I enjoyed eating Thai food for 20 years now, and I love so many dishes (green, red, panang curry, Tom yum soup, papaya salad, crab omelet). You can find Thai food all over the world, and I’ve had it in Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and St. Thomas, but I’ve never made it before. So we decided to start with the national dish. I assume most of the people reading this blog have eaten Pad Thai before. You can find it in every US Thai food restaurant. I think it’s a good introductory food to the cuisine. Not too scary, not too hot, and can eat it with chicken or shrimp. Mom is not overly fond of spicy food so I was hesitant to have my first Thai dish be a curry. I found a recipe that was both authentic and not too difficult.
Pad Thai is a noodle stir fry dish traditionally made up of rice noodles, shrimp or chicken, tofu, eggs and a deeply flavored, sweet and sour sauce. The sauce consists of fish sauce, oyster sauce, tamarind purée; most can be found in local supermarkets. With all these new cooking adventures, my refrigerator is full of a wide selection of condiments. The ingredients are sautéed together in a wok, which creates even heat distribution. Once the dish is completed it is tossed in pad thai sauce, which gives the dish its signature tangy salty flavor with a hint of sweetness.
When Erika, Matt, Bowman and I were in Thailand, we went to Chiang Mai, and saw the most beautiful lantern festival which happens every October. Our guide then took us to what she considers to be the best Pad Thai in all of Thailand, a restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. At its heart, it’s street food but can be elevated too. It was good, but it tasted like most Pad Thai dishes I’ve had in the states.
The key to great Pad Thai is to have all your components ready before you start cooking, as the process moves quickly. It didn’t take us very long to get the recipe and the ingredients ready. The cook time was less than 10 minutes. Mom LOVED the rice noodles, and they were easy to prepare. She plans on cooking with them in the future. The dish was tasty, not too heavy, but needed something. I’d add heat next time, but not too much.
Would you make this again? Absolutely. We actually made two batches cause we had extra ingredients. So round 2 will be leftovers.
Traveljunkies 
When I try a Thai restaurant I’ve never been to before – I always order Pad Thai. Its like a barometer of judgment – since if they can’t do Pad Thai well then I don’t waste my time. Glad it was easy, so to speak; and you have lunch leftovers too.