Published . Last updated by Judy Purcell14 Comments
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Beef Pad Thai is an easy recipe to make at home!Add beef or any favorite protein and balance the spice to your preference.
Better than takeout!
When writing about Emeril’s Wok Seared Duck Salad, his recommendation for fish sauce was included in the ingredient list. Shortly after posting the Duck Salad recipe, Red Boat FishSaucesent me a sample of their sauce to compare.
Starting with Shrimp Lo Mein, this fish sauce provided a clean, bright flavor that melded perfectly into the sauce without being too salty or fishy.
We tried it in Pad Thai with Beef (below) as well as Pad Thai with Shrimp, and again, it brought a balanced dimension of savory flavor. I was equally pleased to discover this new sauce has so few ingredients—just anchovies and sea salt.
Quality ingredients make a difference.
Additives like hydrolyzed vegetable protein is commonly used in commercial fish sauces as a short cut to enhance flavor.
According to Celiac Solution, “HVP (hydrogenated vegetable protein), HPP (hydrolyzed plant protein), TVP (textured vegetable protein), MSG (monosodium glutamate) could contain wheat if made outside of the U.S.A.”
This is a concern for anyone trying to avoid gluten and still enjoy Asian foods.
We cannot always be sure about the ingredients used in restaurants, but at home, I use pure, whole ingredients as close to the natural source aspossible.
I look for products like Red Boat to add to my pantry because quality ingredients make a difference in taste and eliminating unnecessary additives from our food is important to us.
Look for Red Boat Fish Sauce at Whole Foods Market or order online.
In a large bowl, combine the noodles with enough warm water to cover. Soak until just tender, about 30 minutes, then drain and set aside. Or follow package directions.
Using a small bowl, combine the fish sauce, vinegar, tamarind paste, crushed red pepper, and sugar; stir until the tamarind paste and sugar dissolves and is well blended. Set aside.
Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or wok. Add the garlic, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or just fragrant. Stir in the meat and cook until the just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.
In the same skillet, cook the eggs about 1 minute, stirring to break up into small pieces. Add the white part of the onions and cook for 2 minutes to soften. Stir in the sprouts, Bonito flakes, green part of the onions, fish sauce mixture, and noodles, and cook until mixed well and warmed through, stirring frequently. Taste, and sprinkle in more Bonito flakes, as desired.
Toss in the reserved meat and peanuts, and cook for 30 seconds to incorporate into the noodles. Sprinkle with the cilantro and lime juice; serve immediately with lime wedges and Sriracha sauce on the side.
Notes
Dried Bonito flakes, known as katsuo-bushi or katsuobushi in Japanese cuisine, are thin flakes of dried, smoked bonito fish.
Like dried shrimp or shrimp paste (often used in Pad Thai), bonito flakes add a savory flavor to any dish.
Bonito flakes were easier to find than dried shrimp or paste in our area. Bonito is sliced so thinly it melts into soups, sauces, or stews for a umami flavor boost.
Pad Thai Sauce is made with fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and tamarind. Tamarind is the ingredient that is the heart and soul of Pad Thai sauce, giving the sauce the sour flavour that Pad Thai is known for. It's an ingredient used in South East Asian cooking, like this Malaysian Beef Rendang.
The sauce that coats noodles in Pad Thai should be a light brown color that comes from a sauce made with tamarind paste, fish sauce, and lime juice. Some authentic versions add shrimp paste which can give the dish a deeper red tint.
You've probably had pad thai in your local restaurant, but what you had may not be anything like the authentic version. First, it should not have ketchup or any tomato product in it. Second, it should not be syrupy sweet. And finally, it shouldn't be just a heavy, soggy clump of noodles with bits of green onions.
If your recipe calls for 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, substitute with 1 tablespoon vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon brown sugar. If using fresh lime juice, substitute 2 tablespoons lime juice for every 1 tablespoon tamarind paste. Both substitutes work best when the amount of tamarind paste is 2 tablespoons or less.
In Thailand, fish sauce is used both in cooking and also served at the table as a condiment, for instance in noodle soups. Nearly every Thai meal is served with phrik nam pla as a condiment: a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, and chopped bird's eye chilies. Sliced garlic is often added to this sauce.
The name of this establishment refers to the five flavors (ha/ห้า=five, roat/รส=flavors) which are present in a good pad Thai: salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and savory.
There is a scientific reason why Pad Thai is so delicious. It follows a Thai culinary tradition of using all five tastes which are salty, sour, sweet, spicy and bitter. That is why the dish is so tantalizingly tasty!… It hits all five flavor profiles in the mouth!
In Thai cuisine, fish sauce is an everyday staple, and it's sometimes even used instead of table salt. While pad thai only includes small amounts of fish sauce, one tablespoon (16 g) contains 1,260 mg of sodium, equivalent to 55% of the daily value ( 12 ).
Soak the dried rice noodles in cool or lukewarm water for 30 minutes, or until they're limp but still firm to the touch; later cooking in the wok will soften them more. Drain the noodles thoroughly in a colander and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.
When it's sold in restaurants outside Thailand, the noodles are sometimes bright orange – that's because sauces or spices, like paprika, have been used instead of tamarind. Authentic Pad Thai is a light reddish-brown colour.
In most dishes, a 1:1 substitute of lemon juice will work just fine. Depending on the recipe you could also try grapefruit juice or orange juice, bearing in mind that these are sweeter than lime. Calamansi lemons and tiny kumquats are also good substitutes.
A popular alternative is to use lime juice (or sometimes white wine or rice vinegar) mixed with an equal quantity of light brown sugar as a substitute for tamarind.
Soy sauce is a suitable substitute for fish sauce because it is a liquid condiment and made with fermented ingredients. It nails the salty flavor of fish sauce, and it can also be high in sodium, yielding a similar nutritional profile.
Real THAI Original Thai Cuisine Fish Sauce is a staple ingredient in Thai cuisine, renowned for its rich umami flavor and versatility. Made from the finest quality anchovies and salt, this authentic fish sauce adds depth and complexity to a wide range of dishes.
Introduction: My name is Greg Kuvalis, I am a witty, spotless, beautiful, charming, delightful, thankful, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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