problem solved
Recipe: pim’s pad thai
Did you have as lovely a weekend as I did? I hope so! Even if you don’t celebrate the Fourth of July (let’s say, because you are British) I hope the weekend treated you well.
even the yard had red (paintbrush), white (yarrow), and blue (blue flax)
We hiked in the mountains, got a little work done, ran a few errands, ate some great food, and saw brilliant, spectacular, thrilling fireworks! I love fireworks. Love love love love them. I’m a parrot when it comes to those dazzling and colorful displays, which is why I had to capture some at the reservoir on Saturday.
boom! bang! pow!
You can see more of the fireworks photographs on my photo blog. Every Fourth of July, Jeremy and I marvel that local kids have not yet burned down the entire expanse that is the American West. I mean really, fire+beer+young men+forests = not a good scenario.
So I am finally posting about a recipe that took me years to tackle. Pad thai. This self-proclaimed noodle girl loves all manner of noodles and pad thai ranks up there with my favorites. My first exposure to the dish was in college (oddly, growing up in a Chinese household, we just didn’t DO other Asian cuisines). My feeble attempts to cook it at home had such lackluster results, I was willing to pay the $7.95 for an order of great pad thai. But then we moved to Ithaca, NY and I could get mediocre pad thai at the slop joint in Collegetown or glorified mediocre pad thai from the overrated and overpriced Thai Cuisine in town. I got so desperate I scored a Thai cookbook with a recipe that brought me a leeeedle closer to the real thing, but it wasn’t *it*.
rice noodles soaking in water
salted turnip
If I don’t have a knock-em-out recipe, then I feel like I’m wasting time making something I won’t be satisfied with. If you’ve done the pad thai rounds, then you know pad thai varies wildly from one restaurant to the next. Enter Pim. In early 2007 she posted a glorious rant about chefs using ketchup in their pad thai recipes. No no no!!! Nooooooooo! She cussed, she railed, she set the record straight and then posted her authentic recipe. Pim is a force to be reckoned with. The girl knows her shit.
brown sugar, chili powder, tamarind concentrate, fish sauce
the sauce and eggs
It took me over two years to finally attempt Pim’s recipe even though I knew it was the winner just from reading it, just from the conviction in her writing. Okay, part of the delay was the whole cancer/chemo thing, but it was also because I had to sit down and force myself to write it in recipe format. Anyone who has tried to put an Asian family recipe into writing knows what I am talking about. So a few months ago, I finally did it.
sprouts, chicken, shrimp, ground peanuts, chopped turnip, minced garlic, green onions
sautéing the chicken
It was fan-freaking-tastic. AND I could reproduce the results with amazing consistency. I don’t own a wok (I know, what sort of Chinese daughter am I?) but the use of my large nonstick frying pan worked well enough. The issue that plagued me in the past until Pim pointed it out, was that I always tried to cook 6 servings in one go. Per Pim’s instructions, I cooked up 1-2 servings at a time and it rivaled the pad thai of my fondest memories.
stirring in the noodles until soft
cracking the egg into the pan
So the two biggest improvements on the pad thai for me were: mixing the sauce ahead of time and cooking in small batches. Made all the difference. If you have your mise en place ready, then it comes together very quickly, very easily. While I usually make a vegetarian version of pad thai (because I’m too lazy to deal with chicken and shrimp), I went all out this time.
adding sprouts, chopped turnip, and ground peanuts
finishing off with green onions
I now have my goto pad thai recipe. And so do you. It’s not just the flavor and color, but texture that needs to be right. Pim nails all three. Below I list the recipe as I make it (mostly because she has lots of options and I don’t), but you can go to Pim’s site for the original. Now I can sleep at night.
serve hot and fresh
Pim’s Pad Thai
[print recipe]
from Chez Pim
vegetable oil (for frying)
12 oz. chicken (2 oz. per serving)
4 cloves (10g) minced garlic (about 1/2+ clove per serving)
sauce (see below) (about 1/4 cup per serving)
1 lb. (500g) rice noodles, soaked in warm water to soften (but not too soft)
6 eggs (1 egg per serving)
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined (4-6 shrimp per serving)
1 cup (155g) ground peanuts (1-2 tbsps per serving)
3-4 cups bean sprouts (1/2 cup per serving)
1/2 cup (75g) pickled turnips, chopped (1+ tbsp per serving)
1 cup garlic chives or green onions, chopped (2 tbsps per serving)
more sprouts (garnish)
fresh limes (garnish)
sauce
1/2 cup (130g) tamarind paste
1/2 cup (120g) fish sauce
1/3 cup (75g) brown sugar
1 tbsp (9g) chili powder (to taste)
Make the sauce: Over a low flame, heat the tamarind, fish sauce, and brown sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the chili powder a teaspoon at a time to desired spiciness. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Turn off the heat (keep sauce warm).
