Okinawan-Style Pad Thai

Description

This is a famous dish popularized in Thailand. Although the recipe varies from cook to cook and region to region, this is a good attempt at recreating what I ate from Thai-owned hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Okinawa, Japan. Key to the flavor are the sugar levels, unsalted peanuts, peanut oil, and either oyster or fish sauce.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup rice wine vinegar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ¼ cup oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
  • 1 (12 ounce) package dried rice noodles
  • cold water, as needed
  • ½ cup peanut oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
  • 12 ounces chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch strips
  • 1 ½ tablespoons white sugar, or more to taste
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 ½ cups dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts
  • 1 ½ teaspoons dried ground Asian radish
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
  • ½ cup chopped fresh chives
  • 2 cups fresh bean sprouts
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

  1. Whisk together rice wine vinegar
  2. 1/2 cup sugar
  3. oyster sauce
  4. and tamarind pulp in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves
  5. about 5 minutes; remove from heat and set aside.
  6. Place rice noodles in a large bowl and pour enough cold water to cover noodles. Allow to soften
  7. about 10 minutes. Drain.
  8. Heat peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir eggs and garlic in hot oil until eggs are softly cooked
  9. 2 to 3 minutes.
  10. Stir chicken and noodles into eggs and cook until chicken is no longer pink in the center and juices run clear
  11. about 5 minutes.
  12. Pour rice wine vinegar sauce
  13. 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  14. and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt into the noodle mixture.
  15. Stir peanuts
  16. ground radish
  17. and chili powder into noodle mixture; cook until peanuts soften slightly
  18. about 5 minutes. Add more sugar or chili powder if desired.
  19. Remove from heat and toss chives with noodle mixture. Top with bean sprouts and garnish with lime wedges.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 40 mins

Servings: 8

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