Pad Thai with a Twist

The combination of rice noodles, vegetables and meat has been regarded as the quintessential Thai dish.

But there is a difference, or actually a monotony, when you attempt to eat it repeatedly, even if you try to emulate the locals in many other ways, like how they talk about the beste online casino to try one’s luck on while preparing the quick-meal. For example, my favourite dish is Pad Thai. You cannot get enough of this dish. You could happily eat it every day for a week! But just like any other dish that gets repetitive, the challenge starts to consume you.

So in order to challenge myself, I have adapted the classic recipe and have created my own version. The main difference is that I have cooked the ingredients for a maximum of 10 minutes. Some other essential changes are the use of a dried lime to aid the flavour and the use of peanut sauce.

At the end, it’s a bit like Pad Thai but rather more like Pad Quay.

Noodles with Peanut Sauce

Servings: 2

Ingredients

Peanut Sauce

2 tbsp palm sugar

4 tbsp chicken stock

2 tbsp grated fresh coconut

3 tbsp finely chopped peanuts

2-3 tablespoons sliced fresh Thai basil

1 small dried lime

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Noodles

60-90g firm fresh tuna

120g boiled rice noodles (Bea Bool)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fish sauce

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 Thai red chilies, finely chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

3-4 scallions, thinly sliced

3-5 shallots, thinly sliced

Spice mix

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce paste

1 tablespoon grated fresh turmeric

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Method

Making the peanut sauce

Put the sugar in a small pan and cook over low heat until it’s sticky and you can see it start to melt and dissolve. Once it’s nice and sticky, remove from the heat and set aside.

Making the noodles

Put the rice noodles into a wide bowl and toss to loosen them and remove any dirt. Mix the vegetables, coconut and fish sauce with the rice noodles. Stir in the seasoning mixture, water and chili flakes. Gently fold the noodles and green onions into the sauce.

Cooking the noodles

To cook the noodles, boil for 5-7 minutes, until the noodles are soft enough to eat, but not overcooked.

The dish will be ready to eat when the noodles have almost completely absorbed the sauce. Serve with more fresh basil and slices of fish sauce.

Pad Quay

This dish was inspired by a classic Thai dish and comes from The Daily Dish, a blog by James Lowe. It has become one of my favourite dishes ever!

Ingredients

80g fried pork meat

80g dried squid

1 medium sized piece green bird’s eye chilli

1-2 tbsp peanut sauce

4 sheets rice paper (Peach & Banana)

Salt and pepper to taste

Spice mix

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons freshly chopped coriander

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

4 teaspoons peanut butter

2 teaspoons finely chopped mint

Method

To make the spice mix, put the fish sauce and sugar into a saucepan with the ginger and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Cook over medium heat until it smells sweet and fragrant. Set aside.

Making the Pad Thai

First make the peanut sauce. Take the peanut sauce and mix the chicken stock, coconut milk, garlic and chopped fresh basil in a bowl. Stir in the roasted red chilies, sugar and spices. Keep the sauce warm.

To make the Pad Thai, put the corn starch into a bowl and stir in the egg, milk and peanut butter. Then add it to the corn flour mixture. Mix it with the help of a spatula and slowly pour it into the frying pan and cook for 3 minutes on a low heat.

Cut the rice paper into fours and arrange them on a plate. Pour the peanut sauce into the plate with a tablespoon of peanut butter, pour it onto the rice paper and cover it with the rice paper. Repeat the steps with the remaining rice paper.

The dish will be ready to eat once the rice paper has absorbed the sauce. Serve with the remaining peanut butter and mint.