Pad Thai with Prawns, the Thai Way
Pad thai is soaked — not boiled — rice noodles stir-fried in a very hot pan with a sauce of tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar, along with prawns, egg, peanuts and bean sprouts. Soak the noodles in warm water for thirty minutes only; boiling turns them to paste.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Calories
- 480
Pad thai cooks in two minutes over very high heat, so everything has to be prepped and standing beside you before the pan goes on. It's a dish of preparation, not cooking.
Method
-
1
Soak the noodles
Soak the rice noodles in warm — not boiling — water for thirty minutes, until pliable but still with a little resistance. Drain them.
⏱ 30 min -
2
The sauce
Mix the tamarind paste with the fish sauce and palm sugar and warm it for a minute until the sugar dissolves. It should taste sour, salty and sweet all at once.
⏱ 4 min -
3
Mise en place
Put every ingredient in a separate bowl next to the hob — the cooking takes two minutes and there's no time to chop.
⏱ 5 min -
4
Stir-frying
Over the highest heat: oil, garlic for ten seconds, prawns until they colour, push them to one side and scramble the eggs, then the noodles and sauce, stir fast for a minute, and finish with the bean sprouts and spring onions.
⏱ 5 min -
5
Serving
Take it off immediately and scatter over the peanuts. Serve with half a lime to squeeze over the plate.
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Tips that actually matter
- Very high heat and a wide pan — in a small pan the noodles steam instead of frying.
- Never soak the noodles in boiling water; they'll turn to paste in the pan.
- If the sauce is too sour, add sugar; too sweet, add tamarind.
People also ask
I can't find tamarind paste. What can I use?
Soak three tablespoons of dried tamarind in half a cup of warm water for twenty minutes, mash it and strain. Pomegranate molasses with lemon juice is a workable substitute.
Can I use chicken?
Yes — slice it thin and fry it at the start instead of the prawns.
My noodles clumped together.
The pan was overcrowded or not hot enough. Cook it in two batches.
Cook mode
Pad Thai with Prawns, the Thai Way
-
1
Soak the noodles
Soak the rice noodles in warm — not boiling — water for thirty minutes, until pliable but still with a little resistance. Drain them.
-
2
The sauce
Mix the tamarind paste with the fish sauce and palm sugar and warm it for a minute until the sugar dissolves. It should taste sour, salty and sweet all at once.
-
3
Mise en place
Put every ingredient in a separate bowl next to the hob — the cooking takes two minutes and there's no time to chop.
-
4
Stir-frying
Over the highest heat: oil, garlic for ten seconds, prawns until they colour, push them to one side and scramble the eggs, then the noodles and sauce, stir fast for a minute, and finish with the bean sprouts and spring onions.
-
5
Serving
Take it off immediately and scatter over the peanuts. Serve with half a lime to squeeze over the plate.
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