Thai cooking is all about fresh and lively ingredients and flavors. Pinoys are very lucky to have almost the same array of cupboard ingredients such as prepared tamarind, fish sauce, fun snacks such as peanuts, soy products such as tofu, and our favorite dried fish, to name a few.
The center of this recipe is the sauce. You can use common Pinoy pantry ingredients to substitute for Thai staples. Your favorite instant sinigang mix powder will do the trick to replace the tamarind that Thais use. Also, you can use instant noodles, instead of their classic hofan. These dishes are flavorful by themselves, adding sumptuous shrimps and Chinese sausage will make it a complete feast!
How to Cook ECQ Pad Thai & Fried Rice
Ingredients
PAD THAI SAUCE
1 pc Small Envelope Instant Sinigang Mix
2 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Catsup
1 tsp Garlic, minced
2 tsp Onion, brunoise
2 tbsp Fried Tofu, cut into strips
2 tbsp Diced Pickled Radish*
2 small packs of Crushed Store-bought Nuts
1 tsp Toasted Flakes of Dried Fish or Dried Small Shrimps (Alamang)
THAI BAGOONG RICE
1 pc Egg, beaten
2 pcs Fried Egg, crispy and runny
½ tsp Muscovado Sugar
1 tsp Fine Julienne of Vegetables
1 tbsp Spring Onion, cut into 2inches long
2 cups Steamed Rice
2 packs Pre-cooked Instant Noodles, unseasoned
Serving Size
Good for 2 to 3 persons
Procedures
To prepare the sauce, put all ingredients in a blender and add 1 1/2 cups of hot water. Blend until smooth and the tamarind powder is completely dissolved
To cook ECQ Pad Thai
- Heat Wok and add oil for sauteing. Add garlic and saute until light golden. Add onions and sweat.
- Add radish and tofu and saute until radish is fragrant.
- Add cooked noodles and saute until ingredients are mixed evenly. Add 4 tbsp of sauce and coat evenly over high fire.
- Lower fire to medium and top with spring onion and half of toasted dried shrimps/fish. Push on the far side of the wok. On the empty side of the wok, drizzled a tablespoon of oil. Add beaten egg and stir to cook like a scrambled egg. Toss all together with the noodles and the egg.
- Transfer to a plate and finish with remaining toasted dried shrimp/fish, nuts, and muscovado. Best served with lime or calamansi.
To cook ECQ Thai Fried Rice
- Follow the same procedure, replacing noodles with rice.
- serve with crispy fried egg and julienne of fresh vegetables like onion, turnip & carrot
To pickle radish, toss radish to 1% sugar and 2% salt, to the weight of radish. Marinate overnight and squeeze before using it.