Phad Thai

This might well be the most famous Thai dish of them all... In Bangkok, you can hardly walk a street without encountering a small stand where it is freshly prepared in front of you. Having tasted "the real deal" plenty of times there I did not think it was possible to recreate it yourself. Yet with the recipe below (again from the Blue Elephant), you actually stand a chance of bringing Bangkok into your home!

For the vegetarians among you, just leave out the dried shrimp, fish sauce and fresh shrimp and add more tofu and salt (the fish sauce is however what makes part of the taste...).

Ingredients (serves 4):

10 tiger prawns (raw)

4 eggs

320g dried rice noodles

8 tbsp vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves

4 small (or 1 big) shallots

4 tbsp fresh tofu

4 tbsp ground roasted peanuts

4 tbsp sweet turnips (pickled - skip if not available)

2 tbsp dried shrimp powder (or entire dried shrimp)

8 stems of thin spring onion

120g fresh beansprouts

4 tbsp white sugar

4 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp tamarind juice

1 tsp chilli powder

2 limes

Fresh coriander

Preparation:

First, soak the rice noodles in cold water for 20 minutes.Meanwhile, start preparing the ingredients: quarter the prawns (not mandatory), cut the tofu into small cubes and the spring onion into 4-cm long pieces. Thinly chop the garlic and shallots.

In a wok, heat the oil on low heat and stir fry the garlic and shallots until an aroma develops (careful not to burn them). Then add the prawns and fry them until they start to turn pink. Push the mix to the side and crack open the eggs into the wok. Wait until the egg white starts to cook (i.e. turn white) and then scramble it. Once the egg is all scrambled, mix in the prawns and add the tofu and sweet turnip. When they are well mixed, add in the noodles (without the water!) and turn up the heat while stir frying the mix. Lower the heat again and add the seasoning: fish sauce, vinegar, tamarind sauce and half of the sugar (keep the rest for garnish). Continue to stir gently until all ingredients are well mixed. Add the dry shrimp powder and half of the chilli powder and ground peanuts. Finally, throw in the beansprouts and spring onion and mix with the rest. 

Transfer to a serving dish and add the lime, chilli powder, sugar and peanuts on the side. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.