Pad Thai (ผัดไทย)

Thailand’s National Dish that is popular all around the world

Main Course

Keywords Authentic Pad Thai, Basic Pad Thai, Thai Food, Thai, Rice Noodles

Pad Thai already sounds like Thailand. However, the short form that is used nowadays only means “Thai Stir Fry”. It is abbreviated from “Kway Teow Pad Thai“, in which “Kway Teow” is a Chinese word for rice noodles and thus hinting at the Chinese influence on the dish. You can find Pad Thai anywhere in Thailand - from street stalls to fancy restaurants and by now also all around the world. As the full name suggests, Pad Thai is not as old and traditional as you may think though.

Find out about the history of these stir fried rice noodles, the different variations and which ingredients and flavours distinguish it. Recipes both for an authentic and a less exotic vegetarian Pad Thai follow towards the end of post - or straight via the link in the table of contents.

Content

Origen

What makes it special

Flavor and key ingredients

Different variations

What to watch out for

Recipe - Pad Thai with authentic tamarind sauce

Recipe - Vegetarian Pad Thai without the most exotic ingredients

Origen - A creation of Thai identity during the 2nd World War

The first time that rice noodles were reported in Thailand was in the Ayutthaya era in the 17th century. Chinese traders brought them to the kingdom were they were then prepared as stir-fries, too. It is said, that these dishes are the base of the current Pad Thai. But how did a Chinese dish turn into Thailand’s national dish?

Several theories try to explain how and why the Pad Thai was introduced and proclaimed a national dish. All of them agree that during the Second World War, Plaek Phibunsongkhram - also known as Phibun in western societies and prime minister at that time - passed 12 cultural mandates in order to improve and standardize Thai culture while creating a common nationalistic identity. One of them was the dish of Pad Thai. Other mandates, which still last today and are easily visible, are the country’s change of name from Siam to Thailand and the respect for king and country through the flag and anthem. Exercising for 1h on every day, sleeping for 6-8h, wearing European trousers and skirts, and only studying and speaking Thai were also among these mandates. The initiative to create a more uniform Thai identity was motivated by several factors. In the ethnically diverse country, Thai culture was supposed to be distinct from immigrant cultures, work as a protection from Chinese influence and the Western colonialist countries, and finally earn respect for the country.

So much about the cultural motivation. How did they turn a former Chinese into Thailand’s National dish? Once the stir-fried rice noodles were prepared well with Thai ingredients, the government handed out the recipe to restaurants and free carts to people willing to cook and sell Pad Thai. Additionally, Phibun banned Chinese street vendors from selling, hence once more encouraging to eat Pad Thai next to the already existing advertisements.

Historians also reported shortages of normal rice grains due to less production and floods during the Second World War. As rice noodles can also be made from rice flour and broken grains, eating more rice noodles and using this “waste material” meant consuming the rice stocks slower. Whether it was a national cooking competition or Phibum’s personal favourite food, remains unclear though.

Street stalls are a very common sight on the streets in Thailand. Photo by Dan Freeman on Unsplash

What makes it special

In general

What definitely distinguishes Pad Thai from other noodle dishes are not only the Thai ingredients, but also a large variety of protein sources: prawns, eggs, peanuts, tofu and bean sprouts. Apparently, Phibum was hoping Pad Thai would improve the diet of Thai people and give it more variety, too.

Possibly the name itself made Pad Thai popular not only with the locals, but also with the tourists as it is easily recognized. The outstanding mixture of sweet, sour and salty flavours was easily spread around the world as this taste has not been copied in other cultures. It is most likely to find a similar mix of flavours in the Vietnamese cuisine, but usually lighter - with more fresh vegetables and herbs. By now, Pad Thai is an incredibly popular tourist dish that can be found anywhere - both within as well as beyond the borders of Thailand.

When traveling in Thailand, the stir-fried rice noodles are a convenient not spicy alternative without too exotic ingredients. Moreover, the protein source is easily replaced and even the whole dish can be made vegetarian or vegan if desired. Due to having many different ingredients, slight changes in their ratio also give the noodles a personal touch.

