In recognition of my housemate Elena's new favorite actor, Tony Jaa, today's Campus Cooking will take a brief but delicious journey to Southeast Asia.
Thailand is a country rich in culinary culture. Blessed with warm climates, generous rain, and adjacency to the ocean, the Thai people enjoy an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood year round. Distinctive flavors like lime, coconut milk, banana flower, hot chilies, fish sauce, and tamarind are commonly found in Thai cuisine. The prized fragrant Jasmine rice is also indigenous to this area.
Thai restaurants in America often promote the spiciness of Thai foods (9-Spice in Harvard Square even holds a chili-pepper-eating contest. Pepcid AC, anyone?), but in many regions of Thailand, the food tends towards fresh, light flavors, diametrically opposite to our perception of Thai food as an inferno of spices and heat. In fact, if you order Pad Thai in the streets of Thailand, you will receive a light, fluffy dish subtly enhanced with lime juice, fish sauce, and tamarind. In fact, you may not find the heavier, oilier, more richly flavored American-style Pad Thai at all in Thailand.
Today, Thai food combines its own rich tradition with various influences from foreign regions such as India, China and Europe. It isn't common knowledge, yet the Thai generally use a Western fork and spoon to dine, not chopsticks (except when eating noodles). The cooking technique of stir-frying in a wok also had a foreign source: China. The versatile wok grew so popular that it became known locally as the "Thai frying pan." Pad Thai, our feature recipe, is cooked via stir-frying in a wok.
Pad Thai is essentially a stir-fried rice noodle dish mixed with a sauce, vegetables (usually bean sprouts), and perhaps meat. It is so popular in Thailand that it has become the national dish. Its name means, literally, "fried Thai." Rumor has it that, during World War II, Prime Minister Luang Phibunsongkhram promoted Pad Thai as part of an effort to reduce rice consumption in the country due to a national budget crisis.
Pad Thai originated from the street stalls of big cities. Today many stalls specialize in only this dish. It is probably the Thai version of a deli sandwich, being typically eaten on-the-go for lunch. (If this is what Thai "cold cuts" are like, imagine what dinner could be...)
For the recipe below, I have chosen more of an American-style Pad Thai mostly due to convenience for the busy college lifestyle. The recipe uses pre-made red Pad Thai sauce, which you can easily find in the "World Foods" aisle in most supermarkets nowadays. (This phases out the need to run around and get all those hard-to-find ingredients.) However, if you are an over-engaged Tufts student dashing from class to club meeting and back again, the experience of eating this Pad Thai once it's cooked will be well authentic.
Basic Pad Thai
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Makes 4 Servings
* 1/2 package flat rice noodles (about 3.5 oz.)
* 1 lb. chicken, shrimp, pork, or beef (the sauce goes equally well with all of them)
* 2 cloves garlic
* 2 large eggs
* 2 cups bean sprouts
* 4 tablespoons Pad Thai sauce
* 1 tablespoon oil for stir-frying
* optional: ? cup ground roasted peanuts
* optional garnish: chopped scallions, lime wedge
1) The first step is to get all the ingredients into whatever shape the occasion calls for: slice the meat into 1/8" thick chunks. If using shrimp, shell and de-vein with a toothpick (or leave the shell on for better flavor). Mince the garlic and beat the eggs. If you're using scallions, chop those now too. To grind peanuts, spread a sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface, put peanuts on it, put a cutting board or other hard surface on top, and press down hard. Completely informal, but it works!
2) Soak the noodles in hot water. They will double in volume, so don't worry if it doesn't look like enough initially.
3) Heat oil in a very large skillet or wok. If you're using a skillet, it might be best to cook this in two batches so the food doesn't escape onto the stove.
4) Once oil is hot, add garlic and meat and stir-fry briefly until meat is no longer raw. Remove the meat. Pour in the beaten eggs and scramble them.
5) Return meat to the pan. Add bean sprouts and drained rice noodles. Stir-fry for about two minutes. Add sauce and peanuts. Mix thoroughly.
6) Serve with chopped scallions sprinkled on top, with a lime wedge on the side.
