When my older son worked as a waiter at an Asian restaurant, he invited us to try out their lunch special of pad Thai and panang curry. I had never had Thai food before and was a little hesitant. It was absolutely delicious, and being the recipe scout that I am, I started looking for some recipes.
Of all the Thai dishes I've made, Pad Thai is the trickiest, and the chef from my son's work told me that it's hard to duplicate because you have to have a very hot wok to do it right.
A few weeks ago I asked a Thai student to come and help me cook it with his girlfriend. They gave me permission to take some side pictures of them. We used a recipe given to me by another gluten free friend from the test kitchen of Cooks Illustrated. This student tweaked this recipe according to what he knew it should taste like.
Gluten Free Pad Thai - for 8
Note: The Thai student told me we needed to triple the sauce for the noodles. I'm going to let you decide if you need to do that when you make it! Also we used tamarind concentrate and didn't use the boiling water. I think next time we will add some water to the concentrate and see how that works. You can decide how you want to make the sauce.
2. Prepare the noodles: Cover 16 oz of dried rick stick noodles about 1/8" wide in hot water for about 40 minutes. I usually cover the pan with foil and check it every 10 minutes or so to see if the noodles are softening. If not, I drain out and add a little bit more hot water. (Try to time the noodles being done close to when you need to stir-fry them below.)
3. Prepare the veggies: (1) Mince 6 cloves of garlic
(2) Chop 6 T of shallot (I've used regular onion)
(3) Slice 10 green onions--just the green part
(4) Chop 1/2 cup cilantro.
4.Cook the eggs: Beat together 4 large eggs. Put 1-2 T of peanut oil into a pan and cook them like an omelet. When they're done, you can cut them with scissors or cut them with a knife into strips.
5. Cook the shrimp: Heat 1 T of peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat then add 12+ oz of medium shrimp and sprinkle them with a bit of salt. Cook until they are done which takes about 3 minutes.
6. Stir-fry the noodles:
(1) Take the pan off the burner and add 1-2 tablespoons more of peanut oil; then add the garlic and onion and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes.
(2) Add the noodles and toss with 2 wooden spoons to combine.
(3) Pour the sauce over the noodles and increase the heat to high and cook the noodles tossing constantly until noodles are evenly coated.
(4) Then scatter 3-4 cups of bean sprouts, all but 1/4 cup of green onions, shrimp, and 1/4 cup of peanuts into the noodles and cook tossing constantly until noodles are tender about 2 1/2 more minutes.
(5) Eat a noodle to make sure it's just right. If they're not tender, add 2 tablespoons more water to the skillet and continue to cook until tender.
One of the things that you have to watch with making pad Thai is that you cook it fast or the noodles will take up all the sauce and it will start to dry out.
7. Assembling platter: Put noodles into a serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with the rest of the green onions, some peanuts, and the cilantro. Put out a dish of lime wedges so everyone can squeeze a bit over their noodles. Some squirts of lime juice really enhances the flavor!
Check out some of the other curries on this blog!
Fantastic Thai Green Curry (Modified a recipe from back of curry paste & Thai recipe)
Rose's Authentic Chinese Yellow Curry (From a Taiwanese friend who brought this to dinner)
Thai Salmon & Vegetables in Green Curry ( Modified recipe from Internet search)
Massaman Chicken Curry with Yams & Pineapple (Modified recipe from back of curry paste & Thai recipe)
Spectacular Chicken Panang Curry (Modified recipe from back of curry paste & recipe)
Amazing Vegetable Panang Curry (Modified recipe from back of curry paste & Thai recipe)
Gluten Free Thai Chicken & Pumpkin Curry (From Internet search)
Other Thai Recipes on This Blog
Making Gluten Free Pad Thai With a Thai Student (A combination of recipes & student's know how!)
No comments:
Post a Comment