| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 12 hr 45 min |
| Prep: | 40 min |
| Inactive: | 12 hr |
| Cook: | 5 min |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- 1-ounce tamarind paste
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 4 ounces rice stick noodles
- 6 ounces Marinated Tofu, recipe follows
- 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 1 cup chopped scallions, divided
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 whole eggs, beaten
- 2 teaspoons salted cabbage
- 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
- 3 ounces bean sprouts, divided
- 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped, divided
- Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- 6 ounces extra-firm tofu, not silken
- 1 1/2 cups soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
Instructions
- Place the tamarind paste in the boiling water and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.
- Combine the fish sauce, palm sugar, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside. Cut the tofu into 1/2-inch wide strips, similar to French fries.
- Press the tamarind paste through a fine mesh strainer and add to the sauce. Stir to combine.
- Place a wok over high heat. Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil. Heat until it shimmers, then add the tofu. Cook the tofu until golden brown, moving constantly, for no longer than 1 minute. Remove the tofu from the pan to a small bowl and set aside.
- If necessary, add some more peanut oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Add 2/3 of the scallions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble. Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, cabbage, shrimp, and 2/3 of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total. Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with the ground chile peppers and lime wedges.
- Wrap the tofu firmly in a tea towel. Place the wrapped tofu into an 8-inch cake pan. Top with another cake pan and weigh down with a 5-pound weight. (Bags of dried beans or grains work well.) Place in refrigerator and press for 12 to 15 hours.
- Place pressed tofu in a 2-cup container. Combine soy sauce and five-spice powder and pour over tofu. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning once. Remove the tofu from the marinade and use immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days.
Reviews
Be forewarned: the amount of soy sauce in the marinade is whack. Which is too bad, because the rest of this recipe is delicious. I only used 1/2 of soy sauce, and it was still far too much. I am going to try either not draining the tofu for as long, or not marinating it at all. Maybe 1/4 cup would work.
But beyond that, this recipe is great!
Thank you Alton, I will never make Pad Thai again without pressing and marinating the tofu.
For marinade I used soy and fish sauce, shrimp paste and dried Thai chilies from my garden.
Mixed the leftover marinade with tamarind paste and used it as the stir fry sauce.
Wasn’t a fan of this. The tofu was too strongly soy flavored from the marinating, the noodles seemed too thick (against my gut feeling using exactly the ones he wanted) and so much tamarind made it dark and gloopy.
I think Alton Brown is great, soI would try it even though it would take a lot of preparation to get ingredients and perform the procedures….not for a day like today.
I was not a fan of this Pad Thai. Probably this is more authentic then what I get at American-Thai restaurants? But that was the flavor I was searching for. 1 star for me.
The tofu marination/water draining section deserves 5 stars. I never thought about draining and marinating tofu before trying this recipie. It makes a huge difference and vastly improves the taste and texture. I drain and marinate tofu in every recipe I make now. Even a quick 30 minute drain does wonders for my weekly chilled tofu lunch.
Noodles great. However, there is no way in hell 6 ounces of tofu should be marinated in so much soy sauce. That has got to be an error.
People should simply search for Pad Thai on Youtube and watch how the pros do it back in Thailand by searching with pasting in the term”ผัดไทย”. Some corrections which need to be made: 1) Those are the wrong noodles. It’s like using linguini to make spaghetti. Use Chantaboon rice sticks which need to be soaked in lukewarm water (not hot!) 2) Not green onions or scallions use *alot* of garlic chives near the end of the stir fry process. Always add delicate ingredients near the end not at the beginning 3) Dried shrimp should have been fried in the oil early to make them crunchy adding them last will make them chewy and rubbery which is totally wrong 4) The tofu doesn’t need to be marinaded at all. The tofu used on the show is wrong—it needs to be firm tofu with the yellow skin outside. The tofu can easily be diced into smaller cubes too. 5) The sauce shouldn’t have rice wine vinegar please instead add more tamarind paste with oyster sauce. The tanginess comes from tamarind—never vinegar. I have yet to see any Thai person add this to Pad Thai. You can heat the sauce ingredients and melt down the palm sugar too. Taste the sauce—it needs to be very, very sweet, sour and salty because once it is mixed with ingredients it is diluted.
Very lame formula…
I’ve made this several times over the past few years and have learned to adjust a few things just based on availability of the ingredients. The only tamarind I could find was a brick. I just cut off about an inch and soaked that. You use the resulting water for the sauce, not the tamarind. Chop the dried shrimp finely then it just adds to the umami(hold your nose though). Honey worked instead of palm sugar. 2 keys to the recipe–letting your eggs set up before adding the sauce, and not letting your noodles soak too much before cooking. Also, I don’t like tofu so just switched out with chicken added regular shrimp. Ive also had to use rice vermicelli in the past and that worked too, just less soaking. Paleo diet can switch out soy sauce with coconut aminos and use zucchini for the noodles but live it up, use the rice noodles:)
Totally delicious – made this with my 11-year-old. We will absolutely make this again!