Pad Thai

Name: Pad Thai
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 6 dried black (shiitake) mushrooms or fresh shiitakes, trimmed of their stems and sliced; 3/4 pound thin rice noodles (“vermicelli” or “rice stick”); 2 tablespoons peanut, corn, grapeseed, or other neutral oil; 1 tablespoon slivered or minced garlic; 3/4 pound shrimp, peeled and, if you like, deveined, cut into bitesized pieces; 1/2 teaspoon chile paste or hot red pepper flakes, or to taste; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 3 tablespoons nam pla (fish sauce), or more to taste; 2 teaspoons sugar; Stock, water, or mushroom-soaking liquid as needed; Salt; 1 cup bean sprouts (optional); 1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves, preferably Thai basil (optional)

December 20, 2011

Here’s my take on Pad Thai. There are a lot of ingredients here, but most of them keep well in your pantry, and substituting is easy—you could use finely chopped cabbage in place of the bean sprouts or substitute soy or hoisin sauce for the nam pla.

Recipe notes

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