Shrimp Pad Thai
Do you love Shrimp Pad Thai as much as I do? If so, you’ll love being able to make it at home for your family.
Shrimp is extremely good for you — rich in vitamin D. And we’re using coconut oil, which is a healthy fat.
Shrimp Pad Thai
Ingredients
Rice wine vinegar or white vinegar (1/4 cup)
Fermented fish sauce (1/4 cup) — click here for my recipe
Sucanat, coconut sugar or honey (1/4 cup) — where to buy natural sweeteners
Brown rice stick noodles or white rice stick noodles (1 1/2 pounds)
Garlic cloves (6)
Fresh or frozen wild raw shrimp (1 pound)
Coconut oil or expeller-pressed coconut oil (1 TBS) — where to buy coconut oil
Eggs, pastured or free-range organic (4)
Soy sauce (naturally fermented) or fermented fish sauce to taste
Chile powder to taste
Optional: Fresh bean sprouts (1 cup)
Equipment
Optional: Wok — or use a large, wide-bottomed saucepan
Directions
1. Combine the vinegar, fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Place the rice stick noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside.
3. Peel and crush the garlic, put in a bowl and set aside.
4. Peel the shrimp, leaving the tails on.
5. Devein the shrimp: pull the black thread on the backside out and discard. You can use a knife to make a shallow slit along the backside of the shrimp if necessary. Set shrimp aside.
6. Drain the rice noodles in a colander.
7. Add coconut oil to wok or large, wide saucepan or skillet. Set on medium-high heat.
8. Beat the eggs in a small bowl.
9. When coconut oil is hot, add the crushed garlic to the pan. Let cook for 5-10 seconds, then add the beaten eggs and stir to scramble.
10. Add the strained rice noodles and stir. Then stir in the sauce.
11. Taste. Add chile powder and/or salt or soy sauce if necessary.
12. Add the shrimp and mix well. Cook until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
13. Serve in bowls with (optional) bean sprouts on top.
Photo Credit:Alain Limoges, on Flickr
Disclosure: cmp.ly/4 and cmp.ly/5
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Is there a good substitute for the fish sauce? My daughter is a vegetarian. I’m sure not every restaurant that serves vegetarian Pad Thai is eliminating the fish sauce (I’ll never tell her that), but when we make things at home she checks every ingredient carefully.
Coconut aminos. I use them since I’m on GAPS and can’t have soy (even fermented).
Katie,
You could try using Tamari. It has that same salty flavor, but you’ll miss out on the fish taste. I’m sure it would be tasty though!
I am marking this one to make. Looks wonderful. I not sure that I have ever used rice sticks before. Can you buy them at the regular grocery? Is there a good sub for them if I have trouble finding?
Thanks,
Rice linguine or fettucine (Tinkyada is my favorite brand) makes a nice sub for the rice sticks. Look in your store’s Asian section though, they just might have the real thing.
For the most authentic flavor (that wonderful sourness) you gotta use tamarind paste (or “wet tamarind”), brown sugar/palm sugar, fish sauce, chili-garlic sauce or sriracha, and a little ketchup for the sauce. It’s the best!
If you absolutely can’t find tamarind paste, then fresh lime juice makes a decent substitute.
I second that. You absolutely must have the tamarind paste. It’s pretty easy to find nowadays and it really gives pad Thai that authentic flavor!
The photo looks yummy…And I’d swear I see green onion, chopped nuts & tofu in the pic…File photo? (And not of the actual recipe, perhaps?)….Or missing ingredients today? Let us know…
Pad Thai definitely NEEDS peanuts! And lotsa fresh veg…
This is my photo, but I made it available for use as long as photo credit is given and it’s not used for commercial use. So this is OK.
You’re right about the ingredients! This photo was taken at my Thai grandma’s restaurant in Bangkok and, although I don’t remember every single ingredient, authentic Pad Thai definitely has: rice noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, crushed peanuts, tofu, eggs, tamarind, prawns and possibly some sweet Thai chili sauce. It often comes with a slice of lime on the side. Western culture often uses ketchup for the sauce, but that’s not cool… lol
Cheers
I made this and next time I will double the sauce and the shrimp.
In looking at the dish and the recipe, it appears there are other ingredients in the the photograph than in the recipe. Something rectangular and yellow, something red and of course the green. Do you have the recipe for the dish pictured? Thanks so much.
Hi, Bonnie!
Unfortunately I don’t have time to take pictures of every recipe I post. That is a picture of Pad Thai from Flickr.
Look for the comment I just posted above to another person who had a similar question. Unfortunately, I don’t know the exact recipe, but I told my (Thai) wife that next time we go see “khun yay” (i.e. grandma on mother’s side) I will try to learn it.
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