Pad Thai by a White Guy

Didn't know the Thai word for Gaijin. This is my first attempt at a traditional Thai street food. I am fairly familiar with all of the ingredients, so this becomes more of an exploration of technique. I have some work to do. Maybe a new wok to buy as well.

Lots of recipe sites can be found when you Google this dish. I think after a short search that this is the best one I found. Check it out. It is basically the recipe that I follow here.

Chez Pim, Pad Thai for beginners

I started the process by soaking the tamarind paste in hot water.

Now let this soak until it is cool enough to handle with your paws. Start breaking up the paste. I then started using a whisk to smash and mix the concoction.

When you get the consistency of ketchup, strain out any rind or seeds.

Now for the rest of your sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the tamarind sauce, 1/2 cup of fish sauce.

Add 1/4-1/3 cup of sugar. The authentic calls for 1/2 cup of palm sugar but I didn't have any on hand. Finally toss in some chile sauce. I like spicy so I went for about 1/4 cup of this.

Bring this to a low simmer just until everything is mixed and the sugar dissolves.

This is not the best smelling concoction. It is very strong, the tamarind is extremely tart like vinegar. But not to worry. So now start prepping the rest of your ingredients. Cut up the firm tofu into matchstick size pieces.

I wasn't happy with the peanuts at the bulk bins so I went for unsalted cashews. Break these up with the back of your knife.

Begin soaking your rice noodles in warm water. I like the thinner rice noodles. Many people like to use the wider flat noodles. Soak these until they just become pliable. You don't want them to overcook later on in the wok. When ready, toss them into a collander to drain.

How lucky am I to have such a great Asian market? New Sagaya even had the Chinese chives. I think that they are just a version of garlic chives and you can easily substitute green onions here.

So here is my work so far. Usually in wok cooking the bulk of the time is during prep.

So I don't have the right tools to do this correctly from here on out. But I make do. My wok is a cheap nonstick hand me down and I am using a flat top electric stove. Not the best combo but I seem to make it work. Turn the eye on high and wait till the wok is HOT. Then add some oil and it should start smoking almost right away.

Toss in the tofu and let it get some color. Then just a bit of the sauce.

Now the garlic and then the noodles. I suggest making small 1-2 portions per round. If you add too much food to the wok it will lose heat and you end up with boiled noodles. So keep it just a couple portions at a time. And always keep the food in the wok moving. Now about a 1/4 cup of your sauce.

If the sauce cooks out too fast you can always add a bit of water. Now make a well in the bottom.

Side note. I should have put the shrimp in that well but I was following the order that the linked recipe suggested. In the future I will follow my own instincts.

In the well crack an egg and allow to just set up.

Now stir the egg in. Here is where I added the shrimp and had to struggle to get them fully cooked. Now finish with the nuts, bean sprouts, and chives.

I also squeezed in a bit of lime. Serve IMMEDIATELY. Dress with condiments such as bean sprouts, nuts, chives, lime wedges, and chile sauce.

Definitely check out the Chez Pim link. It is a big help to anyone trying this dish. I don't recommend trying to photo blog this your first time out ( like I did ). Things need to move fast and I was barely able to keep up the pace while trying to shoot pictures.

This was a late night munchy meal for me. Talk about hitting the spot. Much cleaner and less oily than Pad Thai from many restaurants. Hell, now I am hungry.

Cheers friends. Be sure to leave your thoughts and if you haven't already dones so, go ahead and subscribe to the blog.

Gamberetti con Polenta ( Shrimp and Grits in the Italian Style )

I have cooked this dish many times, many different ways. Sometimes with white wine, with white corn, no sausage, mirepoix, basically the canvas is wide open for your interpretation. Today though, I am trying to stay true to my Italian roots. Hence the Italian sausage, Italian parsley, and polenta.

I got started by assembling most of the ingredients. Polenta, flour, organic chicken stock, Italian parsley, yellow onion, shallots, garlic, fresh spicy Italian sausage, some orange chiles, and my sharp chefs knife.


Was actually going to cook a different shrimp dish tonight but I couldn't find head on prawns. So these Tiger prawns looked better than the rest at New Sagaya's fish counter.

I shelled and deveined these. I made sure to get rid of the tails because that is one of my peeves when eating shrimp dishes. Why in the hell would someone leave the tail on in such a messy dish?

Set those aside for now. The polenta takes the longest so let's start there. I started with 2 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup of 1/2 & 1/2. That was seasoned with salt, pepper, and a couple of small bay leaves and allowed to come to a low boil.

Now slowly pour in 3/4 cup of polenta or course ground yellow corn meal while whisking the liquid.

This will thicken very fast. Stir often to keep from sticking. Turn the heat to low and stir every couple of minutes. At this point I had an epiphany concerning the similarities between properly cooked polenta and risotto. The expression of the grains creaminess is only released through slow and patient cooking and constant stirring.

At the end of about 35 minutes of cooking I added a little more stock, some 1/2 & 1/2, a pat of butter, and a dusting of parmesan.

To get the timing right on both of these dishes, you will need to start your shrimp dish about 15 minutes after starting the polenta. Drizzle a skillet with olive oil and add 1 diced onion.

Let these go just until they start to pick up some color.

Now add in your orange chiles, sliced garlic, and shallots.

After about 3-4 minutes it is time to add your half moons of spicy Italian sausage.

The Italian sausage I used did not add enough fat to make a proper roux. So I went a little crazy and decided on adding a large spoonful of duck fat. Olive oil will work too.

Now add in about the same amount of flour as you added in fat. Stir to combine.

This will start to stick so quickly add about 2 cups of chicken stock and stir thoroughly. Make sure to scrape the bottom so as to loosen anything that has stuck.

This will quickly thicken and turn into an amazing gravy. Taste and season. I added more sea salt and fresh cracked four pepper blend.

Now add in your shrimp and about a 1/4 cup of chopped flat leaf Italian parsley.

Cook only long enough to turn the shrimp pink. When they barely start to curl up they are done. Do not overcook.

Plating is simple. I use a bowl because it just makes sense. Large mound of polenta in the middle and top with lots of shrimp and gravy.

This is true comfort food at its finest. Give it a try and I promise that you will not be disappointed.