Pad thai

Pad thai is a tasty and popular dish from Thailand. It is made by stir-frying rice noodles with many tasty ingredients like shrimp, peanuts, green onions, scrambled egg, sugar, and bean sprouts. People often enjoy pad thai as a delicious street food snack.

The dish is cooked in a hot wok, which helps to mix all the flavors together quickly. Pad thai is a favorite part of Thai cuisine and is enjoyed by many people around the world for its unique and flavorful taste.

You can find pad thai in many restaurants that serve Thai food, and it is also easy to make at home if you have the right ingredients and a wok to cook in.

History

Pad thai was first called kuai tiao pad thai, but later this was shortened to just pad thai. The word kuai tiao comes from a Chinese dialect and means a type of thick rice noodle.

Stir-fried rice noodles came to Thailand from China many years ago, but the dish we now call pad thai was created in the middle of the 20th century. One story says that during World War II, Thailand had less rice because of the war and floods. The government encouraged people to eat noodles instead of rice, which helped create this new dish. Pad thai has since become a very popular food in Thailand.

Some believe pad thai was invented by Thai Chinese immigrants, mixing Chinese noodle cooking with Thai flavors. In recent years, Thailand has used pad thai to share its culture with the world, helping to grow the number of Thai restaurants globally. In 2011, pad thai was voted one of the world's 50 most delicious foods by CNN Go.

Ingredients

Pad Thai is made with rice noodles, which are stir fried with eggs and chopped firm tofu. It is flavored with tamarind juice, fish sauce, dried shrimp, garlic, shallots, and sometimes red chili pepper and palm sugar. It is served with lime wedges and often crushed roasted peanuts. Other vegetables like bean sprouts, green onions, garlic chives, preserved radish, and raw banana flowers may also be added. Fresh shrimp, crab, squid, or other fish or meat can be included too.

Many ingredients are offered on the side as condiments, such as red chili pepper, lime wedges, roasted peanuts, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and other fresh vegetables. Vegetarian versions might use soy sauce instead of fish sauce and leave out shrimp completely.