A Pad Thai Tale

This post has many parts, be patient with me.

It all started in 1999 when I worked at Stickers in Portland, OR. Stickers was owned by an American couple who lived all over Asia for years and came back to open a restaurant that featured their favorite dishes from various countries. Buffalo doesn't, or didn't, have a sizable Asian population as I was growing up so my exposure was limited. Pad thai was one of the dishes on the menu at Stickers and it was the first time I'd ever tasted it. Thailand's national dish, it consists rice noodles, bean sprouts, egg, herbs and peanuts in a spicy-sweet sauce. Thai food is kown for its wonderful balance of pungent, savory, salty, sour and sweet and this dish really exemplifies that well. Since then, I've ordered pad thai at other places and have never been satisfied; glutinous noodles, overly sweet, I had pretty much given up.

With Nicole's fantastic gift of the Cook's Illustrated cookbook, I spied a recipe for pad thai and I decided to try this one out. I've seen several recipes, made a few, and haven't been pleased. Some even call for ketchup! Who would ever think ketchup has a place in Thai food is sick indeed. So this is my new recipe of the week.

There were some special ingrediants I needed to pick up so I swung by A. Chau on Niagara Street. It's run by a Vietnamese family but they have a wide assortment of unusual (to me, anyway) fruits and vegetables, dusty packages with mysterious markings, kitchen utensils and the like. I don't have any idea how much things cost individually but I bought a lime, two shallots, basil, an industrial size bottle of fish sauce, peanuts, tamarind concentrate and dried shrinp for $9.66. Nice.

So, ready and armed, I returned home to put together my concoction. It was fairly labor intensive but so worth it. I'll go through the reicpe and then explain what I did differently or what I'll change next time.

Pad Thai

Sauce:
3 T. tamarind concentrate, soaked in 3/4 c. boiling water
3 T. fish sauce
3 T. sugar
2 T. vegetable oil
1 T. rice wine vinegar
3/4 t. cayenne

The Rest:
8 oz dried rice noodles
2 T. vegetable oil
12 oz mediem shrinp, peeled and deveined
1 medium shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 t salt
1 T dried shrimp, chopped fine (optional)
2 T chopped, salted preserved radish (optional)
1/4 c. unsalted, roasted peanuts, plus extra for garnish
3 c bean sprouts
5 scallions, sliced on the diagonal
1/4 c loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 lime, cut in wedges

1. OK, this first part, I will admit, is a huge pain in the ass. Tamarind concentrate is a sticky block that includes pits and all. You have to soak it for ten minutes in boiling water and then push it through a fine mesh strainer. I did this for about 5-7 minutes and gave up. This is necessary though. Don't be lazy. After you're done with that, mix in the other sauce ingredients. Be careful with the fish sauce. I squeezed the bottle with exuberance and I'm pretty sure I squeezed some right into the heating vent. That's not going to smell good tomorrow.
2. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, turn off the heat, add rice noodles and let sit for ten minutes. That's right, I said turn off the heat. Otherwise they get all mushy. I actually would do it for about 8 minutes next time but I like a little bite to my noodles. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the shrimp, sprinkle with 1/8 t of salt and cook until shrimp are opaque and lightly browned on the edges, about three minutes, remove and set aside. Let me be frank. I'm balling on a budget so there was no fresh shrimp in my dish. But I'm sure it would be way better. You can also use tofu (extra-firm) for a good and common addition to the dish.
4. Add shallot, garlic and remaining salt to the pan. Speaking of the pan, I used my trusty 12 inch cast iron skillet. Go bigger if you can. I spilled all over the place. Anyway, cook over medium heat for a few minutes until golden brown. Stir in the eggs, mixing constantly until scrambled and barely moist, about 30 seconds. Interestingly, the eggs were perhaps one of my favorite bits, just picture it, all full of shallot and garlic. Mmm.
5. Add rice noodles, dried shrimp and radish. I think next time I will add 2 T. of choppped shrimp, the earthy, briny flavor didn't really stand out. The radish was optional anyway, which is good because I didn't find it. So you can skip that. Add the sauce and toss to combine evenly.
6. Add cooked shrimp (if you're not broke like me, that is), peanuts, bean sprouts and scallions and cook until the noodles have absorbed the sauce. The best bits are the ones that get nicely browned on the bottom. Turn off the heat and toss with cilantro. I added equal parts julienned basil and truly, I can't believe Cook's Illustrated didn't add that. I think the dish wouldn't be the same. Anyway, top each portion with more chopped peanuts and a couple wedges of lime.

A final word: If you don't have these ingredients, don't substitute. It won't be good, I promise. As I was eating it, I thought, this is good but something is missing. So I went back to the kitchen for more peanuts (just dump them on, the crunch is beautiful) and realized I forgot my lime wedges. I squeezed the lime atop my platter and I was rewarded with the exact brightness and acidity I was craving. This was really delicious and highly recommended. Although the recipe says whatever it says about limes and peanuts, I would say to have extra peanuts and lime on hand. They really make the dish.