Make the pad thai: [The key is to cook up 1-2 servings at a time!] Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add 2 ounces of chicken and stir-fry until it is half cooked. Add 1-2 tablespoons of sauce, and a pinch of garlic. Stir around and add about 2 cups of loosely packed (for me, a big handful) of rice noodles plus 1/4 cup of sauce to the pan and stir vigorously until the noodles soften. If it dries out, you can add some water. Push the noodles to the side and crack an egg into the pan. Let the egg cook for 10 seconds and then toss the noodles and egg together in the pan. Drop 4-6 shrimp, a couple of tablespoons of ground peanuts, a heaping tablespoon of turnip, and 1/2 cup of sprouts into the pan. Stir fry until the shrimp are just cooked (very fast – about a minute). Toss in the green onions or garlic chives and remove from heat. Serve hot with more sprouts, ground peanuts, and lime wedges for garnish.
July 6th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Dang, that looks good!
July 6th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Oh, this is fantastic. Like you, I only discovered Pad Thai in college and absolutely love it. Growing up India, I just didn’t have the same variety of cuisines available even in fairly small cities here. Looks like I’m going to be able to feed my addiction to Pad Thai for a fraction of the price and that’s key on a grad student’s stipend ;) Thank you a million times!
July 6th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Ooo that looks good. I love pad thai but have only ever eaten it while we were in Thailand. I haven’t attempted to make this at home but your recipe (or I should say Pim’s recipe…:) looks doable, so I might give this a try if I’m adventurous enough!
July 6th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Ooh, I remember Thai Cuisine in Ithaca! That was where I had my first taste of Thai food as well. Glad to have moved somewhere (Boston) where there are more Thai places to try and that I’ve expanded beyond pad thai.
Thanks for posting this recipe; maybe one day I’ll muster up the energy to collect all these ingredients together. Until then, I will be very happy with what I can get down the street at Pepper Sky. =)
July 6th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I never realized that there was that much fish sauce in Pad Thai. Having the sauce made ahead of time is a good idea. Delicious.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Man this looks like perfection on a plate. I’m guilty of wallowing in Pad Thai complacency…happy to get a decent take out version and thus avoid dealing with the lengthy ingredient list. However the siren song of making it at home can not be silenced and now with one of your clear recipes to follow…it is only a matter of time!
July 6th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Oh my gosh, does that look fabulous! I want to scrap our dinner plans & have Pad Thai instead. I can’t wait to try this because it will be great to be able to make it at home.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Will the sauce keep? For instance, I’m cooking for one, so if I didn’t want to fiddle with scaling it down, could I keep it in the fridge?
July 6th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I have been looking for a perfect pad thai recipe…and I think you’ve found it! Sauce is the key …and the ingredients look like a winning combination – can’t wait to try it someday :)
July 6th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
That looks like something I could dig into right away – even though I just had lunch!
Have you tried the tamarind fruit pulp instead of the concentrate? It is easily available at Indian stores as well as POM. It’s hard to go back to the concentrate even though it’s a little more work to make a paste from the thick pulp. Let me know if you haven’t tried it and I can bring a packet up to you when we meet next.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
OMG – this my favorite dish in the world and to make it at home would be heaven. I’m so going to try this.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Yum! I made this a few weekends ago for father’s day. My first serving wasn’t that good… the noodles weren’t done and there was too much sauce. But once I got the hang of it, it was perfect… better than takeout.
Marie: Pim says the sauce will keep for a long time in the fridge.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Wow, that looks great, and I don’t even *like* pad thai (just a little too sweet for me)! I do love Thai food though, and I’m tempted to give this a try.
