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| look at this!! I wish I was still eating it! noodles, golden tofu, eggs, baby bok choy, bean sprouts, peanuts, green onions! |
That picture got me all excited and frazzled so I don't even know where to begin. I guess first you should round up your ingredients: a package of pad thai noodles, a black of tofu (I like firm tofu), a half dozen eggs, a dozen baby bok choy, two or three cups of bean sprouts (yes, I'm serious). To make the sauce, you'll need tamarind paste (go to the asian grocery store!), brown sugar, fish sauce, and asiany wine vinegar (I guess this is called "rice wine vinegar" but whatever! I'm calling it asiany wine vinegar from here on out!) You'll also want some peanuts and green onions for garnish, but I guess you could get by without them.
Start off by taking your package of pad thai noodles and soaking them in a pot for a good twenty minutes or so. Meanwhile, you can start the other parts. Even though all the components of pad thai end up together in the end, you need to cook them separately. You can cook the eggs, vegetables, and tofu in any order you want. Usually, we use two pots of frying pans to speed up the process of going from unprepared food to food in my belly.
To make the egg ribbons, we scrambled/fried six eggs up (make sure to salt them), then rolled the eggs and cut the egg log to make pretty strips. I like to add them on top at the end. If you don't do this and try to mix your eggs in the pot with everything else, the eggs will magically/sadly disappear. I believe in conservation of matter, but this makes me second guess myself.
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| another picture to get your salivary glands going |
To prepare the tofu, start off by pressing it to get rid of some of the excess moisture. I'd suggest a few paper towels (to soak up the liquid) and a heavy pot (to place on top to squeeze out the tofu juices). Then, cube it up into bite size pieces. To make the tofu pretty and extra delicious, Steve lightly fried it in some black sesame oil in a pan on a medium heat. I'd suggest also adding some of the sauce (to be discussed soon) so that your tofu isn't too bland.
The veggies need to be washed and the base of the bok choy needs to be chopped off. Then, get out a wok or a big frying pan, add some oil, and then add the bok choy. Stir that around, add some sauce, and cook it for a couple of minutes on medium high. Once the book choy is almost ready, add the bean sprouts (they have a shorter cook time). Add some more sauce, stir them around for a minute, then turn off the heat on the veggies.
I think an important part of making pad thai taste good is adding sauce to all the components, not just the noodles. The sauce takes the otherwise bland ingredients and makes them incredibly yummy! The way we usually make the sauce starts off with a large bowl with a cup of warm water in it. We add about two tablespoons of the tamarind paste, then stir it up to break up the paste. There'll always be some tamarind chunks, but that's ok! Then, we add a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, a couple tablespoons of the asiany wine vinegar, and a couple tablespoons of fish sauce. Usually, we run out sauce and need to make more, so you may end up doubling this. I'm sorry that I am writing an approximate recipe rather than exact instructions. We just do it by tasting the food after we add the sauce, then add more of whatever ingredient as necessary. This sauce outline may or may not be traditional (I really don't know) but rest assured that it definitely is delicious.
Finally, drain your noodles, add some more oil to your wok or large pot, and fry the noodles on medium high heat, stirring frequently. Add enough sauce so that it tastes good (or great, whatever you prefer).
Once every component is ready, throw the vegetables and tofu into a big pot with the noodles and stir up to heat it all back up (if you were dilly dallying). Taste it. Flavorful yet? If no, add more sauce. If it needs sweetness, add more brown sugar. If it needs more tang, add tamarind and vinegar. If it needs saltiness, add the fish sauce. Surprising, this process is not too difficult but is based on the particular palate of the chef (imho). If anything, you will get to eat some of the pad thai before it's plated, so that's a huge plus.
Put some of your noodle, veggie, tofu concoction on a plate. Add a few of the egg ribbons and sliced green onions on top, then sprinkle on some crushed peanuts. Now, you've got a delicious, beautiful meal, and it probably costs about $5 to make. Considering that you have more than enough to feed four ravenous young adults, that's a pretty good deal. When I go to Thai restaurants, I'm like "Jeebus, I can't believe a plate of pad thai costs $12 when I could make it at home for so much less money and get so much more food." Learning to cook is ruining my experiences dining in restaurants. Sigh.
Oh! And if you want, you can add chicken to the mix. Just cook it separately, add the sauce, then mix it in. The first time Steve and I made it, we included chicken, tofu, and eggs. It was ridiculously protein packed. I don't know if I'd recommend it because it's delicious or not recommend it because it's just so much protein. Mm. Sinful.