WHAT IS PAD THAI?
Pad Thai is stir-fry dish made with rice noodles, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, peanuts, a scrambled egg and bean sprouts. The ingredients are sautéed together in a wok and tossed in a delicious pad thai sauce. It’s common street food in Thailand and one of the most popular menu items at Thai restaurants around the country.
HOW TO MAKE PAD THAI SAUCE:
Traditional pad thai sauce includes fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and tamarind paste. Tamarind paste is not easily found at a regular grocery stores so I substituted rice vinegar. If you would like to use tamarind paste, substitute about 2 Tablespoons in place of the rice vinegar in this recipe. I also added a big scoop of peanut butter to my sauce, because I think it gives the whole dish an added creaminess and boost of flavor that I love.
HOW TO MAKE PAD THAI SAUCE:
To make this Pad Thai sauce, you will need:
- Tamarind Concentrate: Which is — ta da! — the secret ingredient I highly recommend getting your hands on. Tamarind concentrate is one of the starring ingredients in authentic Pad Thai. It has a sweet and tangy flavor, and in my opinion, totally makes this dish! When shopping, be sure to look for tamarind concentrate (not paste) that is made with 100% tamarind and no added sugars or corn syrup. You can find it at Asian groceries, or I just buy mine on Amazon.
- I should note, though, that many American Thai restaurants have switched to using ketchup instead of tamarind concentrate, which yields a much more sweet and red-ish Pad Thai. So if you can’t track down tamarind concentrate, you can try subbing in 3 tablespoons of ketchup and 1 tablespoon of lime juice instead of the tamarind concentrate.
- Brown sugar: Actually, palm sugar is traditionally used in Pad Thai sauce. But if you don’t have that in your pantry (like me), regular brown sugar will work just as well.
- Fish sauce: One of my favorite pantry ingredients! It’s going to smell a bit funky as you’re whisking up the sauce. But trust me — fish sauce is a critical ingredient in making these noodles taste like the Pad Thai we all know and love. That said,not all fish sauces are created equal. I’m a big fan of Red Boat and Three Crabs fish sauce brands, both of which are a bit more expensive but have a richer flavor and don’t smell quite as “fishy.” But really, any kind of fish sauce you can find will work.
- Soy sauce: I prefer low-sodium.
- Lime juice: Freshly-squeezed, of course.
- Crushed red pepper flakes: Or you can use sriracha or garlic chili sauce, or whatever your preferred hot sauce may be.
Sources:
https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/pad-thai/