Despite the small amount of cooking time, the dish combines many ingredients. However, as you can see, all the ingredients have benefits for the body, so the Pad Tai noodle dish can be safely attributed to food healthy eating despite being actively marketed as "fast food" on the streets of Thailand.

Pad Thai cooking process

Cooking Pad Thai noodles has many nuances, and each chef has his own secrets.
Here are some of them:

1. To prepare the dish, you must use a special bowl-shaped pan called "wok".
2. The pan must be hot, otherwise the ingredients will not reveal all their tastes.
3. Noodles are always added to the sauce, not the other way around.
4. After the noodles have been poured with boiling water and drained, they must not be rinsed with cold water. Pour a tablespoon of peanut butter over the softened noodles and stir. This will prevent clumping.
5. The dish does not need additional salt. Thanks to the salty fish sauce, the dish does not need to be salted.

How to cook at home yourself

1. If you do not cook the noodles yourself, but buy at the store, then you just need to put the noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water so that the amount of water covers the top. Leave the noodles for five minutes; they should soften, but not too much. After that, you need to drain the boiling water with a colander and, so that the noodles do not stick together, you need to immediately pour it with a tablespoon of peanut butter and mix. Set the bowl of noodles aside.

2. Put the tamarind paste, fermented fish sauce, honey and rice vinegar in a separate saucepan. Stir. Then put the saucepan over low heat and simmer the sauce. At the end of cooking, add hot pepper chili, stir. Leave the sauce to cool.

3. Pour the remaining peanut butter into the wok and heat it heavily. When the oil is hot enough and starts to shine, toss in the chopped shallots and garlic. Cook them for one minute. Then you need to beat the eggs and pour into the pan, stir. Then add the shredded Chinese cabbage and seedlings of mung bean. Stir constantly. Once the cabbage is clear, add the meat and tofu.

4. When the shrimp is soft and the tofu has a pleasant golden hue, add the noodles to the sauce and stir again for one to two minutes.

5. Turn off the fire. Divide the dish into bowls, sprinkling with peanuts on top. Garnish with chopped cilantro and lime wedges if desired.

The dish is ready!

How much is Pad Thai

In Thailand, the average price of a Pad Thai dish ranges from 60 to 200 baht, or from 115 to 380 rubles. It all depends on the cafe. Yes, the dish is not very cheap, however, if you choose noodles without meat, then the cost will significantly decrease.

Of course, when preparing Pad Thai, the cost per serving will be lower, but finding the ingredients can be a problem. For example, the cost of fish sauce will be about 200 rubles. The price of tamarind paste ranges from 280 to 350 rubles.

Rice noodles themselves cost about 160 rubles, but you can buy rice flour and try to cook the noodles with your own hands.

Where is it tastier and better to buy

It is impossible to say where exactly you need to buy the Pad Thai dish. Street vendors follow traditional recipes. It is with them that you can try the Pad Thai that was created decades ago, and at an affordable price. However, this method has a significant disadvantage - the likelihood of poisoning.

Although hot spices disinfect the dish, the tourist's body is not always adapted to local food.
Therefore, if you do not want to take risks, it is better to give your preference to restaurants or at least cafes.

Yes, the cost of the dish is higher there, but the likelihood of getting problems with the gastrointestinal tract is lower. In addition, the variety of types of meat in restaurants is greater than in street kiosks.

If there is no opportunity to go to Thailand, then you can use the above tips and prove to everyone that for a sample national dish it is not necessary to visit another country. The main thing is to know the nuances of its preparation!