Pad thai is a traditional stir fry dish from Thailand.
Pad thai is perhaps the most well known dish hailing from the island nation of Thailand. According to the Pad Thai website, the dish rose to popularity among Thai citizens during World War II. Thailand's Prime Minister, Luang Phibunsongkram, decided to focus on the dish during a campaign for nationality. Pad thai sauce provides much of the flavor to the dish and you can easily recreate it at home.
Pad Thai
The signature dish of Thai food is known as pad thai and is essentially the Thai version of stir fry. Many ingredients can be used to make pad thai, but what sets it apart from other dishes is its flavorful sauce. According to the Recipes from our Thai Kitchen website, pad thai has many variations throughout the country. In fact, there is an old saying that states, "There is a different pad thai for every cook in Thailand."
Ingredients
Food Network Chef Alton Brown's pad thai recipe includes the ingredients for both the sauce and the stir fry. To make pad thai sauce, gather together tamarind paste or concentrate, fish sauce, palm sugar and Sriracha sauce. Some ingredients may be difficult to find, so check the Asian foods aisle or shop in an Asian grocery store.
Procedure
To make pad thai sauce, the website Recipes from our Thai Kitchen recommends adding 1 tbsp. of tamarind concentrate to a measuring cup. Add water until the liquid level reaches ¼ cup and stir to make tamarind juice. Add ¼ cup of palm sugar, ¼ cup of fish sauce, tamarind juice and ¼ cup of Sriracha sauce to a sauce pan. Heat over low heat, mixing ingredients until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat until the sauce begins to boil. Remove the sauce from the heat immediately. You can store sauce in the refrigerator for up to seven days.
Uses
You can use pad thai sauce in a variety of dishes, according to the Pad Thai website. The three main types of pad thai dishes are classic pad thai, authentic pad thai omelets and pad thai Americana. The website also encourages home cooks to use pad thai sauce in any stir fry made with their own ingredients.
Classic pad thai is the traditional dish of Thailand, made using Thai rice noodles, protein such as chicken or fish, pad thai sauce and crushed peanuts.
Pad thai omelets are traditionally served by street vendors and include traditional pad thai ingredients formed into an omelet with eggs. Pad thai Americana is an untraditional twist on the recipe becoming popular in the western world. It involves using spaghetti or linguine in place of rice noodles.
Prepackaged Varieties
For those who are short on time or uncomfortable preparing sauce at home, many grocery stores sell prepackaged versions of pad thai sauce. Often you can find them in the international foods or Asian food aisles of the grocery. Also consider shopping for premade sauces in Asian grocery stores.
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