Day 4: Thailand

Chicken & Tofu Pad Thai

Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures – I made this very quickly because I was hungry and didn’t stop to take photos.

Welcome back! This week, I’ll be cooking meals from Asia. My first meal, as you can see from the photo above, is pad thai. I made mine with chicken and tofu, but it can be made with shrimp, pork or any variety of meat.

Pad thai finds its origins not in Thailand, but actually China. People believe that Chinese stir fry was first introduced to Thailand during the Ayutthaya Empire and was later adapted to incorporate Thai flavors. Pad thai became popular in the late 1930s as the Thai government attempted to modernize and westernize the nation. Creating this national dish helped paint a unified Thailand to the international community.

Now, to the cooking:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound Rice noodles (I bough Annie Chun’s)
• Tofu
• Thin sliced chicken
• Tamarind concentrate
• 1 egg
• Coconut palm sugar
• 1 lime
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 shallot
• Green onions
• Bean sprouts
• Vegetable Oil (for cooking)

Step 1: Place tofu on plate in between layers of paper towels and place a heavy object on top. This helps drain the tofu of excess liquid. I used this tub of jollof rice (see my previous post), but any heavy object will do.

Step 2: After 30 minutes of draining, cut tofu into cubes and fry in a skillet (about 2 minutes on each side).

Step 3: After the tofu finishes cooking, it’s time to make the sauce. Combine 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of fish sauce, 1/8 cup of tamarind concentrate, and 1/8 a cup of water (it’s ok to eyeball this) in a skillet and reduce the sauce. This should take about 15-20 minutes on a medium/medium-high heat. I’d caution against cooking on high as you don’t want to burn the sauce.

Step 4: There are two ways to approach the noodles. I read online that one way to cook the rice noodles is to hydrate them in room temperature waters and then cook them in the skillet with the chicken, egg, and vegetables. However, when I tried this it did not turn out well; perhaps I was too impatient and didn’t give the noodles enough time to hydrate, but I would recommend boiling the noodles for about 5 minutes before transferring them to the skillet with the other ingredients.

Step 5: While the noodles are cooking, add vegetable oil, chicken, garlic, and 1/2 of the shallot to a large skillet on medium high heat. After the chicken has begun to darken, add the egg and periodically break it up as it begins to harden. Next, add the cooked noodles, followed by the tofu, green onion, and bean sprouts.

Step 6: Lastly, drizzle the sauce on the reduced sauce into the skillet and mix it until all of the noodles are covered. And voila – pad thai.