Pad Thai is a dish made with stir-fried rice noodles with egg, a sauce, a protein like shrimp or chicken, and other extras like bean sprouts, and peanuts. I have had my eye on this little Thai market in the neighborhood and I went in today to see what I could find. I discovered that unlike Vons, the check out lady knew exactly where the Tamarind paste was. I could have substituted the harder to find ingredients (galangal, palm sugar, etc) for brown sugar and ginger but I decided not to. I’m happy with that decision because I can work with a new set of flavors now.
The Pad Thai turned out really nicely too. It wasn’t as rich or sweet as restaurant Pad Thai. It had a nice balance of sour, sweet, and spicy. I took note from other bloggers and prepped everything before cooking the noodles. I now understand how easy it would be to burn the noodles while you run around looking for an egg. This dish does take some work but is well worth the effort.
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