I fell in love with Pad Thai when my fiancee took me to Thai restaurant Samui in Cracow. In fact, it was the beginning of my fascination of the entire Thai cuisine. It is full of fragrant spices with tons of healing properties. Pad Thai has a very rich taste and contitutes a compound meal supplying everything we need: carbohydrates (from gluten-free pasta and vegetables), protein (tofu and shrimp), healthy fats (cashew nuts) and acting favorably on resistance (characteristic thai spices such as chili or ginger).
RECIPE
Pad Thai („fried Thai style”) is a traditional street food originating in Thailand. It is a stir-fried rice noodles witha tamarind sauce, egg, tofu, shrimp, various vegetables and thai spices (in a nutshell). There is also a vegetarian version, in which fish sauce and shrimp are omitted.
Pad Thai gained popularity in Thailand during World War II. Since then it has become one of the national dishes of Thailand. Currently, some street vendors add to the Pad Thai pork in order to enrich the taste (although the original recipe does not contain it). Some vendors still use the original recipe though. It is a quick, tasty and nutritious dish that has gained popularity in many countries around the world, and is currently ranked 5th in the „50 tastiest dishes of the world” ranking, drawn by the prestigious CNN-Go.
INGREDIENTS:
Pad Thai sauce:
- 1 tsp tamarind paste
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
Pad Thai:
- 60g rice noodles
- 50g tofu
- 1/2 carrot
- 1/4 evarage red ball pepper
- 1/2 chili pepper
- 1/2 onion
- 1 large garlic clove
- 2 evarage mushrooms
- 1 tsp fresh ginger
- chopped cashew nuts or peanuts – for decoration
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg
PREPARATION:
- Prepare a sauce for Pad Thai – we mix all the ingredients.
- Prepare the ingredients for the main dish – cut carrot into sticks, pepper and mushrooms in larger pieces, onions in half-rings, garlic in slices. Cut tofu into cubes (may want to marinate it in soy sauce and chili). Cut the ginger finely or grate.
- Preheat the oil in wok. Stir-fry everything over high heat, vigorously and quickly.
- Add tofu, onion, garlic and ginger. Stir-fry everytning until the onion is glazed.
- At this stage, begin to cook the rice noodles according to the instructions (usually put in the boiling water and wait approx. 3 minutes).
- Move fried vegetables on the wok edge and add the remaining ingredients one by one on the center of wok (carrots, mushrooms, peppers), watering with part of Pad Thai sauce.
- Add an egg on the wok edge and wait until it sets. Mix with other ingredients.
- Add rice noodles and Pad Thai sauce. Mix vigorously.
- Put everything on plates and decorate, eg. with corriander, chili flakes and sprinkle with chopped nuts.
NOTE! The dish is high in calories, but it can be easily reduced without significant loss of taste – just give up the egg and nut decoration. You can also replace sugar (in Pad Thai sauce) with xylitol, stevia or any other low-calorie „sweetener”.
CALORIES (1 serving): 659 kcal
MACROS: C 100 g / P 23 g / F 22 g
