Pad thai with homemade peanut sauce

Thailand’s most famous street food dish is easy to make at home.

I have been in Thailand for less than a day. This was as layover when we flew from Vietnam back to Europe after our long East Asia trip. But because we didn’t want to spend 8 hours at the airport, we decided to go to a large mall and eat there. It also happened to be my birthday.

I realize that eating in a mall is not at all the same as eating in the city at the market, something we did every day on our East Asia trip. But still, I fell in love with Thai food instantly. If the food in the food court of the mall was so good.. I suddenly understood why so many people go to Thailand on vacation.

So once in London I decided to make the most of life in a large metropolis. In the meantime I have tried many Thai dishes and like many with me, pad thai is the favourite.

This dish is adapted from Meera Sodha’s original recipe, with the steps described in more detail and some extra toppings.

Pad thai with homemade peanut sauce

15 minutes preparation + 20 minutes cooking — serves 3

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons extra crunchy peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
  • 3 tablespoond agave syrup (or honey)
  • 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce (less salt)
  • 2 limes
  • 400 grams long stem broccoli
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1.5 cm fresh ginger
  • 1-2 red chili peppers
  • 225 grams of tofu
  • 125 grams white rice noodles (flat rice nodles)
  • 6 spring onions
  • Oil
  • Optional garnish: Thai basil, fresh mint (recommended), roasted peanuts, fried onions (recommended)

Preparation

  1. Squeeze one lime and keep the juice aside.
  2. Mix the peanut butter, tamarind paste and syrup.
  3. Slowly add the lime juice, soy sauce and four tablespoons of water to the peanut butter mix to create a slightly thicker sauce.
  4. Wash the broccoli and cut the florets from the stem.
  5. Cut the stem into small pieces of about 2 cm. Keep the florets and stem separate.
  6. Peel the ginger and cut into thin strips.
  7. Peel the garlic and squeeze or cut into thin strips.
  8. Cut the chili pepper into small pieces. If you like extra spice, use 2 chili peppers.
  9. Cut the tofu into 1.5 cm cubes.
  10. Wash the spring onions and cut into thin strips.
  11. Cut the remaining lime into wedges.

Noodles and stirfry

  1. Boil a liter of water in a kettle.
  2. Place the noodles in a pot and cover with the boiled water. Let it stand for 3 minutes (check the pack instructions of the noodles, some noodles need to be heated for longer).
  3. Drain the noodles and cool with cold water.
  4. Mix the noodles with a tablespoon of oil with your hands to make sure they don’t stick together too much.
  5. Heat oil in a large frying pan and once the pan is hot, add the tofu pieces.
  6. Fry the tofu over medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Turn them regularly so that each side browns.
  7. Add the garlic, ginger and chili pepper to the tofu and fry for a further 2 minutes.
  8. Add the chopped broccoli stem to the pan along with 4 tablespoons of water. Cover the pan immediately with a lid and let it steam for 2 minutes.
  9. Add the broccoli florets, spring onions and peanut sauce to the mix. Mix everything well.
  10. Cover the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Bringing it all together

  1. Reduce the heat to low and slowly add the cooked noodles to the pan to mix with the stir-fry. Add a little extra water if needed to thin the sauce and make the noodles easier to mix.
  2. Serve the pad thai with the remaining lime wedges, and the other garnishes of your choice.
Enjoy your meal!

Did you like this?

Leave a comment below if you made this recipe, and let me know what you think. Tips and feedback to improve the recipe are always welcome too!