How To Make Authentic Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil
• 1 tsp dried shrimp
• 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 100g (1⁄2 cup) firm tofu, sliced
• 2 skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
• 2 eggs
• 6 jumbo prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined
• 2 tsp salted turnip (optional) 200g (7oz) dried rice noodles
• soaked in bath-hot water for 30 minutes or 400g (14oz) fresh noodles
• 5 spring onions (scallions), cut into 5cm (2in) pieces
• 150g (11⁄2 cups) bean sprouts, plus extra to garnish
• 50g (1⁄4 cup) dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed 1 tsp roasted chilli flakes (see
• page 22)
• Lime quarters, to serve
• FOR THE SAUCE
• 5 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 70ml (1⁄4 cup) tamarind paste
• (see page 17 or shop-bought) 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 11⁄2 tbsp white distilled vinegar 1 tbsp sriracha sauce (see page
• 145 or shop-bought)

Steps

1. Start by mixing the sauce ingredients in a bowl, adjusting to taste as necessary. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat. When it begins to shimmer, add the dried shrimp and garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. Add the tofu and chicken and brown in the oil for about a minute.
3. Push all of these ingredients to the side of the wok and crack the eggs into the empty side. Allow them to cook for about a minute and then stir the par-cooked egg into the other ingredients.
4. Add the prawns (shrimp) and let them cook with the other ingredients until about half cooked through. This should only take about a minute or two. Then add the sauce.
5. Stir in the salted turnip (if using) and the soaked or fresh rice noodles until the noodles are nicely coated in the sauce mixture. Fold in the spring onions (scallions) and bean sprouts – the hot noodles will cook the sprouts and onions but you are only really steaming them.
6. Stir in half of the crushed peanuts and continue cooking until the noodles look wet but there isn’t a lot of sauce left. You don’t want the noodles dripping with sauce, they should just be moist from having cooked in the sauce.
7. Transfer to four heated plates and garnish with the remaining peanuts, the roasted chilli flakes and remaining bean sprouts. Serve with lime wedges.