The Ultimate Pad Thai Recipe

I was pretty excited when I saw that Lorraine had posted this wonderful recipe for Pad Thai on her blog. The photos simply said it all. The almost deep and rich orange hue of the noodles was the sign of a winner and it's as authentic as it gets. None of the dry, pale-looking noodles with dry chunks of chicken meat and scattering of chives, egg and tofu that I usually get in Sydney. For the record, I never order pad thai though Mr TFWL likes to always give it a chance. My preference is still to order pad kee mao (my favourite pad kee mao is from Pom's Thai in Burwood, now Strathfield).

Anyway, this is how I like my pad thai - saucy and moist noodles with the right balance of sweet and sour from the tamarind and palm sugar, with saucy bits of egg crumble tossed through the noodles. Notice the key word is saucy. Loving this pad thai sauce and if you make a big batch of it, the rest of the preparation and cooking is a breeze (well, almost!). Thanks Lorraine for the recipe!

Pad Thai Recipe
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella

Ingredients (for 2 servings):
125g/4.41ozs. rice noodles, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes until almost softened
Oil for frying
150g shelled prawns (or subsitute with pork or chicken)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, julienned finely (optional)
2 tablespoons sweet preserved turnip* washed with some warm water and then squeezed and drained (optional - I didn't have any)
2 eggs
1/4 cup garlic chives cut into inch long pieces
2 cups bean sprouts
1/3 cup chopped, roasted peanuts
Sauce 1 (stir fry sauce)

Stir-fry sauce (combine in a bowl):
1/3 cup chicken stock (or use 1/3 cup water mixed with 1/3 tsp chicken stock powder)
1.5 tablespoons Thai sweet chilli sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime/lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 teaspoons palm sugar
Sauce 2 (pad thai sauce)

Pad Thai sauce (makes a large batch for enough for 16-20 servings):
3 coriander roots, well washed and finely chopped
150g/5ozs. garlic, peeled and chopped
150g/5ozs. shallots, peeled and chopped
50g/1.7ozs. dried large chillies (not small, they're too hot)
2 tablespoons salt
4 cups water
240g/8.5ozs. palm sugar, sliced
220g/7.7ozs. tamarind puree

Method

1. Prepare the pad thai sauce first. You can make a small batch if you like. I reduced the quantities by one fifth (enough for 3-4 servings). Place the coriander roots, garlic, shallots, chillies, salt and water in a medium sized pot and boil for 30 minutes uncovered. Much of the water will evaporate. Blend this mix in a food processor. Add the sugar and tamarind puree and process until smooth. Place back on low to medium heat to cook for another 30 minutes making sure that it doesn't boil rapidly - we don't want the sugar to caramelise as we want this to retain its sourness.
2. Heat the wok or a large frypan. Drain the noodles and have all of the other ingredients ready to add to the wok as it is quick once you start cooking it. Heat the wok and add oil and fry the prawns until about 90% cooked through. Remove and set aside. Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the carrot and preserved turnip.
3. Push to one side of the pan and then break the eggs into the pan and scrambled and mix with the rest of the pan items. Add the noodles and add half of the stir fry sauce and gently mix to combine. Add the bean sprouts, garlic chives and then the prawns back into the pan. Add the pad thai sauce 1/4 cup at a time until it coats the noodles and keep adding until it has that magical taste of sour and sweet and the noodles turn a rich amber colour. If the noodles are too dry, drizzle a few tablespoons of water around the side of the pan and toss the noodles.
4. Remove from the pan and serve with extra bean sprouts, lime/lemon and topped with the peanuts. Serve immediately.

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Thai Roast Duck Salad

 

So, I googled "game meat" and according to Wikipedia, "Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport". I never knew that duck was considered game until someone told me that it is not commonly served or eaten in the United States for that very reason. Well, it makes sense now that I recall seeing duck hunting on TV (specifically the old Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck - rings a bell?). Maybe because I've grown up eating a lot of Chinese roast duck (and Peking duck during special occasions), and so I can't say that it tastes gamey at all. Or maybe duck just tastes best when it's roasted until the fat has rendered and the skin's gone all thin and crispy. The only thing I don't like about duck is that it's really boney and fatty. If you buy half a roast duck, you'd end up with half of it being bones and fat. The meat and skin however is very tasty. If you've watched the "roast duck seller" chop up a roast duck before, you might notice how he tips out the juices from the cavity and reserves them, probably to make the duck sauce or gravy. It's so good over steamed white rice.

