Homemade Pad Thai - tips

[UTH]

Branching out into trying to cook new things, going to give this a go later

https://www.feastingathome.com/15-minute-pad-thai/

Managed to find all ingredients apart from rice vinegar to probably going to sub in apple cider vinegar.

Any tips out there? I’ll probably follow the recipe to the letter and see how it turns out. (Will be chicken for me)

[Type R Tom]

MSG?

I always have some in, can give a real boost to dishes that might be lacking

[UTH]

Type R Tom said:

MSG?

I always have some in, can give a real boost to dishes that might be lacking

Hmmmm yes I’ve been meaning to get some of that as a cupboard staple.

[UTH]

Followed the recipe I linked last night.
As a first attempt I was pretty happy, but things to improve on for sure.

The sauce confused me a bit as it was very watery rather than saucy. And it took forever to dissolve the palm sugar in the bowl, but it did taste really nice. I’ll probably increase the amount of it next time.

I don’t think I’ll pre cook the noodles (the ones I bought only needed 90 secs in boiling water) as they ended up rather soft and “gloopy” after the time spent in the wok.

Overall though, a good addition to my repertoire.

[Lotobear]

The supermarket pad thai kits are actually quite good, I used to make them fairly regularly and developed something of a habit for the tasty dish.

...that's until I found out how unhealthy it is for you (and I think that also applies to the scratch made version)!

[UTH]

Lotobear said:

The supermarket pad thai kits are actually quite good, I used to make them fairly regularly and developed something of a habit for the tasty dish.

...that's until I found out how unhealthy it is for you (and I think that also applies to the scratch made version)!

Oh is it? I was wondering last night if it was bad for you. Not sure where the bad is though?
Fair few veg, chicken, a bit of sugar I guess, couple of eggs…..are the noodles really bad?

[jfis89]

For the noodles, soak them for 30 mins in cold water before adding straight to the wok. Boiling water will pre-cook them too much which is why you had the sogginess. I’d also definitely try and get tamarind, I don’t see the rice vinegar in the recipe as a good substitute.

[UTH]

jfis89 said:

For the noodles, soak them for 30 mins in cold water before adding straight to the wok. Boiling water will pre-cook them too much which is why you had the sogginess. I’d also definitely try and get tamarind, I don’t see the rice vinegar in the recipe as a good substitute.

These are the noodles I used:
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsb...
So soak them for 30 mins?

And I’ll get some tamarind next time, my best mate said similar too. Will that thicken the sauce a bit?

[jfis89]

As those noodles are ‘quick cook’ I reckon you don’t need to pre-soak/cook them for long before adding to the wok. Maybe 1 min of blanching or something? Otherwise they’ll go too soft.

I use these: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/south-... and soak them for 30-40mins. The hot wok does the rest of the cooking.

The tamarind paste will add a bit of sauce, yeah, but it’s also a nice sour element to go with the salty soy/fish sauce. Then lime juice on top to add a bit more!

[UTH]

jfis89 said:

As those noodles are ‘quick cook’ I reckon you don’t need to pre-soak/cook them for long before adding to the wok. Maybe 1 min of blanching or something? Otherwise they’ll go too soft.

I use these: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/south-... and soak them for 30-40mins. The hot wok does the rest of the cooking.

The tamarind paste will add a bit of sauce, yeah, but it’s also a nice sour element to go with the salty soy/fish sauce. Then lime juice on top to add a bit more!

Ok nice one I’ll give those noodles a go as mine were definitely too soft by the end.

[UTH]

It's my second attempt tonight.

Still got most of the ingredients required, although I bought these yesterday this time, along the right lines? https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/ko-lee...

Also, I found rice vinegar but couldn't for the life of me find tamarind paste. Need to work out how to make the palm sugar dissolve more quickly (or is that not a necessary step as it'll dissolve once in the pan?)

[UTH]

On second thoughts I don't think the noodles I've bought are right, they're way too thin and wispy. Back to the shop I think.

[TheLurker]

Thanks, was wondering what to do for tonight so will give this a go. Got everything in already, so nice and easy, except for the rice noodles but will give it a go with normal ones.

I've watched a couple of YouTube videos quickly, and seems like they just use normal white sugar in Thailand from what I can see. Also looks like they add beansprouts?

[UTH]

TheLurker said:

Thanks, was wondering what to do for tonight so will give this a go. Got everything in already, so nice and easy, except for the rice noodles but will give it a go with normal ones.

I've watched a couple of YouTube videos quickly, and seems like they just use normal white sugar in Thailand from what I can see. Also looks like they add beansprouts?

Yeah I've got beansprouts to add too, think they're mentioned as a garnish in that recipe.
I bought the palm sugar to try and be authentic but it does just seem to take ages to dissolve, maybe normal sugar will be fine. Or maybe I'll crush the palm sugar.

Best Sainsbury's had to offer on my trip just now: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/mama-i...

[ambuletz]

plenty of youtube videos floating about of recipe videos of people making a pad thai in real-time. its up to you how simple/complex you want to make it.

[Lotobear]

UTH said:

Lotobear said:

The supermarket pad thai kits are actually quite good, I used to make them fairly regularly and developed something of a habit for the tasty dish.

...that's until I found out how unhealthy it is for you (and I think that also applies to the scratch made version)!

Oh is it? I was wondering last night if it was bad for you. Not sure where the bad is though?
Fair few veg, chicken, a bit of sugar I guess, couple of eggs…..are the noodles really bad?

I think it's just because it's highly calorific, high in fat and sugar, and salt - I read somewhere that a typical cup size amount has around 500 cals so easy to see why you could be consuming a 1000 calories in one sitting without realising it.

That said, no worse that a good pizza (which I love) it's just I think there's a general assumption that Thai/Indonesian food is always 'healthy'

[UTH]

Lotobear said:

UTH said:

Lotobear said:

The supermarket pad thai kits are actually quite good, I used to make them fairly regularly and developed something of a habit for the tasty dish.

...that's until I found out how unhealthy it is for you (and I think that also applies to the scratch made version)!

Oh is it? I was wondering last night if it was bad for you. Not sure where the bad is though?
Fair few veg, chicken, a bit of sugar I guess, couple of eggs…..are the noodles really bad?

I think it's just because it's highly calorific, high in fat and sugar, and salt - I read somewhere that a typical cup size amount has around 500 cals so easy to see why you could be consuming a 1000 calories in one sitting without realising it.

That said, no worse that a good pizza (which I love) it's just I think there's a general assumption that Thai/Indonesian food is always 'healthy'

Hmmmm yeah I guess you're right - 4 table spoons of sugar, fish sauce and vinegar in my effort last night, plus the noodles etc. So I won't be putting that on the healthy meal list!

[ambuletz]

if calories are that much of a concern you could always reduce it significantly by swapping regular noodles for glass noodles

[UTH]

ambuletz said:

if calories are that much of a concern you could always reduce it significantly by swapping regular noodles for glass noodles

I wouldn't say a concern as such, but I suppose I am wondering if I can cook this as the early week healthy option, or does it sit in the Thursday onwards unhealthier side of things.....

[LunarOne]

My tip if you like Thai food is to watch Hot Thai Kitchen. Pailin, the host is Thai herself, a former professional chef living in Canada. She's super cute and she's really passionate about food, especially Thai. I love Thai food too so I bought her book which lives alongside my David Thompson Thai cookery bibles.