Pad Thai

Name: Pad Thai
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 6 dried black (shiitake) mushrooms or fresh shiitakes, trimmed of their stems and sliced; 3/4 pound thin rice noodles (“vermicelli” or “rice stick”); 2 tablespoons peanut, corn, grapeseed, or other neutral oil; 1 tablespoon slivered or minced garlic; 3/4 pound shrimp, peeled and, if you like, deveined, cut into bitesized pieces; 1/2 teaspoon chile paste or hot red pepper flakes, or to taste; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 3 tablespoons nam pla (fish sauce), or more to taste; 2 teaspoons sugar; Stock, water, or mushroom-soaking liquid as needed; Salt; 1 cup bean sprouts (optional); 1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves, preferably Thai basil (optional)

December 20, 2011

Here’s my take on Pad Thai. There are a lot of ingredients here, but most of them keep well in your pantry, and substituting is easy—you could use finely chopped cabbage in place of the bean sprouts or substitute soy or hoisin sauce for the nam pla.

Recipe information

Yield
makes 4 servings

Ingredients

6 dried black (shiitake) mushrooms or fresh shiitakes, trimmed of their stems and sliced

3/4 pound thin rice noodles (“vermicelli” or “rice stick”)

2 tablespoons peanut, corn, grapeseed, or other neutral oil

1 tablespoon slivered or minced garlic

3/4 pound shrimp, peeled and, if you like, deveined, cut into bitesized pieces

1/2 teaspoon chile paste or hot red pepper flakes, or to taste

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 tablespoons nam pla (fish sauce), or more to taste

2 teaspoons sugar

Stock, water, or mushroom-soaking liquid as needed

Salt

1 cup bean sprouts (optional)

1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves, preferably Thai basil (optional)

Preparation

Step 1
Put the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water. Put the noodles in a large bowl and cover them with hot water. When the mushrooms are soft, drain, reserving their soaking liquid; trim and slice them.
Step 2
Put the oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the garlic and stir; add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, for about a minute. Stir in the mushrooms and chile paste.
Step 3
Drain the noodles and add them to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about a minute. Make a well in the center of the noodles and pour the eggs into this well. Scramble, gradually integrating the egg with the noodles; this will take less than a minute. Stir in the nam pla and sugar. If the noodles are clumpy, add about 1/2 cup of liquid to allow them to separate and become saucy (use more liquid if necessary, but do not make the mixture soupy). Add salt to taste, then stir in the bean sprouts and basil if you like. Serve.

From Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes From the New York Times by Mark Bittman Copyright (c) 2007 by Mark Bittman Published by Broadway Books. Mark Bittman is the author of the blockbuster Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.

Recipe information

Ingredients

Preparation

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Recipe notes