I loved when you said we don’t DO other Asian cuisines growing up Chinese! So true! But not something I realized until college when it came to my attention that I’d never had Thai food (which I now looooove), and that Japanese and Korean food were also totally foreign to me (still not such a fan though….). AND I live in NJ, where those cuisines, and Indian, aren’t exactly hard to find. It was definitely a bizarre realization that I grew up eating “real” Chinese food, but had no idea what other Oriental food was like! ;)
Thanks for the post, you always brighten my day. =]
July 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Thai food is awesome and that Pad Thai looks so good! A great dish!
That first picture is stuning! Those flowers remind me of fireworks…
Cheers,
Rosa
July 6th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
ooh I’m addicted to pad thai…living in LA’s thai town its hard to resist ordering pad thai to go instead of actually cooking dinner. i will have to try this recipe this weekend. i’m sure its much more satisfying than opening up the styrofoam container…
July 6th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Okay. Um wow. Thai food is my favorite cuisine, hands down. I could absolutely demolish that bowl. I know just what you mean about mediocre pad thai and I am going to trust you and Pim (I know about Pim!) and save this one for a Saturday when I am good and prepared to tackle it. I want so badly to be able to make Thai dishes at home. This will be a great start.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
every pad thai recipe i’ve come across has intimidated me. but this one… this one i can manage and cannot wait to test it out. thank you! and thank pim!
July 6th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
ok this is lame but is there any substitution for fish sauce? i haaaate fish!
July 6th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Oh wow, that looks wonderful! I’ve had Pim’s recipe bookmarked for so long, but haven’t gotten up the guts to try it out. I’m in the same boat as you – I’m just much more willing to buy good pad thai than try to make it. And I’m jealous of your fireworks; I watched mine from my apartment window, and they were subpar thanks to the angle and the fact that Oshkosh isn’t exactly a fireworks mecca.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
YUMMY PAD THAI! We were looking for one just like this. Recipe looks great, we’ll try this thanks
July 6th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I’ve been staring at her recipe for as long as you with much less excuse–I also could tell it was the real deal. Maybe I will be inspired to try it now! Yours looks awesome.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Thank you thank you thank you for compiling Pim’s recipe. It’s been on my list for awhile. Can’t wait to give it a try. In the past, I’ve had trouble finding the right tamarind product. I’ve been buying the dried pods and trying to extract the pulp. Your photo of the tamarind concentrate helps a bunch! If your recipe for Pim’s Pad Thai is half as good as your Chinese Potstickers, I know I’m in for a fab meal.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Any idea what one can sub for peanuts? (dealing w/ a pnut allergy here, not preference. I Know pnuts are important taste in pad thai)
thanks
July 6th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I LOVE pad thai, though I’m not sure I’ve ever had a REALLY GOOD version… I’ve had it in restaurants, and have made it at home once or twice, but the sauce was rather different. And here I thought I’d never have a good excuse to open that jar of tamarind paste!
July 6th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
The recipe is for how many portions?
July 7th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Dude, I lived right behind the steam-table Thai joint in Collegetown my senior year. Certainly not the most dignified cuisine, but I credit that place for introducing me to the concept of curry, so all is forgiven. I’m salivating at this recipe (thanks to your photos, as always!)…adding it to my to-do list!
July 7th, 2009 at 5:17 am
The dish looks fantastic. I would love that. Your pictures are great!
July 7th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I LOVE your firework photos – beautiful shots. Although my absolute favorite Thai dish is the Panang Curry, Pad Thai is a very close second :) because of this post I’ll probably be craving Thai food throughout the week :P
Did you ever go to Taste of Thai down in the commons? I felt that was some of the best and most authentic Thai in Ithaca
July 7th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I’m not from Thai but I do love Pad Thai. I have been tried so many recipes but never satisfied. I know this is the right one I’m looking for. Thank you so much. Everytime I tried recipe from your website It’s always turned out wonderful. I love your photo as much as your recipes. Thanks again.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:26 am
You always have the loveliest photos — I’m getting hungry again and I just ate! I’m not a huge fan of Food Network these days, but Bobby Flay recently featured a restaurant near me as having the best pad thai. I’ve been meaning to try their recipe (http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1525/gfc.2009.9.1.78?cookieSet=1) for a while, and now I’ll have to add yours/Pim’s to my to-do list as well.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Oops that link should be http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1525/gfc.2009.9.1.78
July 7th, 2009 at 8:35 am
This is exactly how I make it. Pim’s recipe calls for the palm sugar, but we use brown and like it better. We have our friends do their own cooking…they love it!
