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What's for Dinner? v20.11 - A Taste of Thailand, ch. III [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-09-13

We're going to dip our toes in a slightly deeper end of the pool today. Not the deepest - that depth is reserved for my paella recipes and a few other advanced seafood dishes that I will (probably) share in upcoming segments.

What’s for Dinner? is a Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions. We also have a handy post with links from our archives here: Master Index 2014-2021 We welcome you to our virtual table every Saturday evening 4:30 PT/7:30 ET. If you would like to write a post for an upcoming date just send a message to ninkasi23!

This is not a very economical dish but it is very much well worth the minor expense. This is, in my opinion, close to the most delicious Thai dish ever. It is difficult to select a definite favorite Thai dish but this is in my top three for sure (along with gaeng ped and tom kha).

Some of the ingredients are only available in quantities that are far too much for a single meal. It is unlikely for me that I'll make this more than a few times a year. That means, sadly, eventually tossing out unused stored portions of some of the ingredients particular to this recipe. I haven’t found an alternate good use for sweet preserved daikon yet, but I’m not done researching.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to visit an Asian market to obtain these ingredients, I am sincerely jealous. I have to rely on online sources. I have placed some Amazon links to selected ingredients in a comment below.

Please read through the recipe to get familiar with the prep and techniques. Nothing here requires any special knowledge or tools but I will confess that it took me a few tries to get it just right. I have extensively practiced and refined this recipe and I hope I have imparted all I know. It is well worth the effort.

Bon appétit!

Pad Thai

Ingredients

Sauce

3 tbsp palm sugar, chopped

Granulated palm sugar is like brown sugar in consistency and handling, pack it tightly in the measuring spoon.

Alternatively (and this is my preference) you can get premium palm sugar that is a thick honey consistency. It is more expensive but also more convenient.

3 tbsp water

2 tbsp fish sauce

3-4 tbsp tamarind concentrate

Please don't use the black, sticky tamarind concentrate or paste from India as it is much too concentrated.

Use only tamarind paste from Thailand or Vietnam.

Use 3 tbsp if your tamarind paste is very sour.

If it is medium or mild, use 4 tbsp

Main dish

4 oz dry rice noodles, medium size

Soak the noodles for half an hour to 1 hour in room temperature water until softened.

Drain them well in a colander after soaking.

2 tbsp dried shrimp, medium size, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup shallots roughly chopped

3 oz medium firmness tofu, cut into small (~3/8 in cube) pieces

3 tbsp chopped sweet preserved daikon radish

Thai sweet preserved daikon radish is sometimes hard to find (Amazon usually has it but not always).

You can omit it if you must or use the Japanese version instead which is called “takuan” and is bright yellow.

Dried red chili flakes, to taste (I start with 2 tbsp, I like it spicy)

3 tbsp vegetable oil

10 medium sized shrimp (approx. - use as many as you wish) peeled and deveined (tails optional)

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups bean sprouts

7 - 10 stalks of garlic chive cut into 2 in. pieces

1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

1 lime

Cooking

Sauce

Add the palm sugar to a small pot and melt it (if not using the honey-ish version) over medium heat.

In either case do heat the sugar to the point of caramelization.

Once the sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in color.

Add the water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. The granulated version of sugar may harden quickly and that's fine.

Bring the sauce to a simmer, then turn off the heat.

If using regular palm sugar, the hardened sugar may not have dissolved at this point

but let it sit while you prep the rest of the ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it.

Check that it is dissolved before you start cooking with it.

Stir and re-heat gently if necessary.

Main Dish

Cut the drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long.

In a bowl, combine the tofu, garlic, shallots,

preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.

Heat a wok over high heat and add just enough oil to coat

the bottom. Sear the shrimp until done and remove them from the wok, reserving any juices.

Reduce the heat to medium high and add a little more oil if needed

then add everything that is in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes

until the garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted.

If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil.

Use enough oil to keep the noodles from clumping together but don't use so much that the ingredients get deep fried. The noodles (when added just below) should glisten.

Turn heat back up to high then add the noodles and the sauce.

Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.

Once the sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness and spiciness.

If they're still under-cooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water. Add more chili flakes if desired.

Once the noodles are done, push them to one side of the wok.

Add a little extra oil to the empty space and add the eggs.

Break the yolks and let the eggs cook for a minute, then put the noodles on top of the eggs and

cook for about another 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix the eggs into the noodles.

Toss the cooked shrimp back in, plus any collected juices.

Then add the bean sprouts, garlic chives and half of the peanuts.

Turn off the heat and toss until it ls all well mixed.

Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top.

Don't forget the lime, squeezing some of the juice on the dish makes a big difference.

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