Yesterday I was on my way back from work in the city and decided to give Morgan a quick ring. She mentioned that she was making “improvisational” pad thai for dinner, and I thought, “ooh! That sounds good.”
It’s…well…not exactly as easy as it sounded. Mostly because I’ve never even begun to make anything in the Thai Food Family before, and so I don’t have a cupboard stocked with things like fish sauce.
My end result – made using store-bought pad thai sauce (I know, I know; but I Googled while standing in the International aisle and was immediately freaked out by the number of ingredients that I would have had to buy to make the real stuff), chicken, and other things, like onions, that I thought sounded like they’d taste good but probably aren’t supposed to go into pad thai – was actually pretty delicious, but the taste resembled the taste of actual pad thai exactly not at all.
Like, not at all.
Which isn’t surprising, considering that what I did in the kitchen last night made the quick leap from “improvisational” to “wrong.”
Virgil and Lucy seemed OK with it, though.
Here is how you make what I made last night, which is easy and good but only pad thai in the very most generous sense:
1. In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat 2-3 tbsp of oil. Lightly fry a couple of handfuls of peanuts until just toasted.
2. Remove peanuts to a dish, and in the same pan saute onions, minced garlic and chicken pieces until chicken is cooked through.
3. Add soaked noodles (apparently this part is important; you have to soak them until they’re flexible but not mushy) to pan with pad thai sauce and fry, stirring constantly, until noodles absorb sauce and are cooked through (I had to add a little extra water and sauce to get the noodles to be the right texture).
4. Move noodles and meat to one side, and scrambled an egg in the space, then toss everything together. Top with chopped cilantro, green onion, sprouts and a wedge of lime (not pictured).
So that’s what I made.
Anyone have a great (and easy, plz) pad thai recipe that might taste a little more like the real deal?
