My Pad Thai

Peter and Momo wanted to eat lots of shrimps, so I cooked Shrimp Pad Thai for them.

When my family used to live in BKK, my mom used to buy street food all the time, saying it’s more economical to buy on the street than cooking at home. Since we all loved the street food in Thailand, this was paradise!! My mom’s favorite was the Isaan lady’s Som tum and khao niao. This lady did not have her own stand at the beginning and simply sat on the side of the office building with her tools and ingredients. The last time I heard about her, she had her own stand in front of a popular shopping area. Hum, I guess my mom had an eye for good Thai food! I read that Pad Thai is a street food, but I don’t recall eating Pad Thai on the street in Thailand.We mostly ate Isaan food, because many people from Isaan come down to look for a job in Bangkok.

Since there is a big Thai population in Switzerland, getting all the ingredients in an Asian grocery store is not a problem. However, I forgot to buy Tamarind and had to improvise. Here is the recipe for my easy Pad Thai with the ingredients available in any major supermarket in Switzerland. I used onions which does not usually go in, because I had so many at home.

(Serving 4)

1. Soak 1 pack of Thai rice noodle in lukewarm water for about 30 min,
2. Cut 1 lime into 4, wash 2 1/2 cups of bean sprouts, slice 1 pack of deep-fried Tofu (or extra firm tofu) into thin strips, cut 2 strips of green onion (or Chinese chives), mince 2 small onions,
3. Heat 3 tablespoon oil in a wok, roast 4 tablespoons of peanuts until brown, take out, crush half the portion for later,
4. Cook green onion, onions and Tofu until the color of onion gets transparent,
5. Add noodle to the wok, flavor with: 8 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon Thai thin soy sauce (See Eu Khao), 4 tablespoon palm sugar (or regular sugar), 4 tablespoon rice vinegar,
6. Push the noodle aside and mix in 2 eggs, cook until it’s done,
7. Add 2 cups of bean sprouts, crushed peanuts (from Step 3) and 450g shrimps to the wok, mix well,
8. Stir until shrimps are cooked,
9. Serve with the rest of roasted peanuts, lime, and bean sprouts on the side. You can also put sugar, chili powder and fish sauce to adjust the flavor on your own. I also added cilantro as a decoration but you don’t really need it.

How to eat: Eat with a spoon on the right and a folk on the left, using the spoon like a knife.

Bon Appetit!

* In the recipe, I omitted garlic cloves and chilli power because of L.