Pad Thai

Pad Thai with Shrimp

Pad Thai (or Phat Thai) is one of the most widely recognized Thai dishes in the United States, offering a delicious combination of salty, sweet, and sour flavors soaked up by tender rice noodles. This recipe is my version of the dish as found stateside. I encourage you to search the web for more information about the dish, its history, and its variations - the short version of which is that Pad Thai as you know it is probably different than the original dish or from how you'll find it served in Thailand. In any case, and in my opinion, as long as the sauce doesn't have ketchup or tomato sauce, the ingredients are fresh, and it is prepared with care, even our western-palette-adapted versions are a worthy one-plate meal.

Servings: 2

Time: 45 minutes

Sauce Ingredients:

• ¼ cup palm sugar, grated (or light brown sugar)
• ¼ cup fish sauce
• ¼ cup tamarind soup base, made from 1 Tbsp tamarind concentrate plus 3 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp sriracha sauce (optional)

Stir-fry Ingredients:

• 1 good handful of rice noodles (a little more than 1" diameter bundle)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 to 10 fresh shrimp (U20-24)
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• [optional] 1 tablespoon chopped salted radish
• ¼ cup extra-firm tofu, pressed to expel moisture, cut into ½" x ½" x 1" pieces
• ¼ to ⅓ cup water
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• ¼ cup carrot matchsticks
• ¼ green onion, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 or 2 teaspoons sugar (palm sugar or white sugar)
• 2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• a few lime wedges
• [optional] fried garlic, shallot, or both for garnish

Directions:

1. Prepare sauce by grating palm sugar, adding sauce ingredients to a small bowl, and stirring until mixed and sugar is dissolved.
2. Prepare tofu by draining, sandwiching between paper towels and applying pressure with a dinner plate to press out moisture. Cut into ½" x ½" x 1" pieces.
3. Soak rice noodles in warm water for 15 minutes. It is okay if they sit for a little longer while preparing other ingredients.
4. Mince garlic and finely dice shallot. Rinse then gently squeeze dry preserved radish and mince, if using.
5. Prepare vegetables. Rinse and dry all produce. Peel and cut carrot into matchsticks (approximately 1/8" square by 2 inches long), cut green onion into 1" pieces.
6. Beat egg lightly in a small bowl.
7. Heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add egg and stir-fry until just cooked. Remove and set aside on a plate.
8. Heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When hot, cook shrimp until until just done, being careful not to overcook.
9. Heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil in the wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add garlic, shallot, and radish. Stir-fry until fragrant.
10. Add tofu and fry until tofu is lightly browned.
11. Increase wok heat to high. Drain and add rice noodles along with ¼ to ⅓ cup of water. Stir-fry until water is absorbed and wok is dry.
12. Add carrot, green onion, bean sprouts, egg, shrimp, about ¼ cup of sauce, and 1 or 2 tsp of sugar. Stir-fry until sauce is absorbed and vegetables are tender.
13. Divide among two plates or bowls, topping with cilantro, peanut, fried shallot or garlic, and garnish with a wedge of lime. Provide fish sauce, sugar, and chili flakes as condiments on the table.

Notes:

• Prepare all of your ingredients before starting to cook. The cook time is short, but everything must be ready to go when needed.
• Between steps, add neutral oil as needed to wok and heat over medium-high heat to reach the quantity specified.
• Substitute light brown sugar for palm sugar in sauce if needed.
• If you don't have a wok, use a non-stick frying pan.

Pictures:

Ingredient mise-en-place.

Noodles soaking in warm water. I use a sauté pan as it is wide enough to fit the noodles and tall enough to hold the water.

Fry the egg.

Cook the shrimp.

Sauté aromatics.

Add tofu and cook until lightly browned.

Add noodles and water, cook until dry.

Add remainder of ingredients and sauce.

Stir-fry until sauce is absorbed and vegetables are tender.

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Pad Gra Pao (Thai Stir-fried pork with basil)

Pad Gra Pao ready to eat!

Pad Gra Pao is a delicious Thai pork stir-fry featuring salty, sweet, and spicy notes that is a regular in our weeknight meal rotation. Erin introduced Mark to this dish a few years ago, having become a fan of it herself during her time in Thailand and Southeast Asia. When we visited Thailand a couple summers ago, I (Mark) had the chance to try the dish from a local vendor and was shocked by how similar the version we make at home was to the version we had in Thailand. The main difference between our version and what we enjoyed in Thailand is the spice level: we use fewer chili peppers.

The recipe we use originally comes from Leela at SheSimmers. The main difference in our version is that we typically use only regular soy sauce and use fewer Thai chili peppers. Regardless, it is still delicious. Every time we make this dish it turns out slightly different depending on the spiciness of the chile peppers, the amount of garlic or shallot we use, or the exact mixture of sauce ingredients. However, it never disappoints and this stir-fry is a staple in our weeknight diets.