For me personally

My aunt moved to Koh Samui in Thailand after retiring from her work in several countries in Central Asia. As she built a house on a beach with her husband, it did not take too much time until I first visited her with my family when I was 12. That’s when I first tried and immediately fell in love with Pad Thai. Just 2 years later, I went again with my brother and my best friend. Coming back, my best friend and I wanted to cook the delicious food we found there for my and especially his parents. Luckily, we found a Thai cookbook in my parent’s home and we started reproducing some of the dishes like fried rice, sweet and sour chicken and; you may already guess it; Pad Thai. Hence, Pad Thai is one of the first proper dishes that I have cooked. Besides lighting up the fire for cooking my own delicious food, the stir-fried noodles turned into an immensely popular dish for dinner parties, especially running dinner events like rudirockt.

Flavor and key ingredients

As already described, Pad Thai impresses with its sweet and sour flavour along some saltiness. All of these flavours are included in the sauce: tamarind or rice vinegar for the acidity, palm or brown sugar for the sweetness and fish or soy sauce for the saltiness. In order to stay with an authentic Pad Thai sauce, it’s better to use at least 2 of the following 3 key ingredients: tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce. Solid tamarind may be replaced by liquid tamarind paste, but the pure tamarind simply tastes better. The disadvantage of solid tamarind is that preparing the sauce takes more time as the tamarind has to be dissolved and the seeds need to be removed.

In the end, the person eating may still adjust the balance of these flavours to their personal taste and even add some spiciness - with limes, peanuts, sugar, chilli and even fresh bean sprouts or other raw vegetables.

Despite these flavouring ingredients there are a number of other ingredients that cannot miss in an authentic Pad Thai: neutral taste vegetable oil, rice noodles ca. 3-5mm wide, Thai shallots, sweet pickled radish, firm tofu, dried shrimps, eggs, mung bean sprouts, peanuts and Chinese chive. Of these, the following ingredients may be difficult to find and can be substituted:

Thai shallots with normal shallots and some garlic
Sweet pickled radish with salty pickled radish that could be rinsed if too salty or generally left out
Dried shrimps with shrimp paste
Chinese chive with the leaves of scallions or chives
Tamarind with liquid tamarind paste or rice vinegar

There is a detailled German article describing the necessary ingredients for an authentic Pad Thai and how you may substitute the exotic ones: https://www.tasteoftravel.at/das-perfekte-pad-thai/

Different variations

The “extra” protein sources are traditionally shrimps (Pad Thai Goong) and tofu. However, even in Thailand the added meat or fish often vary. The most popular ones are chicken (Pad Thai Gai) and only tofu (Tahou). Pork (Moo), Beef (Nuea) and seafood (Thalee) are less common variations you can find in Thai restaurants. For a vegetarian dish, you may also substitute the fish sauce with light soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce and leave out the dried shrimps.

As with many dishes, it is possible to substitute even some of the key ingredients and still cook a delicious meal. Maybe you should then not call it an authentic Pad Thai anymore though, but rather a variation of it - especially in case you are in the presence of someone who knows Pad Thai very well.

What to watch out for

1) Only prepare a maximum of 2 portions at a time, in order to be able to stir quickly at high temperature.

2) Do not overcook the rice noodles in the preparation. They should not stick together. Pay attention to the preparation method on the package. If in doubt soak them for 10min or more in hot water

3) Add a little bit of water to the wok when stir frying the noodles in case they are not cooked yet.

4) Start with a very hot wok in order to stir-fry quickly. Everything is supposed to stay al dente. Gas or induction stoves and a wok with a thick bottom work great for this.

5) Read the whole recipe in advance, it is going to be quick cooking when prepared well.

6) Have all ingredients ready before heating up the wok, including the sauce.

