Phad Thai noodles

Phad Thai Noodles are immensely popular with tourists in Thailand and is also a staple fastfood on the street with Thai people.
Traditionally, Phad Thai is served either with dried shrimp or fresh tiger prawns, but can also be served as a vegetarian dish or with meat or mixed seafood. The classic option is with rice flour band noodles, but it is also served as a speciality with glassnoodles, which has a wonderfully chewy texture. Phad Thai has a sweet taste and is garnished with beansprouts, spring onions and a slice of kaffir lime. Roasted ground peanuts are spriinkled on the top too as well as some sugar and chilli powder, which you then mix in yourself.

Ingredients for Phad Thai

red schallots (one tbspn)
crushed garlic (one tbspn)
vegetable oil
dried flat rice noodles (soak for five minutes in tepid water)
half cup of dried shrimps
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
3 tbspn of Nam Pla Thai Fish Sauce
1/4 cup of Tamarind juice or palm sugar
50 grams of fresh shrimps,mixed seafood, pork or chicken (depending on which type of ingredient you prefer)
3 tbspn shredded preserved chinese vegetable (Sai Po, or Tai Po)
a block of tofu chopped into small cubes
some chilli powder
a couple of handfuls of fresh beansprouts (about 250grams)

50 grams of Guy Chai (กุยช่าย) vegetable - this is a flowering stalk like vegetable - i know it also as "Dork Mai Gwaad" - meaning "Broom flower" - this is because a bushel of it looks like a traditional Thai sweeping broom. You can use chives instead if you like but use the dark green bases of the stems too, not just the tips.
Half a cup of roasted ground peanuts

also you will need some fresh crude vegetables for garnish, such as banana flower (Hua Plee), beansprouts, Land Lotus leaf, spring onion or chives, and some Kaffir Lime.

Left Pic; Phad Thai Wun Sen (glass noodle phad Thai).
Put the schallots and garlic in the skillet (wok) along with 3 tbspn of vegetable oil and sautee them until golden - then add the noodles which have been soaked already for a while,along with the little bit of water left in the bowl they soaked in, and fry until the water evaporates , and the noodles have softened. Add the sugar/ and tamarind juice, Nam Pla (Thai fish sauce), dry shrimps, and stir fry until it has a nice aroma.

Add 3 tbspn of oil once more, and add the meat, shrimps or vegetables (whichever you have chosen as your ingredient). add the egg and beat it lightly so that it is a half beaten omelette. Do not mix them in with the noodles, rather sautee them on one side of the pan until they are nearly cooked. The start to mix them together with the skillet whilst stir frying. Add the beansprouts and preserved shredded vegetable and mix them in whilst frying.

Please note that Phad Thai uses quite a bit of ooil, but that you should use your feel with it and make sure you dont over do it either.. This means that if you see that the noodles are frying without sticking and have a nice gloss to them without adding all the oil stated in the ingredients, then you dont have to add it all. If you add the oil whilst the noodles are still a little dry then you may get away with adding less oil. The fresh crude vegetables used as a side garnish serve to break down the oil, which will help digestion if you are sensitive to fatty foods.

Watch Video fromLobo Thai food products of How to Make Phad Thai.