Ingredients

The aromatics - garlic, shallot, Thai chile pepper, and Thai basil

The sauce - oyster, soy, and fish sauces

• 1 pound ground pork
• 5-7 garlic cloves
• 2-3 Thai chili peppers
• 1 large shallot
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 cup Thai basil leaves, packed
• Thai Jasmine Rice for serving
• Fried egg for serving

Directions

Minced aromatics ready for sautéing

1. Finely chop or mince garlic, chili peppers, and shallot together. If you have a mortar and pestle, pound these ingredients together into a coarse paste.
   
   

   

   Sautéing the aromatics

   
   
   
2. Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, then add garlic, chili peppers, and shallot mixture. Fry until fragrant.
   
   

   

   Stir-frying the pork with the aromatics

   
   
   
3. Add meat to pan and break it up into small pieces as it cooks.
4. When the meat is nearly cooked, add remaining ingredients (except basil), and stir well to incorporate.
   
   

   

   Adding Thai basil to the stir-fry

   
   
5. Once meat is cooked through, add basil leaves and stir a few times, then remove pan from heat and continue to stir basil in until it wilts from the residual heat.
6. Serve over Thai Jasmine rice and then top with Thai-style crispy fried egg.

Notes

• Feel free to substitute ground beef or chicken for the pork for a variation on the dish. I don't think we have ever tried, but tofu crumbles might also work for a vegetarian (protein-wise) variation.
• The soy sauce can entirely regular soy sauce or a combination of thin/light soy sauce and dark sweet soy sauce in 2:1 ratio.
• The Thai-style crispy fried egg can be replaced with a sunny-side-up or over-easy egg.

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Burmese pumpkin stew

 This is one of my favorite side dishes to make when cooking Southeast Asian food (and I will make it with both Burmese curries and Thai curries). You could certainly eat this on its own, but it is more common to eat along with something else (as is common in both Thai and Burmese cuisines!). 

I find that it pairs well with a vegetable (such as stir fried bok choy or green beans) and a curry, such as a Thai red curry dish or a Burmese meat curry). 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lb. peeled Kabocha squash cut into 1-in cubes (about 4 large cups)
• 3 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp minced ginger
• 3/4 - 1 cup of diced yellow onion
• 1/4 tsp chili powder (or more if you want more heat)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp paprika (ideally not smoked)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Cut, peel, and seed the Kabocha squash (note: I highly recommend buying pre-peeled and pre-cut Kabocha squash if you can...it is an absolutely pain - and potential danger to your fingers if using a knife - to peel)
2. In a large sauce pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to turn translucent (about 6 minutes). 
3. Add the garlic, ginger, and chili powder and cook for an additional 5 minutes. 
4. Add the squash, turmeric, paprika, and salt and give 1-2 stirs to mix together. 
5. Add the water and the tamarind concentrate and give another 1-2 stirs. 
6. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. 
7. Simmer (uncovered) for about 10-11 minutes. The squash should then be tender when pierced with a fork or knife but not mushy. If you cannot pierce with a fork or knife easily, cook an additional 2 minutes. 
8. Remove the pieces of pumpkin from the pot (but not the juices!)
9. Bring the heat to medium-low and reduce the stew/curry sauce for an additional 4-5 minutes until thicker
10. Remove from the heat, add the pumpkin back into the pot, and stir gently until combined. 
11. Serve over rice with whatever else you are serving!

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Stir-fried Red Curry Green Beans with Tofu

Stir-fried Red Curry Green Beans with Tofu (and a fried egg)

We frequently cook Thai or Thai-inspired dishes for dinner or lunch in our house, with this dish being a favorite. One of the best things about this recipe is how easily it comes together with ingredients that we usually have in the refrigerator: red curry paste, tofu, shallot, and green beans. When we want something tasty and easy we can crank this out in less than 30 minutes.

My original source for this recipe is from Serious Eats (see here). Instead of making curry paste from scratch, since I didn't own a nice Thai-style granite mortar and pestle at the time, I opted for the store-bought red curry paste route. I also used easy-to-find, nothing-fancy green beans instead of long beans. With the acquisition of our air-fryer, we often opt to simply season and then air fry the tofu cubes while stir-frying the green beans, combining them at the very end.

Ingredients:

• 12-ounce block of firm or extra firm tofu, drained, pressed with paper towels to remove moisture, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 1 Tbsp red curry paste (we like the Mae Ploy brand)
• 2-3 Tbsp vegetable, canola, or peanut oil
• 1 pound green beans (or long beans), washed, trimmed, and cut into 1 1/2" pieces
• 1 small shallot, sliced into rings
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• Steamed white rice (Jasmine preferred) for serving
• Fried egg, over easy, for serving

Instructions:

1. Make the rice. We use a counter-top rice cooker and follow its directions.
2. Prepare the tofu by draining and pressing between paper towels to extract moisture. If you have time to start this step an extra 10-15 minutes early then you can get even more moisture out of the tofu. After pressing out liquid, cut tofu into 3/4" cubes.
3. Wash, trim, and cut green beans into 1 1/2" pieces. Drain well or pat dry.
   
