Jake’s Amazing Pad Thai Recipe

The Origin of Pad Thai

It is hard to find a Thai restaurant near my home that does not offer a Pad Thai dish (ผัดไทย, P̄hạd thịy). After discovering so many amazing regional Thai foods over the years, I seldom order Pad Thai. To be honest, I was never really much of a fan, finding most of the local restaurant versions too sweet for my taste. But then one weekend while visiting my brother Jake, he whipped out an amazing Pad Thai recipe that did not come from a recipe book. Since then, I’ve probably eaten more Jake’s Pad Thai than all the other times at my local restaurants combined.

Pad Thai (Pat Thai, Phat Thai) was created during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s as the outcome of competitions held in Thailand’s schools and government offices. This was a period of ultra-nationalism under the military regime of Field Marshal Phibun…

He declared that the Thai people should endeavor to incorporate noodles into their eating habits, so competitions were held . . . to devise new noodle recipes, including the winning one that included tamarind and palm sugar. It was given the name pat thai, in keeping with the chauvinistic tenor of the times, and to distinguish it from Chinese noodle dishes, even though it has much in common with them – bean sprouts, bean curd, salted radish, Chinese chives and, of course, the noodles themselves.

Thai Street Food by chef-scholar David Thompson

I can’t help but imagine if Jake had grown up in Thailand in the early 1900’s, Jake’s amazing Pad Thai recipe might have won the national competition and been the version we eat today.

About Jake’s Pad Thai Recipe

My brother Jake is a great cook! He has influenced my cooking more than anyone else, and is a big reason why I started a blog about Asian food. Jake is really good at using his experience to create new original dishes, and his Pad Thai original recipe is one of my family’s favorites!

Jake created this recipe from scratch, and it is quite different than the Pad Thai recipes you will find in cook books or on the internet. Gingery, savory, and not too sweet, it is quick to make, uses a minimal amount of ingredients, and is absolutely addicting.

Creating variations is so fun! I’ve experimented with tweaking his original recipe, using fresh Pad Thai noodles instead of dried, adding Tamarind Water, substituted Thai Palm Sugar for granulated white sugar, made a Vegan version, used whole peanuts instead of chopped, and played with different proteins. I highly recommend you do the same. Experiment, have fun, and create your own favorite Pad Thai recipe.

Making Jake’s Pad Thai Step-by-Step

Go to the end of this post to save and/or print this amazing original Thai recipe.

Plan

This is a quick, easy recipe to make, and needs no preparation in advance unless you plan to scale (see Tip for Scaling this Recipe below).

Tools

• A wok (or large heavy skillet)
• Wok spatula
• Thai granite mortar and pestle (or food processor).

Ingredients

• Aromatics Paste
• 2 Pieces Fresh Ginger Root (Thumb size pieces)
• 3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tsp Palm Sugar
• 1-2 Thai Chilis Adjust for taste preference
• ¹⁄₂ Medium Yellow Onion
• Wok Ingredients
• 1 Tbsp Peanut Oil
• 3 Chicken Breasts (or use thighs, shrimp, extra firm tofu)
• 1 package Rice Noodle Dried or fresh
• 2 Tbsp Fish Sauce Adjust to taste
• 1 Lime Juice 1/2 lime, and reserve 1/2 lime cut in wedges for Sides
• 1 cup Cilantro chopped, reserve 1/4 cup for Sides
• 1-¹⁄₂ cup Mung Bean Sprouts Reserve 1/2 cup for Sides
• ¹⁄₂ cup Peanuts, Roasted, Unsalted chopped or whole
• Sides
• Thai Chilis
• Lime wedges
• Chopped Cilantro
• Mung Bean Sprouts
• Green Cabbage wedges
• Prik Nam Pla See recipe

Step 1 – Prep the Noodles

If using dried Rice Noodles, heat 4-5 cups of water in microwave until almost boiling, add rice noodles. Soak until noodles are flexible, but not 100% cooked. Cooking will finish in the wok. Drain and set aside.

Step 2 – Prepare the Ingredients

While the water heats and the dry noodles soak, wash and drain the fresh produce.

Break 2 thumb size pieces from the fresh ginger root (or larger single piece), and peel the skin with a paring knife. Roughly chop into 1/2 inch pieces.

Trim the root end of each garlic clove and gently smash under a large flat knife or cleaver, making it easy to peel the skin from the cloves.

Peel and roughly chop the onion. Keep separated from the ginger and garlic.

Trim the stem from the chili.

If using hard palm sugar pucks, add a few drops of water to the sugar puck and microwave for a few seconds to soften.

Cut the lime in half. Juice the half lime in advance if you want, or wait and juice directly over the wok after cooking the Pad Thai.

Roughly chop the cilantro.

Roughly chop the peanuts or leave whole.

Cut the chicken into 1/8 inch thin strips, varying widths depending on chicken part, approximately 1 to 2 inches long. Thicker strips will take longer to cook.

Step 3 – Pok Pok the Aromatics

If using a food processor, combine the ginger, garlic, sugar, chilis and onion and chop into a course paste and go on to Step 4 – Cook the Ingredients.

If using a pestle and mortar, start with the harder and fibrous ginger and garlic, and pok pok (pound) to a rough paste.

Add the sugar and chili(s) and pok pok until broken down and mixed.

Finally add the onions, continuing to pok pok until there are no large chunks left and you have a coarse paste.

Step 4 – Cook the Ingredients in a Wok!

Heat a tablespoon of peanut oil in wok until almost smoking.

Add aromatics paste and stir fry until onion is soft and paste is mushy.

Add Chicken (or other protein), stir fry until cooked.

Add fish sauce and soaked rice noodles, stir fry until noodles are cooked.

Taste. Add fish sauce to taste if needed.

Add lime juice, peanuts, cilantro and mung bean sprouts, stir together quickly and remove from heat.

Step 5 – Finish & Serve Your Dish

Divide the Pad Thai among 4 plates. Serve with fresh sides, including any combination of fresh whole Thai chilis, lime wedges, chopped cilantro, mung bean sprouts, cabbage wedges, and Prik Nam Pla.

Tip for Scaling this Recipe

I often scale this recipe for large groups. Scale it in multiples of 4, with each being a wok full (example, 8 servings are cooked in 2 wok batches, 12 servings are cooked in 3 wok batches, etc.). When cooking multiple wok batches, I prep and portion the protein and paste ingredients into zip lock baggies, often the night before (since I like to use the pestle and mortar method that takes some time).