In my previous post, I wrote about my wine pairing lunch with a Thai-inspired theme, and one of the dishes was a Thai Roast Duck Salad. I bought the roast duck from the Chinese barbecue shop, which made the preparation of this salad really easy. Alternatively, you could buy some duck breast and pan-fry it until the fat's rendered and the skin's all thin and crispy. If after all my raving about duck and you're still not game (pardon the pun) enough for it, you can substitute the duck with beef steak, pan-seared to medium rare and thinly sliced. Or why not try it with stir-fried beef or chicken if you're in the mood for something warm? The proof is in the dressing!

 

Thai-style Roast Duck Salad

Serves 6

 

Ingredients

 

One whole Chinese roasted duck (store-bought), meat picked and sliced

200g (7oz) mixed salad leaves (spinach, endive/frisee, rocket)

1 handful fresh coriander (cut off the bottom part of the stem)

1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked and roughly torn

1 cucumber, halved lengthways, seeded and diagonally sliced

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

Crispy fried shallots for garnish

 

Dressing:

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 tbsp chopped scallions

3-4 bird's eye chillies, thinly sliced

7-8 tbsp freshly squeezed lime/lemon juice

3 tbsp fish sauce

3 tbsp grated palm sugar

3-4 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce

 

Method

 

1. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic into a paste. Then add the rest of the dressing ingredients and mix well using the pestle. Taste and adjust until you get the right balance of sweet, sour and salty. Set aside.
2. Place the rest of the salad ingredients in a large bowl and top with the sliced duck meat. Just before serving, drizzle with the prepared dressing and toss well until evenly mixed. Garnish with crispy fried shallots.

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Asparagus and Prawn Stir-fry

 

 

Asparagus and Prawn Stir-fry

 

Ingredients

 

1 tbsp vegetable/peanut oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced/chopped

200g prawns, peeled, deveined and tails intact

2 bundles asparagus, woody ends snapped off, halved crossways

2-3 bird's eye chillies, sliced

 

Sauce:

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp palm sugar (or to taste)

1 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce

3 tbsp water

 

Method

 

Heat oil in a wok on high heat. Add the garlic, followed by the prawns. Let the prawns cook on one side, then flip them over to cook the other side. When the prawns are almost cooked, remove and transfer them to a plate and leave the oil in the wok. Next, add the asparagus to the wok and fry for 30 seconds, then push them aside. Add the chillies and pour the sauce ingredients down the side of the wok into the centre and bring to a boil. Toss the prawns in with the asparagus and sauce, and stir-fry briefly until everything is well coated, and sauce is slightly reduced. Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

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Deep-fried Snapper with 3 Flavour Sauce (Thai-style)

 

 

If you've been following my recent posts, you'll know that I've been coming up with "copycat" recipes for some of dishes served at Sailors Thai. This time, I attempted to prepare the deep-fried snapper with three flavour sauce that everyone at our table of ten was raving about. As we ordered only one of each item from the menu, by the time it was passed down to our end of the table, the fish was almost mangled beyond recognition. Okay, perhaps that's an overstatement. Fortunately though, the fish head appeared to be intact, and surprisingly, nobody took the best part - the cheek! If I was having fish with my family (or relatives), the cheek would definitely be the first thing to disappear.

This is actually quite simple and easy to prepare, given that there aren't many ingredients required. The sweet, sour and spicy sauce is briefly simmered in a pan and then poured over the deep-fried fish. I've used a whole snapper here, although you could always substitute with pan-fried fish fillets if preferred. If you're using fresh long red chillies, depending on how hot they are, you may want to consider throwing in a few bird's eye chillies for some extra kick.

Deep-fried Snapper with 3 Flavour Sauce
(Serves 2-3)

Ingredients

800g whole snapper (or other firm white fish)
Cornflour
100g (3oz) fresh long red chillies, seeded and finely ground *
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 sprig coriander leaves
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves

Sauce:
3 tbsp tamarind pulp concentrate (bottled kind or equivalent)
3 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp vinegar *
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules (optional)

Method

Heat up sufficient oil in a wok and deep fry the basil leaves for 10 seconds or until translucent and crispy. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Set aside.

Make two or three diagonal slashes across both sides of the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Coat with cornflour and shake off excess. Deep fry in hot oil until crispy and golden. Remove and drain off excess oil, and place the fish on a serving plate.

In a clean pan, heat up 1 tbsp vegetable oil and fry the garlic, followed by the ground chillies and sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer briefly (about half a minute). Pour the sauce over the fish, garnish with crispy basil and coriander leaves. Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice.

