Pad Thai (Thailand)- The World on My Plate Series!

Almost two decades ago, when Chinese food first came to the country; there was a barrage of dark red carts all over the streets. Over the years, the Indian palette was bombarded with MSG coated dishes. Then came Thai food, which some of my friends described as "Kooch Chinese Jaisa" (Something like Chinese), but very spicy. Thankfully, with the internet coming in and the advancement in travel, that trend changed. Today, fine dines and even normal restaurants are trying to replicate authentic Chinese and Thai food. 

Coming to the point, I have tried my hand at many a Chinese dishes and with a reasonable amount of success. But I always believed that cooking Thai food is an art. Literally. Achieving the right balance of flavours, the texture and some of the ingredients, which until recently were exotic and purchasing them would mean you pay and arm and a leg. Made sense to actually drop by at the nearest Thai restaurant or takeaway and grab a bite. But then, it left you with a sense of void, a feeling that this same bowl of curry should be replicated at home. It should be!! I waited for an opportune moment.

The World on my plate gave me the opportunity. As I read, spoke, tweeted, I realised there was a dish that is symbolic to Thai street food as the two versions of curries.The choice was made; the dish that would be Pad Thai(pronounced Pud- Tha-e). Strangely for its status symbol is very rarely cooked in Thai homes. It is more of a street food and is available for as less as a dollar. So, I decided to go the entire way and make it with prawns. Personally, I have faith that prawns can single handedly make anything taste good.

The path was not as difficult as I thought.  All went as per plan and the rice noodles which I was making for the first time, behaved like a well mannered school kid, turning out just the way I liked. How did it Pad Thai fare? All of us wished there were more noodles that night. 

Give it a try, It will be fun. And whatever you do, dont break the noodles, they represent long life.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

• 1 Pack Glass Noodles (or rice Noodles)- Refer Note 1 below
• 5 tablespoons Pad Thai Sauce- Refer Note 2 below
• 3 teaspoons oil
• 7-8 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 small bunch, spring onion,  sliced
• 1 small carrot, julienned
• 1 Thai Chilli, finely chopped Or 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 100 grams firm tofu, cut into fine pieces OR use 100 grams of Cottage cheese, Shredded chicken or prawns to suit your taste 
• 50 grams, sprouted beans
• 2 teaspoons, oyster sauce
• Juice of Half a lime
• 80 grams unsalted peanuts, crushed.
• Few coriander leaves, for garnishing

Method:

• Cook the noodles as instructed on the pack and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a wok and when the oil is smoking hot, add the garlic and saute till it is aromatic.
• Next add the spring onions, chillies, bean sprouts and carrots do quick stirs. Then add the tofu (or chicken, prawn, cottage cheese) and mix well.
• Add the noodles, the oyster sauce and the Pad Thai sauce and give a good mix so that all the vegetables are coated well with the sauce.
• Sprinkle the lime juice and toss the peanuts.
• Garnish with corriander leaves and serve immediately.

Important Notes

1. Cooking the rice noodles: Most packs available at super/ hyper markets will have instructions on cooking the noodles. Please follow the instructions carefully, as the rice noodles tend to get squishy very quickly. Incase the pack doesnt have instructions, all you need to do is heat sufficient water to boiling point. Then take it off the heat and immerse the noodles in the water, till they are soft and a bit chewy and not mushy. The rest of the cooking will be done in the wok.
2. Pad Thai Sauce: This Sauce is actually the base of this dish and this is what gives the right balance of all flavors. Ready made Pad Thai sauces are available at online gourmet stores and super/ hypermarkets. But, if you like me, prefer making your own seasonings, here is how to make it. Soak tamarind (about the size of a tennis ball) in 100 ml warm water for a few minutes. Discard the seeds and squeeze the juice from the pulp.  Add in 2 teaspoons fish sauce (or soya sauce), 1 teaspoon palm sugar (or brown sugar) and 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (or chilli powder). Heat the mixture in a small sauce pan till it simmers. Remove from flame and cool.

Pineapple and Prawn Fried Rice

Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health ~ Julia Child ~

Julia Child, in this one statement has almost covered my entire post. Whenever I write a post I try and describe the essence of the cuisine and the dish that I am covering. But then, what I want to cover today is something special, a first of sorts even for me. And so, I’m thinking, how do I describe a cuisine that that ranked number 4  when people were asked to name an ethnic cuisine. And in list of the “World’s 50 most delicious foods” compiled by CNN, 5 dishes from here made it to the list including the number 1 dish. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Any guesses which cuisine is it? I so want to be partial and say its Indian cuisine, but this time we’ll have to give it to Thai Cuisine.

Just like what Julia Child said, Thai cuisine is simply a little of everything. What may seem a simple dish to casual on looker, is actually a complex coming together of many flavors. Thai food is known to have a balance of at least 4-5 flavours in each dish.  

Pineapple and prawns is a combination that absolutely made in heaven. This is again a one pot meal that you could put together in like 20 minutes flat. I made this as a first attempt on Thai food and it came out pretty well. Many more to come, I promise.

Do give it a try, I’d love to hear how it turned out.

Thai Pineapple and Prawn Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup pre-cooked rice
• 100 grams fresh pineapple, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 50 grams fresh prawns
• 2-3 Thai red chillies 
• 4-5 French beans, cut into bite sized bits.
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 5-6 leaves fresh basil leaves
• 50 ml fresh Pine apple Juice
• 2 tablespoon Soya Sauce
• 2 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 4 tablespoons oil
• Salt- to taste 

Procedure:

• Using a mortar and pestle, roughly pound the chillies and garlic to a rough paste.

• In a large pan or wok, heat oil and fry the basil leaves till they are crisp. Remove and keep aside.
• To the same oil, add the chilli garlic paste and fry till the garlic is brown (but not burnt). Add the pineapple and stir fry till the pineapple have a slight brown coating.
• Add the prawns and cook for about minute till the prawns are cooked. Add the french beans and cook.
• Combine the Pineapple juice, Fish Sauce and Soya Sauce in a bowl and stir well to combine.
• Add rice to the wok and and some of the mixture of the sauces and pineapple juice. Mix well to combine.
• Repeat this process for the remainder of the rice and the juice mixture.
• Now add the fried basil leaves and give it a final mix.
• Serve hot.