   

   

   Curry paste, shallot, sugar, and soy sauce

   
   
   
   
4. Peel and slice shallot into thin rings, measure out white sugar and soy sauce (into a single small dish is fine) or set near stove for easy access.
5. Fry the tofu. We use an air fryer, which takes about 15 minutes. If you don't have an air fryer, heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl oil to coat the pan once oil is hot, then add the tofu in a single layer and cook until crisp on first side (about 3 minutes). Then flip pieces and cook until second side is crisp. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
   
   

   

   Stir-fry the green beans

   
   
6. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat (same pan used to fry tofu if not using an air fryer). Swirl to coat the pan after oil is hot then add green beans and stir-fry, stirring occasionally until blistered and tender. Transfer to same bowl with tofu and set aside.
   
   

   

   Add the curry past and fry until aromatic

   
   
   

   

   Green beans with shallots, ready for tofu

   
   
   
7. Add 1 Tbsp oil to the wok or skillet and return to medium-high to high heat. Add curry paste all at once and cook, stirring constantly to prevent paste from burning, frying until aromatic and sizzling. Return tofu and green beans to pan, along with sugar, soy sauce, and shallot. Stir and toss to combine and coat everything with the curry paste. Dish is done cooking once shallots have softened and everything is evenly coated with the curry.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Serve immediately over steamed rice and with an optional fried egg on top. Eat by breaking the egg yolk, cutting egg into pieces, and gently mixing in with the beans and rice.

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Shan Noodles (ရှမ်းခေါက်ဆွဲ)

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Erin spent a significant chunk of the previous decade in Myanmar's Shan State - a beautiful mountainous region in Northeast Myanmar. Not only is the region beautiful, but the people are incredibly friendly, and the food is fresh and delicious. 

Shan noodles (Shan khao sway) is a well-known Shan dish that you will find throughout Myanmar. It's an ideal comfort food or an easy lunch/dinner. Erin has also been known to seek out a good bowl of Shan noodles for breakfast in Myanmar!

This recipe calls for ground chicken or pork, but you can also use chicken breast that you cut up into small pieces or make this vegetarian using tofu. 

The recipe that Erin uses is based on the Burma Superstar recipe, although she has modified it some to her liking!

This recipe will make 4 nice servings. Rice noodle dishes don’t quite re-heat “the same,” and so I recommend eating this fresh (but it is certainly still edible and better than most things re-heated, just not quite as good as it is fresh).

 

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. ground chicken or pork

- 1.5 Tbsp paprika (don’t used smoked if you can)

- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

- 1/3 tsp turmeric

- ½ tsp five-spice powder

- 1 tsp salt

- ¼ tsp dried chili flakes

- ¼ cup canola oil

- 2 cups minced yellow onion

- 3 roma tomatoes, diced like the onion (on-the-vine also likely fine)

- ¼ cup minced garlic

- ½ tbsp soy sauce

- 12 oz. rice noodles (dry)

- Green onions, sliced

- ¼ cup pickled mustard greens (OR I make bok choy)

For Bok Choy:

-          1.5 cup chopped bok choy (either baby or regular)

-          1 tsp soy sauce

-          Salt and pepper to season

Directions:

Mix the ground meat in a bowl with paprika, cayenne, turmeric, five-spice, salt, and chili flakes. Let this marinate while you prep the other ingredients (or at least 10 minutes). 

In a pot/pan (ideally a straight-sided sauté pan), heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and stir occasionally until they are turning translucent (~3-4 minutes). Then add the tomato and stir occasionally for another 3 minutes. Add the garlic, lower the heat to medium and cook another 3-4 minutes.

           

Put water on to boil for the noodles.

Add the ground meat and stir often until the meat is cooked through (~7-8 minutes). Cook the bok choy while this cooks.

-s.

Bok Choy: Heat about 1 tsp of oil over medium-high heat. Add the bok choy and stir. Add salt and pepper to season and cook until the bok choy starts to wilt (~3 minutes). Remove from the heat and stir in soy sauce. Serve on top of Shan noodle

Remove the meat from the heat when it is cooked and add the soy sauce. I like to leave it on very low/warm while everything else preps to keep the juices flowing as this makes a tiny bit of a ‘sauce.’

Once the water is boiling, add the dried rice noodles. I use ‘pad thai’ noodles and they take about 3-4 minutes to cook.

Strain the noodles using a colander and then add to your meat sauce and stir to combine. If your pot isn’t big enough, you can combine in a larger pot or serving dish.

Serve into a bowl and top with bok choy (or mustard greens) and sliced green onions.  

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