I tried to make Pad Thai several times now and it turned out okay, but never quite es good as at my local Vietnamese restaurant. Does anyone have a good recipe I can try? I am particularly interested in the sauce. Over the years I tried so many variations and was “alright” for the most part, but it never really felt exciting. Maybe I am missing something. Any ideas? Any favorite recipes you want to share?
Here you go, this is a great recipe and good channel to follow:
Agreed, this is a good starting point for attempting pad Thai at home. She does a good job in general explaining her process.
The Wok by J. Kenji López-Alt has a great recipe but it’s not available online. The real key is getting tamarind pulp. It’s the key flavor ingredient and usually gets replaced with peanuts which aren’t the same. So find a recipe that includes it and buy it
I’ve always used tamarind paste. I’ve never seen pulp anywhere. I wouldn’t know where to get that tbh. Do you happen to have a copy of the page? :)
I think it’s a some Asian grocery stories. I think paste and pump are mostly interchangeable. There’s a whole little section talking about the difference. I’ll see if I can find the recipe page
The wife and I thoroughly enjoy this one: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/pad-thai/
Thanks I’ll give it a try
I think that one of the reasons it is hard to make a good pad Thai at home is because there are so many variations on the recipe and most of them are trying to be “authentic” but restaurants are trying to be cheap and tasty. I have had pad thai from Vietnamese restaurants before and didn’t think it was very good, so it might also be a cultural version that you like versus the Thai versions. I like Thai fast food versions which tend to be very sweet and sour. In my attempts I have noticed that getting the correct balance of palm sugar, tamarind, and soy sauce is crucial to replicating the taste. Also getting the correct texture on the noodles is hard because it’s very easy to make them mushy. Using a lot of oil instead of liquid can help with this but it feels very unhealthy when you’re cooking at home. Restaurants don’t worry about that. Taking all this into consideration, then you have to practice it. Restaurants get a lot of practice. I’m not trying to discourage you, but just letting you know why you’re struggle is real
Thanks for your reply, makes a lot of sense. I’ll just keep iterating. I know sometimes it just takes a while to get it right. Took me at least 6 or 7 tries to get Chinese Hui Guo Rou right, hahaha.
