Pad Thai
Rice noodles tossed in tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar with egg, tofu and prawns — sweet, sour, salty and hot in the same mouthful.
Origin & history
Pad thai was promoted in the 1940s as a national dish under Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram, part of a campaign to build a distinct Thai identity around rice noodles. Its flavour logic comes from older Chinese-Thai street cooking: tamarind for sour, fish sauce for salt, palm sugar for sweet, and lime and chilli at the table so each eater finishes the balance.
Ingredients
Quantities recalculate automatically.
Noodles
Sauce
Stir-fry
To serve
The method
Step by step
- 01
Soak the noodles
20 minSoak the rice noodles in warm water for 20 minutes until pliable but still firm. Drain well.
Never boil the noodles before stir-frying or they will break.
- 02
Mix the sauce
3 minWhisk the tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Taste: it should be sharply sour first, then sweet and salty.
- 03
Sear the prawns
3 minHeat a wok until smoking, add oil, then the prawns. Cook 90 seconds per side and remove.
- 04
Build the base
4 minFry the garlic and preserved radish for 20 seconds, add the tofu and cook 2 minutes. Push to one side, crack in the eggs and scramble.
- 05
Toss with noodles
3 minAdd the noodles and sauce and toss constantly for 2–3 minutes until the noodles soften and glaze. Return the prawns and fold through half the sprouts.
Work in small batches if your wok is not very hot.
- 06
Finish at the table
2 minPlate with peanuts, remaining sprouts and lime wedges. Diners squeeze lime and add chilli to their own taste.
Chef tips
- — Have everything cut and within reach before the wok goes on.
- — Tamarind pastes vary enormously in strength — taste before tossing.
Common mistakes
- — Overcrowding the wok, which steams instead of frying.
- — Adding sauce before the noodles soften, leaving a wet result.
Substitutions
- Fish sauce → Light soy sauceFor vegetarian; add extra tamarind.
- Prawns → Mushrooms or more tofuPan-fry mushrooms dry first.
- Palm sugar → Light brown sugarSame quantity.
Storage & serving
Best eaten at once. Leftovers keep 1 day refrigerated and should be reheated in a hot wok.
Serve with extra lime, chilli flakes and raw spring onion.
Food safety
Cook prawns until opaque and firm. Rice noodles left at room temperature are a food-poisoning risk — refrigerate leftovers quickly.
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