Pad Thai — rice noodles stir-fried with egg, tofu, shrimp, bean sprouts, and a tamarind-based sauce, garnished with crushed peanuts, lime, and chilli flakes — is Thailand's national dish and the single most ordered dish at Thai restaurants in America. The American adaptation is typically sweeter, milder, and more generous with protein than the Thai street-food original. Pad Thai entered the American mainstream through the Thai restaurant boom of the 1980s-90s, when Thai immigration and entrepreneurship established Thai restaurants in every American city. The dish serves the same gateway function for Thai food that General Tso's serves for Chinese-American food: the first dish, the safe order, and the one that leads to deeper exploration.
Flat rice noodles (5mm wide, soaked until pliable), stir-fried in a hot wok with: scrambled egg, firm tofu (cubed), shrimp (or chicken), garlic, and shallot. The sauce — tamarind paste, fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice — is added during the frying, coating the noodles. Bean sprouts and garlic chives are tossed in at the end. Served with: crushed roasted peanuts, lime wedge, dried chilli flakes, and additional bean sprouts on the side.
1) The noodles must be soaked, not boiled — boiled rice noodles become mushy. Soak in room-temperature water for 30 minutes until pliable but still firm; they finish cooking in the wok. 2) High wok heat — the wok must be hot enough to char the noodles slightly (*wok hei* — see existing Thai entries in the database). 3) The sauce balance: sweet (palm sugar) + sour (tamarind) + salty (fish sauce) + heat (chilli). All four must be present. 4) Do not overcook — the noodles should be tender but not gummy; the shrimp should be just pink; the bean sprouts should be barely wilted.
The American pad Thai is often too sweet — the tamarind's sourness and the fish sauce's salt should balance the sugar. If the dish tastes primarily sweet, the sauce is out of balance. The street-food version in Bangkok is drier, more intensely flavoured, and served on a banana leaf — a reminder that the restaurant version is an adaptation.
David Thompson — Thai Food (for the original); Andy Ricker — Pok Pok