July 7th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I made pad thai once and loved the results, though the only “unusual” ingredient listed was fish sauce. Since then I haven’t made it since; I seem to never make things I like more than once, I have no idea why. I really want to try this recipe since it will expose me to ingredients I’ve never used before, and that’s what I like the most about cooking.
Beautiful firework pictures!
July 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Now I see what I was doing wrong when making my Pad Thai (throwing sauce in last, not on the noodles). Thanks Jen and Pim!
July 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
PS: Any chance we can get the lychee martini recipe? Pretty please with a cherry on top :)
July 7th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
hi – this looks fantastic! i too have tried making pad thai at home with mediocre results. i’ll have to give this one a go. thanks!
July 7th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I mixed up a batch of pad thai sauce, which is similar to yours, and it’s in my fridge for when I want it. I also don’t have a wok … I think a regular skillet is better unless you have a wok burner.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Ooh, all that chili powder just tickles my palate by LOOKING at it. Must make again soon. Actually it’s not really that out of my reach, considering the only ingredients I lack are bean sprouts and shrimp- must be shrimp- but just like you (although not EXACTLY like you, obviously) life gets in the way!
July 8th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Ah, that looks amazing. Now I feel like having pad thai for dinner!
PS: I don’t own a wok either :-O .. or a rice cooker!
July 8th, 2009 at 2:22 am
HEHE the first time I made Pad Thai, I made Pim’s version! I read over the information a few times to make sure I get things right! Boy I love it! And that reminds me that I still have sauce left in my fridge! And tamarind too! I will make it again this week!
July 8th, 2009 at 9:05 am
as a follow up, i made this dish last night. most of it turned out pretty well. for my first batch, i dont think i soaked the noodles long enough as the pan got dry and the noodles were still looking stiff, so i just kept adding hot water to the noodles (like adding broth to risotto) before moving onto the rest of the instructions and it turned out quite nicely. after tasting my test run, i felt like it lacked some salt content and the sauce was more tart than i was accustomed to. but in the end, i surmised this feeling was tainted by all the restaurant pad thai ive had. this version had a lot more flavor than restaurant noodles precisely because it lacked all the sodium and whatever sweetener used in their sauce.
i also used a combination of chili flakes and cayenne because i didnt have chili powder. did you use thai chili powder or just the regular stuff?
next time around i may try it with dried shrimp and the pickled radish. i had dried radish, not sure if there is a difference. at any rate, the dish got rave reviews from the fam, so thanks again. i am no longer intimidated by making my own pad thai, it’s simple as you say if you have your mise en place ready to go. i’m looking forward to experimenting some more.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Thank you for posting this! Finally a Pad Thai recipe I know I can trust!! Any suggestion on substitute for salted turnip? No way I am going to find this here!! I did pickle my own mustard greens for one of your recipes but I don’t think Bill will be receptive to the salted turnip challenge!
July 9th, 2009 at 7:49 am
That looks delicious! I made pad thai once and it turned into a yucky mess with soggy and crunchy noodles. It wasn’t pretty.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
i’ve had pim’s recipe bookmarked forever…i’ve been too much of a wuss to try it out, and like you, no wok…now i don’t have an excuse! thanks ;)
July 10th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you! After enjoying amazing pad thai in Seattle it was a huge disappointment to move to Monterey and only be able to find the gloppy, sickeningly sweet red nastiness that you mentioned. Ketchup in pad thai? It’s a travesty.
I’ve been looking for a REAL pad thai recipe for a long time now, and it appears that this may be the one that finally does it. It’s similar to my last try, but I was missing the turnip. I think I’ll be getting that next shopping trip.
Again, thank you!
July 12th, 2009 at 12:06 am
After hearing some friends rave about Pad Thai a few years ago, I decided to make it, and was sorely disappointed. It tasted like…ketchup. I don’t know much about Thai food, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t right. I never got back to trying other recipes that didn’t contain ketchup. Now I don’t have to! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
July 14th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Irene – :)
Eesh – thank pim!
Simone – Lucky you to have eaten it in Thailand *sigh*
Joy – yes, yes – Boston has much better places for Thai. Should be easy to get everything where you are – good luck.
Lori – yup!
Phoo-D – yay!
Kristin – I get crazy cravings for pad thai sometimes. It’s addictive.
