Thai obsession

If you know me well, you'd know about my love for Thai food. Thai cuisine although usually consisting of a lot of aromatic ingredients  is usually lightly prepared. The combination of flavours used can be highly addictive! Back home in Wellington, New Zealand, there is a fantastic thai restaurant located down the road from the office where I used to work. My friends and I would make frequent visits there on our lunch breaks. Aroy Thai Express - owned by a friend of mine, of course originally from Thailand.  If you're ever in Wellington, New Zealand, definitely pay Aroy on Cuba Street in the CBD a visit. You'll find yourself going back for more! 


My favourite Thai dish has always been the 'Larb' or 'Laab' Chicken - a light thai dish consisting of ground minced chicken, flavoured with fish sauce, lime juice and fresh herbs. The chicken is mixed with chilli, mint and sometimes various vegetables. 


I decided to try making Pad Thai noodles instead this week. I love a challenge from time to time, and was told my one of my Thai friends that this dish was a bit harder than Laab Chicken to imitate. 'Pad' Thai or 'Phat' Thai is a stir-fried rice noodle dish consisting of fish sauce, eggs, fish sauce, red chilli pepper, tamarind juice, bean sprouts, chicken or shrimp, and topped off with crushed peanuts, lime and coriander. 

I shot the first two images here with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens we hired over the weekend. I used this lens with the intention of compressing or stacking the objects behind each other at different distances in the field of view. I have found this lens to be useful in that it allowed me to place these objects behind each other without the viewer knowing how much distance actually lied between them. It allows you to fill your frame more effectively. I used an aperture of f/ 10 here, so that the objects were all in sharp focus with a little bit of the coriander at the back dropping off.  

My Pad Thai noodles was somewhat of a success... one issue- I forgot the eggs!! No wonder it turned out a little too moist... 

Pad Thai Noodles

(Serves 2) Recipe by Darlene Schmidt

• 8 oz. thai rice noodles (banh pho noodles) or enough for 2 people
• 1 ½ cups raw chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 fresh red chillies, minced
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups fresh bean sprouts
• 3 spring (green) onions, sliced
• 1 cup fresh coriander
• ⅓ cup chopped or crushed peanuts
• ½ cup chicken stock
• ¼ tsp freshly ground white pepper

Sauce

• ¾ Tbsp tamarind paste (dissolved in ¼ cup warm water)
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• ¼ tsp chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of pot to a boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. Note: you will be frying the noodles later, so you don't want to over-soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but are still firm and a little crunchy. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combining the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. Note: this may seem like a lot of sugar, but you need it to balance out the sourness of the tamarind - this balance is what makes Pad Thai taste so amazing!
3. Place chicken slices in a small bowl. Pour the marinade (2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. soy sauce) over the chicken. Stir well and set aside.
4. Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp. oil plus garlic and minced chili, if using. Stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds).
5. Add chicken together with the marinade. Stir-fry 30 seconds to 1 minute. When wok/pan becomes dry, add a little chicken stock, 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, to keep the chicken frying nicely. Continue stir-frying in this way until the chicken is cooked (5-8 minutes).
6. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, push chicken to the outside of the wok or pan. Now add the egg, pouring it into the space you've made in the centre. Quickly stir-fry until egg is cooked (this part is like making scrambled eggs).
7. Add the noodles, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over. Using two spatulas, wooden spoons, or other utensils, immediately stir-fry the noodles. Use a gentle "lift and turn" method (like tossing a salad) to prevent noodles from breaking. Stir-fry in this way 1-2 minutes. If you find your wok/frying pan too dry, push noodles aside and add a little more oil to the bottom (but no more broth, or the noodles will become soggy).
8. Add the bean sprouts and sprinkle over the pepper. Continue tossing 1 more minute, or until noodles are cooked. Noodles are done to perfection when they are no longer hard or crunchy, but chewy-sticky wonderful!
9. Taste-test for seasoning, adding more fish sauce until desired flavor is reached. Toss well to incorporate.
10. Lift noodles onto a serving plate. Top with generous amounts of fresh coriander, spring onion, and crushed/chopped nuts. Add fresh lime wedges (lime is great squeezed overtop).