* Note: Instead of using fresh chillies and vinegar for the sauce, you may choose to substitute with Thai sambal oelek instead, which are sold in jars. Sambal oelek can be rather hot though, which is perfect if you like it hot!



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Snow Peas and Asparagus in Oyster Sauce

In my previous post (Grilled Beef with Charred Tomato and Chilli Sauce), I wrote about my visit to Sailors Thai where I had the luxury of savouring an array of creative and exotic Thai dishes and was simply enamoured by the overall gastronomic experience. I attempted to make a mental note of how each dish tasted so that I could recreate the same at home if I ever had a craving for it. And so, this post features a very simple recipe for delicious stir-fried vegetables in oyster sauce. In the menu, it was actually stated as "stir fried broccolini and sugar snap peas with oyster sauce", but they looked more like asparagus than broccolini, and so I've used asparagus in my recipe here. How timely it was that Ms AC received a bag of snow peas from her neighbour who just harvested them from the backyard, and she brought some to the office for me!

 

 

I decided to ramp up this dish by garnishing it with some crispy garlic chips and crispy dried baby anchovies. Not only do they add texture (crispy on anything is always a good thing!), but also flavour and saltiness from the baby anchovies. You can buy these dried baby anchovies from the Asian supermarket (the one I bought comes from Korea), but they are entirely optional, so feel free to omit them. This is a versatile dish where you can add or substitute with other ingredients like carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, seafood, meat and so on. From there, you can also add kaffir lime leaves, sliced chillies, or perhaps a splash of lemon juice for a little zing. The sauce makes a great base for any stir-fry, and I've kept it simple here, as it was when I tried it at Sailors Thai.

 

For best results, do use good quality ingredients especially when it comes to the oyster sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce - great umami flavours!) and fish sauce (Squid Brand). Also, take care not to overcook or undercook the vegetables, particularly the asparagus.

 

Snow Peas and Asparagus in Oyster Sauce

Ingredients

3 tbsp dried baby anchovies (optional)

1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Vegetable/peanut oil

1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, cut into 3 inch lengths

1 1/2 cups snow peas, topped and tailed, strings removed

Sauce (combined in a bowl):

1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce

1 tbsp Squid brand fish sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp palm sugar

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp Maggi seasoning (optional)

Method

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and fry the anchovies on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes until crispy. Discard the oil and transfer the anchovies to a plate.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and fry the garlic on medium-high heat until lightly golden and crispy. Remove the garlic chips and set aside together with the anchovies above. Leave the oil in the wok.

Heat the wok with the garlic oil on high and fry the asparagus for half a minute. Then add the snow peas and fry for another half minute. Push the vegetables to the side of the wok and pour the sauce in the centre. Bring to a boil and reduce slightly and toss the vegetables in the sauce briefly to coat. Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a serving dish. Garnish with fried garlic chips and crispy baby anchovies. Serve hot with steamed jasmine rice.



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Thai-style Grilled Beef with Charred Tomato and Chilli Dipping Sauce

The inspiration for this dish came from the fabulous dinner I enjoyed at Sailors Thai a few nights ago. There were ten of us and we must have ordered about half of the entire menu. Everyone was ooh-ing and aah-ing over the myriad of dishes that were a fusion of contemporary cuisine with traditional Thai-style flavours, served in a fine dining setting. I loved every single dish we ordered, with the exception of the dessert platter which was quite a let-down considering that there are so many other Thai desserts I can think of that should have made the menu. Anyway, that was soon forgotten by everyone after a few glasses (and bottles) of dessert wine (we had the Botrytis Semillon which was wonderfully sweet and intense with a pleasant finish).

One of the entrees we enjoyed was the grilled tajima wagyu beef with charred tomato, chilli and fresh prawn sauce. Now, I'm not sure what "prawn" refers to but I'm guessing that perhaps it's referring to shrimp paste, but I may be wrong. Anyway, I was more interested in the "charred tomato" which gave the sauce a subtle smoky flavour. So, I decided to recreate this same dish (with considerable guesstimates and adaptations, using plain rump steak (MSA graded from Woolies) and no fancy wagyu of any sort here) and it turned out fantastic! The beef was tender, juicy and flavoursome, and when dipped into the charred tomato and chilli sauce and eaten with the mint leaves, tasted sensational. And it's incredibly quick and easy to prepare too, as you will see in the recipe below. Feel free to adjust the balance of hot, sweet, sour and salty according to your tastebuds and preference.

