Experimenting with pad thai, also called pat thai. I miss The Elephant, on East 1st Street. They made wonderful pad thai. But at last, driven in desperation to make it myself, I've landed up with the taste I remember. Not the colour, though - but that's because I did not use tamarind, which is dark brown...
What I had not used enough of before, in this order, was: oil, onion, eggs, sugar, lime juice. Very interesting. But the sour-sweet thing is there. I just need to tinker a little more. I've made it now with shrimp (pictured) and with tofu, also pretty good, if it's marinated first and then seared till sticky on the outside...
The ginger on the chopping board is a red herring. I did not use it.
All my favourite Thai-ish pad places have closed: Phat pong and The Elephant, both in the East Village, and Long tan, in Park Slope.
What to do?
Of course all is not lost, living in the big city. You can find every ingredient you need. Sometimes I'm jealous, living in a field in the Dordogne.
ReplyDeleteBlue Elephant cookbook worth a punt.
Hi Rob - you want to swap? :-)Thanks for the book hint, I didn't know about it. I have David Thompson's gorgeous, pink-silk-bound book, and a couple of others, but never enough in this field.
ReplyDeleteJust promise us the recipe when you get it "perfect". I don't know how to make it, so am looking forward to trying. thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhat Webb said! My mother loves pad thai and I've been meaning to make some for her but don't know where to begin. Would love to make her yours!
ReplyDelete