How to Make the Most Delicious Pad Thai with Shrimp
Pad Thai is a Thai dish with Chinese roots that was promoted by the Thai government during World War II. Rice was scarce at the time, but rice noodles were considered a good alternative. That promotion was a success, because Pad Thai is now one of the best-known Thai dishes. Here’s how to make the most delicious Pad Thai at home, with shrimp.
We got the recipe for this delicious Pad Thai with shrimp from Noni Kooiman. Noni grew up in Suriname and has worked in various restaurants over the past ten years, including Rose Bakery in Paris and Toscanini, Vuurtoreneiland and Coba in Amsterdam. In her book Wokbijbel, you’ll find more than 200 recipes to prepare in, you guessed it: a wok. You’ll also learn handy techniques, such as creating wok hei with a blowtorch and pushing everything to one side to fry a side omelet in the same wok. Naturally, recipes for fresh salads and sauces aren’t missing either.
How to make Pad Thai with shrimp
- Prepare the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Rice noodles often need to soak for quite a long time, so keep that in mind. After soaking, they no longer need to be cooked and can go straight into the wok.
- Put the dried shrimp in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave to soak for 15 minutes. Drain and chop coarsely.
- Coarsely chop the palm sugar and put it in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Turn on the heat and let it caramelize for 5 minutes. Deglaze with 60 ml water and the fish sauce. Add the tamarind and bring to a boil while stirring. Remove from the heat once the sugar has dissolved.
- Cut the shallots into thin half-rings. Cut the tofu into cubes measuring approximately 1 x 2 cm. Cut the scallion into pieces of approximately 2 cm. Cut the garlic into thin slices. Cut the pickled radish into thin strips. Coarsely chop the peanuts.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok over high heat and fry the shrimp for 2 minutes. Turn them occasionally and remove them from the wok.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok and spread the tofu across the wok. Fry for 3 minutes, gently tossing occasionally, and remove from the wok.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok over high heat and fry the dried shrimp, shallot, the white part of the scallion, garlic and radish for 3 minutes. Add the noodles and fry along for 1 minute.
- Add the sauce and toss until all the noodles are coated in sauce. Push everything to one side of the wok and crack the eggs into the other side. Stir-fry until the egg begins to set, then toss the noodles through it.
- Add the bean sprouts, the green part of the scallion, peanuts and shrimp and toss. Remove the wok from the heat and immediately divide the Pad Thai among the plates. Cut the lime into wedges and serve alongside.
Title: Wokbijbel
Author: Noni Kooiman
Price: €34,99
Publisher: Carrera
Also read:
- This is the ultimate tofu dish
- Recipe: how to make the favorite Chinese takeout dish Foe Yong Hai at home
- How to make the most delicious Chinese dumpling sauce