7) Use two wooden spatulas in case you are not good at panning/ moving the wok and its ingredients like a pro

8) Marinate the tofu with the shrimps in order to give them an extra taste kick

Pad Thai with authentic tamarind sauce

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 2

(For me personally, it requires 1-1,5 servings to fill me after a long day ;-))

For the sauce

80g Tamarind (or half the amount liquid tamarind paste)
20ml Fish sauce (2 Tbsp)
40g ground palm sugar
100ml hot water

For the marinade

100g raw prawns (substitute with chicken etc. as you like)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
¼ tsp ground black pepper
50g firm natural tofu (thick and without air holes - press it if necessary)

For the stirfry

3 Tbsp vegetable oil (neutral taste)
3 shallots
2 Tbsp pickled radish (sweet)
2 tsp small dried shrimps or 1 tsp shrimp paste
½ bunch chinese chive
50g mung or soy bean sprouts
150g 3mm rice noodles
1 egg

Toppings

30g roasted peanuts
1/2 lime cut in eights
1 fresh chilli, cut in rings or small pieces
Few mung bean sprouts

Instructions

Defrost the prawns, peel them and remove their bowel if necessary. Marinate the prawns in the fish sauce and pepper.
Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small pot and heat it up to dissolve the sugar and tamarind paste. The sauce should not boil, as it does not need to thicken. Find the right balance by adding sugar for sweetness, tamarind paste for acidity and fish sauce for saltiness. You can prepare more sauce to keep it in the fridge for about 4 weeks or freeze it. In this case you need to boil it once. Once the sauce has that perfect mix of flavors, use a sieve on top of a bowl to separate the sauce from the tamarind seeds and other parts that do not dissolve in the sauce.
Soak the dry shrimps in room-tempered water for about 10min to make them soften. Dice them afterwards. Cut the sweet pickled radish into small pieces, too.
Prepare the rice noodles by pouring almost boiling hot water over them and letting them soak approx. 10min, then drain (or prepare according to the description on the package). They should be flexible, but al dente and preferably not stick together.
Meanwhile, peel and chop the shallots and garlic into small pieces. Cut the tofu into small pieces of approx. ½ cm. Wash the leaves and bean sprouts. Cut the leaves into approx. 3cm long and ½ cm wide pieces. Keep the white bottom parts of the scallions for decoration. Crush the peanuts with a mixer, mortar or in a freezing bag until their peanut shape is not recognizable anymore. Wash the lime with hot water and cut them into eighths. Cut the chilli in small rings or pieces and set a few mung bean sprouts aside as a topping. Make sure you have all the ingredients ready on small plates to add them quickly to the wok.
Heat up the vegetable oil in a wok to high temperature. Add the tofu, shallots, dried shrimps, garlic and radish and stirfry them 1-2min until they are just about to get brown. Now add the prawns and stir them until they reach their typical pink colour, about 1min. Move all ingredients to the side or on a plate. Reduce the temperature to medium heat, crack the egg and position in the center of the wok. Scramble until it turns slightly brown as well. Mix all ingredients together before moving everything to the side or on a plate.
Now, put the noodles alongside half of the Pad Thai sauce in the wok and cook the noodles for about 2min while continuously stirring. If necessary, add some water (no more than 5 Tbsp). Once the noodles are ready, mix with the prawn-tofu-shallot mix, as well as the leaves and most of the bean sprouts. Mix well and season to taste with the Pad Thai sauce. Heat it up once more for serving.
You can already sprinkle one half of the ground peanuts over the Pad Thai or leave it to your guests to finalize their own plate with peanuts, lime juice, raw bean sprouts and fresh chilli from small bowls on the table.

Inspired by:

https://www.tasteoftravel.at/das-perfekte-pad-thai/,

https://reisehappen.de/pad-thai-rezept/,

https://cinnamonandcoriander.com/de/authentisches-pad-thai-bangkok-style/,

Küchen der Welt - Thailand. Thidavedee Camsong; Gräfe und Gunzer

Having all ingredients cut and ready is very helpful to enable a quick cooking procedure in the wok. (In this case I only found scallions with few and short leaves - it should be more - and I used the white parts of the scallion for the cooking inst… — Having all ingredients cut and ready is very helpful to enable a quick cooking procedure in the wok. (In this case I only found scallions with few and short leaves - it should be more - and I used the white parts of the scallion for the cooking instead of decoration in this case): Due to the packaging there are also twice as many prawns as planned for this meal

Vegetarian Pad Thai without the most exotic ingredients

This is the recipe that I started with and have been following for a long time. Despite lacking the typical tamarind flavour, my friends and I have been loving it - also because the taste is not as intense and focused more on the fresh ingredients rather than the predominant tamarind.