Asian

pad thai

Having been told off this week by a lovely taxi driver called Aprizal I feel I need to re think Malaysia. Aprizal yelled at me for the most important reason. This reason being that I am not exploring the best places to eat in KL. Given that I am constantly full in this city it’s a strong statement. As Aprizal continued to tell me more things I was being useless at I started to ignore him and scroll through Pinterest. And such is my life in KL… marvelling at most things, ignoring the rest and daydreaming about the dinner I’m about to cook.

The key to Pad Thai is preparation. Make sure everything is ready to go before turing on that heat! Vegetarians: simply leave out the chicken and substitute fish sauce for extra lime juice.

Pad Thai
Serves 4

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Ingredients
200g dried thick rice noodles
3tbs palm sugar (substitute brown sugar)
3tbs tamarind paste
4tbs fish sauce
Juice from 2 limes
Vegetable or peanut oil for frying
2 large shallots, diced
1 red chilli, chopped
250g chicken, chopped into small cubes
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped coriander
1/4 cup chopped Chinese chives (substitute chives)
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Handful of bean sprouts
Optional: Handful of prawns and/or fried tofu cut into strips

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Method
In a large bowl cover the noodles with warm water, not boiling water. Leave until soft – about 15-20 minutes. While they are soaking mix the palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind, lime juice and 3tbs water in a cup and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Taste the sauce and ensure the sour, salty and sweet flavour is well balanced. This will be a strong sauce but it will reduce in intensity once added to the noodles.

Heat the oil in a wok and add the onions, chilli and chicken. Fry on a high heat until the chicken is cooked through – about 3 minutes. If you are using prawns add them here too. Push the ingredients to one side of the wok and crack your eggs onto the other side. Whisk through in the wok until scrambled. Mix through the chicken, chilli and onion mix.

Drain your noodles and add to the wok along with the sauce and if using, tofu. Stir through until the noodles are fully coated. Finish off with the herbs, peanuts and bean sprouts and serve with extra lime, chilli and peanuts.

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  1. Jim says

    I love your blog and this looked amazing but unfortunately I made this recipe and it was so sour! 🙁 I don’t know what I did wrong, I followed the recipe to a tee (except less tamarind and lime juice).
    Is tamarind purée the same as paste?? Maybe that is it.

    • The Wandering Matilda says

      Hey Jim! Thanks for letting me know! I am so sorry the recipe didn’t turn out for you. Pad Thai is a balance of sour and sweet so sometimes finding the balance for everyones taste buds can be tricky. Tamarind paste and puree are the same thing, but sometimes the intensity between brands differs – perhaps also the limes used could have been super juicy. In any case, it’s always good to taste your sauces before adding them to the wok to make sure you’re happy with the flavour. If you are keen to try the recipe again, balance it out with a little extra water or sugar. Many thanks for the feedback and hope you’ll try another recipe sometime soon 🙂 xx Holly