Marie – yes, the beauty of it is you can make the sauce and store it in the fridge. Great, huh?
Monica – I totally trust Pim. The woman is Good.
Manisha – Huh, I haven’t tried that. Would love to! Thanks :)
Charlane – I hope you love the recipe as much as I do!
Kristin @ DN – I’m in love with it :)
Audra – You can totally make this as sweet or not sweet as you like. I find most restaurants make pad thai way too sweet too.
Rosa – thanks!
Sheauen – um, if I lived in LA I probably would never think to make my own pad thai ;)
Melissa – yeah, girlfriend! You will totally rock it. Pim’s instructions are spot on and her recipe is *perfect*. I want to try new Thai recipes too :) OMG, I love Thai food.
Cindy – :) yay!
Madeleine – hmmm, if you like pad thai, then you should stick with the fish sauce. I mean, it’s in there. It doesn’t taste like noodles in fish sauce, but I think the dish would be sorely lacking without it :(
Caitlin – doesn’t OshKosh make great kids’ clothing? :)
tastymealsathome – great!
Laura – thanks, it’s worth it :)
Margie – awww, thank you and good luck. hope you love it!
Helen – I imagine you could try subbing another nut (cashew?) or just leaving it out?
Valerie – now you have a great excuse.
Hugo – about 6. It depends on how much each person eats.
Amy – ha ha! I thought that place was a better value than Thai Cuisine. Thanks.
Debbie – thank you.
Tony – I don’t think I’d ever been to Taste of Thai. Perhaps it opened after we moved? I have to get my act together and start making a lot of Thai food. I love it :)
Trang Nguyen – you’re so sweet. Thanks!
Xiaolu – nice. Thanks for the recipe – I might have a look at it.
DishinAndDishes – nice!
Christina – good stuff :) You’ll love it.
DivaDivine – :)
Eesh – it’s in the recipe archives: https://userealbutter.com/2008/12/18/lychee-martini-recipe/
Stefanie – it’s very reliable. I love it!
Ninette – yeah, I have to say that’s probably my main reason for not buying a wok.
Manggy – ;) certainly you can get your hands on some bean sprouts and shrimp, right? :)
Y – wow, no rice cooker! That is impressive. I would be boned w/o my rice cooker. I love it.
Mrs. E – mmm, good, isn’t it?
Cindy – I just used regular chili powder. I think dried radish might be the same? good job.
Tartelette – didn’t I tell you I was in the midst of testing a recipe :) Wasn’t holding out on ya, hon – just making sure I gave you the BEST recipe out there. hee hee.
Steph – follow Pim’s recipe, she’ll lead you to the light :)
Cindy – :)
Sweetbird – this one is GREAT and if you live in Monterey, next time you’re in the bay area, you can probably find the radish at any Asian grocer.
Karen – I hope you like this version more :)
July 20th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I just finished making the pad thai and am in love, it was perfect. Your Bulgogi is next.
I love visiting your site.
July 28th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Sherri – it’s a great recipe. I love it. The credit definitely goes to Pim, not me :)
August 21st, 2009 at 11:43 am
I used Pim’s recipe to make Pad Thai a couples of months ago and yes, I have to agree, it was totally awesome! What I love most about her is that she actually took the time to explain All the ingredients and how they would work together. I didn’t mind reading the entire post at all, but at the end, I gained so much knowledge about making pad thai that I’m becoming confident I can woo any guest who comes over for dinner/ lunch!
I love your step-by-step pictures as well! I wish I could have some pad thai right now!
Thanks for sharing and for posting!
August 29th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Adelina – awesome :)
November 27th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
[…] takeout. This recipe is Chez Pim’s homemade Pad Thai, made into an actual recipe format by Use Real Butter. Let’s get to it, shall […]
December 6th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
[…] were a nice appetizer before the Pad Thai. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Gyoza: Frying the […]
March 21st, 2010 at 10:41 am
OMG. You and Pim are saviors. I’ve tried Pad Thai at least a dozen times and failed. Not just failed, but failed miserably. And the first time I try this, WOW, best Pad Thai I’ve ever had not in a restaurant.
Thank you SO much for posting this!
April 17th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Thanks for posting this! I came across Pim’s a few years ago and made and loved it, but could never be bothered to follow those long instructions again. Bookmarked!
April 26th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
i made this tonight, and it was far too salty..any suggestions to cut it down?
