Sawasdee! With the return of the sun, it is the perfect occasion to add a touch of exoticism to your cuisine. Freshly arrived in Luxembourg last month, Tosadech Arunnopparat shares one of the most popular and delicious Thai recipes, Pad Thai.
“What makes Pad Thai so popular is the tamarind sauce, the taste is really unique, and the name is easy to remember,” he told Delano, adding that in Thailand, younger people do not usually cook because eating out is very affordable. “I usually don’t cook, there is street food everywhere. Pad Thai in Bangkok is around €1.50,” he said.
Growing up in Chon Buri, near Pattaya, moving to Bangkok later and then studying in England, the SAP consultant usually eats a recipe loosely based on the original recipe. “The traditional Pad Thai is with prawns, but I eat it with beef because I am allergic to prawns. You can also prepare it with pork and chicken,” he said. “Thai people like sweet and sour, so we usually add sugar in our food and lime,” he added.
Lime is available all-year-round and goes perfectly with almost all Thai dishes but finding other ingredients in Luxembourg can be challenging and expensive. During his search of ingredients at Auchan, Tosadech noticed that exotic things were pricier than in Thailand. But, what surprised him the most was the composition of supposedly Thai dishes. “I saw a ready-to-eat Pad Thai that contained tomato sauce, I’ve never seen this before!” he said.
So, if you want a more authentic taste than the supermarket Pad Thai, follow Tosadech’s recipe and impress everyone.
Ingredients for beef Pad Thai for 2 persons:
- 1 or 2 eggs, depending on your preferences
- 200 grs of beef
- 150 grs of rice noodles
- 100 grs of tamarind paste
- 50grs of palm sugar
- 100 grs of bean sprouts
- A pinch of fish sauce or soya sauce
- Coriander
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Chili powder
- 1 lime
Directions:
Preparation of the tamarind sauce:
Warm a frying pan and add a spoon of olive oil.
Add the tamarind paste, the palm sugar, half a cup of water and a pinch of salt.
Stir over low heat to avoid burning the sugar.
Preparation of the beef:
Cut the beef into thin slices in the length, about 4 slices per person.
Warm a pan with some olive oil.
Cook the meat well-done for a more traditional taste.
Preparation of noodles:
Boil water and add the rice noodles for no more than 3 minutes to avoid soggy noodles. Drain.
Add some olive oil while stirring until the noodles are not sticky anymore.
Combining the ingredients:
When the beef is well-done, reduce the heat.
Add the egg(s), the noodles and the tamarind sauce in the pan.
Fry and mix everything together.
Add a pinch of fish/soya sauce.
Add chili powder, as much as you want it to be spicy.
Add the bean sprouts during the last 2 minutes of preparation.
Serve:
Once on a plate, add fresh coriander on the top or dry if you do not have fresh. Cut the lime in half and put the half on the side of the dish.
To eat Pad Thai the Thai way, only use a fork and spoon.