Thai-style Grilled Beef with Charred Tomato and Chilli Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

500g (1 lb) rump steak (trimmed of excess fat)
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper
1-2 roma tomatoes
Vietnamese mint leaves
Cucumber, sliced

Sauce:
1 tbsp chopped coriander stems and root
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 1/2 tbsp grated palm sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1-2 bird's eye chillies
1/2 eshallot, thinly sliced
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 tbsp lime juice (or to taste)
2 tbsp charred tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp Maggi seasoning (optional)
1 tbsp tamarind pulp concentrate (optional)

Method

To make the charred tomato, cut the tomato in half crosswise. Drizzle the cut side with a little olive oil. Heat a small cast iron skillet or pan on high heat and place the tomatoes in it cut-side down. Cook for 3-5 minutes until charred. Transfer to a plate and set aside to cool. Scoop out the flesh and chop roughly.

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the coriander, garlic, palm sugar and black pepper to a smooth paste. Add the chillies and pound briefly to release some of the juices. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and mix well. If necessary, adjust the quantities used to desired taste. Transfer to a small bowl.

Rub some olive oil over the beef, followed by salt and black pepper. Heat a grill pan on high heat, and add the beef, cooking it for 3-4 minutes each side, turning once only. The meat should be medium rare. Transfer the steak to a plate, cover with aluminium foil and set aside for 3-5 minutes to rest. Reserve the juices that may flow from the beef while resting and use some of that in the sauce if desired.

Slice the beef on the diagonal into thin strips. Arrange on a serving plate with mint leaves and cucumber, and serve with the charred tomato dipping sauce.

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Thai Duck Noodle Soup

When Ms T asked me if she could make duck soup using chicken stock, this Thai duck noodle soup instantly came to mind. I then realised that she must have been referring to Cantonese-style roast duck noodle soup where the duck is served on top of egg noodles in a chicken broth. The Thai-style version that I've featured in this post uses a stock made using duck bones, galangal, coriander root and some aromatics, and is served with wide rice noodles that I hand-cut to size. Though already tasty on its own, this noodle soup is really best eaten with some tangy, garlicky vinegar chilli sauce that also makes a great dipping sauce for the duck meat.



This dish is absolutely delicious and pretty easy to cook if you can buy (as opposed to make) roast duck from the Chinese restaurant or shop which sells barbecue and roast meats. Then, all that's required is to boil the duck bones to make the stock and serve that with some fresh rice noodles, or egg noodles if you prefer. I highly recommend that you also prepare the vinegar chilli sauce to go with it (recipe below), otherwise you could serve it with some dried chilli flakes instead.

Thai Duck Noodle Soup

Ingredients

1 roast duck (store-bought)
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 cloves garlic
3 inch cinnamon bark
2 star anise
3 cloves
2 inch galangal, sliced
6 coriander roots, finely chopped or pounded
1 tbsp black peppercorns, lightly cracked/crushed
2 litres / 8 cups water

Seasoning:
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Cheong Chan thick caramel (thick dark soy)
3 tbsp grated palm sugar, or to taste (substitute with rock sugar/white sugar)
Salt to taste

To serve:
1 kg (2 lb) fresh rice noodles sheets, cut into 1 inch wide strips
1 bunch choy sum or baby bok choy, washed and cut
Coriander leaves, chopped
Scallions, chopped
Vinegar chilli sauce (see recipe below)

Method

Debone the roast duck and set aside the meat from the legs and breast. Slice the meat into bite sized pieces.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot and fry the garlic, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and galangal for 3 minutes until garlic is slightly caramelized. Add coriander root and black peppercorns and fry for 1 minute. Add the duck bones, head, neck, fat (and excess skin) into the pot and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Strain the stock and put the strained stock back in the pot. Bring to a boil again. Add seasoning ingredients and adjust to taste. Then, add the rest of the reserved duck meat and simmer for 15 minutes. Keep the soup warm until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot/wok of water to the boil and blanch the vegetables. Drain and set aside.

When ready to serve, blanch the rice noodles for about 1 minute or until softened. Drain and place into individual serving bowls along with some vegetables. Ladle some duck soup into the bowls and top with duck meat. Garnish with chopped coriander, scallions and serve with vinegar chilli sauce.

To make vinegar chilli sauce:
Slice 2 long red chillies and pound them with a mortar and pestle with 1-2 cloves garlic and 1/4 tsp salt. Add 3 tbsp chinese rice vinegar and 1/2 tbsp sugar (or to taste) and mix well. Adjust seasoning as desired.

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