April 26th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
rachel – less fish sauce in the pad thai sauce or add more water when cooking the noodles.
May 19th, 2010 at 7:18 am
[…] a dozen failures (miserable at that, they were all barely edible), I stumbled on an old post on Use Real Butter which opened my eyes. And after consulting a link at Chez Pim, I knew I was set. Not an hour later […]
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:36 am
Even with the widest array of Asian cookbooks, I’ve been scared to try anything too authentic, but your (or Pim’s) Pad Thai is fantastic. I make it for dinner parties now because it lets me customize to the guest – I have friends in various stages of vegan/vegentarianism and some who are meat eaters all the way. Doing this in small portions lets me create the dish to everyone’s liking. And they always love it!
November 22nd, 2010 at 3:45 pm
It would be VERY helpful if you would add a print option to this recipe – or at least allow cut and paste – so I can add it to my file and save it.
Thank you!
November 22nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Kathleen – I don’t have the time to set up printable recipes right now (there are a lot to go back and do), but you can highlight the recipe and hit ctrl (or apple) C and then paste it into word processing program and print from there.
January 30th, 2011 at 12:05 am
This was really good, flavor was pretty spot on i thought. I think I will fiddle with some more spices next time. I over soaked the noodles too, oops. That made the stirfry part a bit tricky. Thanks for posting, definitely a repeat recipe for me
February 11th, 2011 at 11:42 am
[…] and recipe above from use real butter} {Original recipe from chez […]
March 21st, 2011 at 9:28 am
I know there are at least 5 Thai restaurants in Ithaca, my favorite is Taste of Thai Express. I fantasize about their pad thai constantly. But I look forward to trying (again) to make my own.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:58 am
Taste of Thai is definitely the best. Don’t do Thai Cusine.
June 27th, 2011 at 6:09 am
[…] version of Pim’s Pad Thai makes for super easy assembly thanks to her step by step photos on Use Real Butter, making the […]
June 29th, 2011 at 11:09 am
Here in Quebec we have Thai Express which makes awesome pad thai, but the dish contains enough calories to fill a day’s quota. Making it from scratch will definitely help in portion control, money saving and calorie count! Thanks so much for forwarding Pim’s recipe and posting such appetizing pictures with it!
July 22nd, 2011 at 9:05 pm
Good, but the amount of sauce required per section of noodles is too much and too strong. I solved this by putting water in the sauce before adding it and i only put a little bit of sauce in (about a tablespoon)! thanks for the recipe.
December 23rd, 2011 at 8:57 am
I’ve been coming to your site for a few years now and I don’t know how I’ve missed the translation from Pim’s recipe to an actual list of ingredients! Thank-you thank-you thank-you!
May 6th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
Hello!! I made this tonight and it was soooooo delicious, honestly way better than takeout (EXACTLY the same kind of taste though which i wanted). BUT, if i may make a few suggestions as the first time i made this it was sort of disastrous. If anybody has made these suggestions already, then please disregard! ALSO, thank you so much for this beautiful recipe! It is truly amazing and i will be making it often!! I just find these tips make it a bit more fail proof!
Some tips incase anyone encounters the troubles i did the first time around:
DO NOT soak the noodles for very long. The first time they came out a big bunch of rice noodle mush – i will from now on soak them 5-10 mins max, just until they are no longer translucent, and they should definetly be harder than aldente noodles. I rinsed them through after they were done w/cold water to prevent clumping.
Add a little bit of hot water to the tamarind concentrate before you make the sauce, and adjust the sugar to your taste. Some people may find this sauce is too intense if you don’t dilute the tamarind concentrate ahead of time. You dont want your noodles TOO sour :)
Also it may be easier to incorporate the egg if the yolk is broken. I have been adding the eggs in w/the chicken once it is fully cooked and then scrambling them in w/the meat. It is nice like this as the egg leaves nice strands throughout the whole dish. The first time i made this i had a fried egg all broken up and it wasn’t as nice as i wanted it to be.
LAST but not least! When you add the noodles, take two forks to start mixing them up w/the sauce and other ingredients already in the wok (toss them up as you would a salad). I truly believe this helps prevent mushy noodles. Tossing them incorporates the ingredients better as well than a spatula can. (This tip may only be necessary if making 2+servings at one time).
