Although Pad Thai sauce is available in packets and jars, it's really much nicer if you make it yourself. Pad Thai actually means Thai fried noodles, so you can guess one of the ingredients but here's my favourite recipe for Pad Thai sauce; it's very simple and only takes ten minutes so I hope you won't go back to the jars and packets from the supermarket which really aren't the same as freshly made at home.
Bear in mind that all Thai food has the four elements of sour, sweet, spicy and salty so you can adjust the ingredients so that the taste is evenly spread amongst them.
Ingredients:
- 240ml hot water
- 1.5 tbsp tamarind pulp
- 5 tbsp nam pla (fish sauce)
- 1 hot red chilli, finely chopped
- 2.5cm cube of palm sugar
Notes:
1. Tamarind pulp can be bought in blocks which you turn into paste with hot water or you can buy it ready made into a paste in Asian shops.
2. Nam pla is also available in Asian grocery shops and has a slightly fishy, salty flavour - you won't need salt as well.
3. The Thais favour birds eye chillies but any hot red chill will do. Alternatively you can use chilli powder or sauce to taste.
4. If you can't get palm sugar, use 5 tablespoons of Demerara sugar.
Method:
Mix the tamarind pulp with the hot water and stir to dissolve. If you're using a ready made paste, you will need to adjust the quantity by tasting the Pad Thai sauce and making sure that you can identify the sourness from the tamarind.
Add the nam pla, palm sugar and chilli and make sure that the sugar dissolves as well.
Taste the sauce to make sure that you have the right balance of sour, sweet, spicy and salty. The sauce will lose some of its strong flavour when mixed with noodles but you can add more of any one flavour to suit your taste.
This Pad Thai sauce will keep in a screw top jar in the fridge for about a month.
Don't forget when you're making your Pad Thai that you should soak rice noodles in boiling water until softened. Don't boil them or they will end up as a mush.
This is a versatile dish to which you can add meat, chicken, prawns or vegetables but the noodles and the sauce remain a constant.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Canham
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