Ok. As I said in my welcome post, I plan to integrate some recipes I find from other blogs and things like that. This is one of them– it’s from a blog called skinnytaste.com. She has TONS of really great healthy recipes. There are a few I have done that are really quite good, and a few that I wasn’t as wild about. A few of the recipes frankly have so much flavor that you can’t even tell they’re healthy. This one falls into that category.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/06/shrimp-pad-thai-on-lighter-side.html
The recipe is all right there for you. Just a few notes on what I have had success with when I’ve made this recipe before.
1) You can add your favorite Thai/Asian stir fry ingredients to the mix. One of my favorite things in Asian cuisine is Napa Cabbage, which I believe is actually Chinese. I make Lo Mein on occasion, which has tons of sliced Napa in it. So, naturally, I think it goes nicely in Pad Thai also. I also add Shitake mushrooms (Japanese, not Thai). I buy them dried, soak them in warm water for about 20 minutes, and then slice them and add them into the recipe. One cool thing about that is the left over water from soaking dried mushrooms is concentrated with mushroom flavor, which you could add to the dish if you wanted to. Another thing I like in my Thai food is a good helping of fresh, chopped cilantro.
2) The recipe doesn’t mention this, likely because it’s a lighter recipe, but when you put in the oil, it’s a good idea to also use a little toasted sesame oil (in the Asian food section at the grocery store). Once you smell/ taste it, you’ll understand why it’s pretty much essential to the dish (and any other Chinese or otherwise Asian dish).
3) This seasoning mix she has you make is BOMB. Way awesome, and packed with great Thai flavor. I, however, add a tablespoon of soy sauce and a healthy spritz of lime juice (you can also save the lime juice until the end and then spritz it over top like she suggests). You may ask, what is this “Thai fish sauce?” Essential to the dish, that’s what it is. It’s also in the Asian section at the grocery. You can’t substitute clam sauce, just in case you were wondering. Fish sauce is a unique Thai ingredient that makes its way subtly into many Asian dishes (like Lo Mein, for instance) and most times you would never know it. Unless it were missing. Just don’t open up the bottle and smell it, as it’s pretty foul-smelling, but its salty flavor adds so much to a dish.
4) When you go looking for the Pad Thai noodles at the store, those are also in the Asian section. They will likely be called “Rice Noodles” or “Rice Stick Noodles” or something to the like. They are flat noodles, like linguini, and will likely be in a box. The first time I made this recipe I had a really hard time finding them, so I just used Lo Mein noodles instead. That worked out well and tasted just as good, but they just aren’t “Pad Thai” noodles. When you boil them, the starch from the rice will thicken the water to a hefty degree. It can make the noodles pretty gummy when you go to drain them, so rinse them off with cool water before you put them in with everything else.
Give this recipe a try! If you love Pad Thai, you’ll love it.
The Un-Snooty Foodie 