Pad Thai recipe: how to master Thailand's favourite dish (2024)

In a land as gastronomically diverse and exciting as Thailand, pad Thai is as close as it gets to a national dish. The instantly-recognisable, fragrant blend of freshly fried noodles, tamarind, garlic, chilli,peanuts and sometimesveg is, for many of us, the ideal introduction into Thai cuisine.

In Thailand, street food is a way of life, and mouthwatering (and sometimes mouth-burning) pad Thai is ubiquitous, rarely for more than £1. The dish is thought to have been introduced by the Chinese and modified to meet Thai palates - not unlike our very own chicken tikka masala, then.

The key to this is to have the ingredients prepared and ready to go so you can work quickly. Pad Thai is best eaten instantly after frying in a wok.

SERVES 4

• 50ml tamarind water (mix 1tsp tamarind paste with 50ml water)
• 40ml fish sauce
• 30g palm sugar or 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 200g wide flat rice noodles
• Vegetable oil
• 16 large prawns, peeled or unpeeled
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 red chilli, deseeded, finely sliced
• 2 eggs
• 100g bean sprouts
• 4 stalks Chinese chives, chopped
• 2 handfuls of peanuts, roasted and chopped
• Lime wedges, to serve

METHOD

1. Combine the tamarind, fish sauce and sugar and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Put to one side for a moment.
2. Bring a pan of water to the boil, pour over the noodles and leave for 15 minutes until tender. Rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.
3. Place a wok or large frying pan over a high heat and add a small splash of oil.
4. Stir-fry the prawns for a couple of minutes until they begin to colour and are cooked through but still juicy. Remove from the pan for a moment.
5. Add another splash of oil to the pan and add the spring onions, garlic and chilli and stir-fry for few moments until the onions wilt, then stir in the noodles and the tamarind sauce.
6. Return the prawns to the pan, then push everything to the side and crack in the eggs. Break the yolks and scramble them as they start turning opaque.
7. Stir the egg through the noodles and add the bean sprouts, chives and peanuts. Stir-fry until well combined, then serve with lime wedges.

More Thai recipes

Diana Henry's Thai stir-fried minced beef with basil and chilli

SERVES

2

INGREDIENTS

For the sauce

• 35ml fish sauce
• 2 bird’s-eye chillies, finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, very finely sliced
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp coriander, finely chopped

For the beef

• 6 red or green bird’s eye chillies (fewer if you want it less hot)
• 4 small garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus more for deep-frying the eggs
• 200g good-quality, coarsely minced beef
• good pinch of caster sugar
• about 2 tbsp fish sauce
• big handful of Thai basil (or holy basil from specialist Asian shops)
• 2 large eggs

METHOD

1. For the serving sauce, mix together the fish sauce, chillies and garlic and set aside for the flavours to meld.
2. Meanwhile, for the beef, coarsely chop the chillies with the garlic and a pinch of salt.
3. Heat about 10cm of oil in a saucepan (for the deep-fried eggs) while you cook the beef. (Though if you prefer, you can shallow-fry the eggs in a regular frying pan.)
4. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a wok then fry the garlic and chilli mixture, but don’t let it colour. Add the beef and stir-fry for a minute, until only just cooked.
5. Season to taste with the sugar and fish sauce but be careful not to make it too salty. Add 50ml water and gently simmer for a minute, but don’t let it boil or the meat will become tough. There should be enough liquid to make a bit of a sauce.
6. Stir in the basil and remove from the heat.
7. Fry your eggs. To deep-fry, have the oil really hot and crack in an egg so it’s submerged. Fry until the white is crispy and the yolk still runny (it should take less than a minute). Drain well.
8. Add the lime and coriander to the sauce and serve alongsidethe beef with boiled rice and a fried egg on top of each dish.

Jenny Linford's Thai-style minced chicken