Hope everyone finds these tips helpful!! Thanks again for the delicious dish and thanks to Pim too! :):)
May 14th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Made this tonight…overall good recipe- even for a novice cook! However, couldn’t have gotten through the prep work and shopping without my more experienced chef (ok, my husband) by my side. It seems like a breeze when reading through, but even the two of us took hours to get the ingredients and prep work out of the way. Though the cooking was fast and pretty easy.
My only piece of advice is to maybe cut back on the tamarind as it was pretty sour. Maybe the brand we used is more potent/different than what’s above? FWIW, we both strongly dislike sweet pad thai (or very sweet food in general) that’s served in some restaurants, so I think our expectations are ok. It was a lot of effort for a lot of leftover sour noodles! Le husband thinks we can cut the sour with maybe some cabbage or more egg….we’ll see how I can doctor it tomorrow…I still think this recipe is a good starting point towards getting this down.
May 28th, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Looks fantastic, but I am allergic to fish sauce! Any idea what I could substitute instead?
June 8th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Anita – eeesh, that I don’t know. You may want to google around for substitutes?
June 11th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Jenyu — Your Pad-Thai looks really good!
Anita — Thais like to use “thin soy sauce” as fish sauce substitute.
July 30th, 2013 at 8:37 pm
This looks sooo good! I love pad thai!
September 7th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
I am in love with Thai Express Pad Thai… This looks so much the same, I’m trying my first attemp tonight. How long should we soak the noodles for? How do restaurants get the chicken so soft, do they marinade them in something?
September 10th, 2013 at 1:55 pm
Lori – Sorry for the delay in reply. If the noodles are dry, you can soak them in cold water for a few hours, but probably a minimum of 15 minutes. I have no idea how restaurants tenderize their chicken. You might want to google that one.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:59 am
[…] For more details please visit this link were you will find instructions : userealbutter.com […]
September 30th, 2013 at 10:33 am
[…] version of Pim’s Pad Thai makes for super easy assembly thanks to her step by step photos on Use Real Butter, making the […]
November 7th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
Over the moon happy! Made this tonight and it was phenomenal! After so many disappointments in restaurants with super sweet and nothing else pad thai, I will never have to order out this again!! The only thing I left out was the pickled turnip. So good!
April 30th, 2014 at 7:21 pm
The tamarind concentrate that I picked up turned out to be a liquid. I don’t see anything on your can that says it’s a paste nor was there anything on my can to say otherwise. Is your “paste” actually a solid or is “paste” just another word for “concentrate”. I’m not a good cook and am trying to figure out why my first attempt at your recipe was a FAILure.
April 30th, 2014 at 8:18 pm
Erik – mine is a liquid concentrate.
May 28th, 2014 at 6:13 pm
My boyfriend and I just tried this out, and we made it without the chicken or shrimp (because he’s trying to cut out meat) and we LOVED IT. It was so easy and fast. This is going to become a recipe that we’ll make frequently. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
August 23rd, 2014 at 8:27 am
I made this last night and had to throw it out since it was way too sour. I think it needed about 1/8 of the tamarind.
March 4th, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Hi i have been making this recipe for years and love it but now we are trying to not eat as much carbs. So i wanted to make it using zucchini noodles…has anyone tried this? Hope it works i really love this recipe tho.
March 5th, 2015 at 10:34 am
laura – try this recipe from my friends Todd and Diane: http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/zucchini-noodle-pad-thai-recipe/
June 30th, 2016 at 10:30 am
[…] I use a recipe that I’ve bastardised from The Hairy Bikers – I’ve never been to Thailand so make no claims to authenticity, but I do make claims for deliciousness. If you’re interested in the real deal, take a look at this post on Use Real Butter. […]
May 23rd, 2020 at 8:58 pm
I found this recipe about a decade ago && have cooked it many times since. The flavor is spot on and better than most restaurants. I had an international food cart in Medellin, Colombia and I cooked this recipe a few times for the Colombian people who otherwise have never had it.
March 19th, 2024 at 10:07 pm
Hey. I just wanted to say i got this recipe in 2009. Fast forward to 2024. I live in Bangkok and cook it often. I live in a very Thai neighborhood and all my neighbors know i cook the best khao pad, pad see ew, and I’m still using this great pad thai recipe. I actually opened a food cart in Medellín, Colombia and prepared this dish a few times. (i did one meal a day and switched it up). Solid recipe and authentic.