Seafood Phad Thai

Phad Thai is one of Thailand’s signature dishes. Thais usually eat it as a quick and delicious lunch. It’s also quick and easy to make. Here is a seafood Phad Thai recipe from Chef Pairoj Kaoropwongchai of the Hilton Arcadia Phuket Resort & Spa.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1 portion

Ingredients:

• 100 gm Thai rice noodles
• 75 gm fresh shrimps (3 pcs)
• 1 egg
• 15 gm yellow bean curd
• 10 gm pickled turnip
• 10 gm dried shrimp
• 10 gm crushed peanuts
• 60 gm bean sprouts
• 10 gm chives
• 100 ml chicken stock
• 30 ml cooking oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tbsp tamarind juice
• 1 tbsp black soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce

Directions:

1. Put a wok or frying pan on medium heat then add the oil, the egg and the shrimps. Stir-fry until semi-cooked.
2. Add the noodles, stir-fry for a minute, then add the chicken stock and fry until the noodles are soft and the stock is reduced.
3. Add all the other ingredients apart from the bean sprouts and chives. Stir-fry until well mixed.
4. Add half the bean sprouts and chives and stir-fry briefly.
5. Serve with the remaining bean sprout and chives, raw, and a lime wedge.

Tips from the chef:

As with most recipes, good fresh raw ingredients are the main secret to making tasty Phad Thai. Chef Pairoj likes to use fresh “sen chan” noodles, which he says make the best Phad Thai. However, if you can’t find these, you can use instant noodles. Before you start to make your Phad Thai, soak the noodles in room-temperature water for 5-10 minutes, depending on the instructions on the packet.

Most of the other ingredients are easy to find outside Thailand, though fresh bean sprouts and chives may be difficult to get in some places. You can replace these two items with shredded cabbage and spring onions. If you can’t get a hold of palm sugar, use ordinary white sugar instead.

Many people are not keen on the strong aroma of fish sauce. You can use white soy sauce instead.

Good Phad Thai should not be cooked for too long as it will spoil the taste. 10 minutes total is just about right.

Meet the chef

Pairoj Kaoropwongchai has been a chef for about 25 years. He joined the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa in 2004 when the hotel was rebranded, and helped launch the resort’s new Thai Thai restaurant.

Originally from Bangkok, Chef Pairoj learned to cook both Thai and Chinese food from many people. In the past, he said, most of the chefs making Thai food were older women with huge experience, while the experts on Chinese food were usually men from Hong Kong. He is also expert in a range of other Asian cuisines. Phuket.com grilled Chef Pairoj about his life as a chef.

When did you make cooking your career?
Many years ago, I started as a junior member of the kitchen staff. It took me five years to get promoted to a chef so that I could cook and manage my own work.

What? Where?
I liked moving around to get new experience, and this included periods overseas, in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Working with foreigners taught me to develop my cooking skills and my food presentation. I also learned how to adjust Thai food to fit foreign palates, yet using Thai methods and preserving Thai flavours.

What is the best part of being a chef?
I think it’s when you have chance to create new dishes or a new type of food that you can claim as your very own invention. For example, I devised fried ostrich with young green peppercorn. As for presentation, I make crispy noodles out of beetroot, sweet potato and taro, and I use deep-fried flowers to decorate my dishes. These always impress diners.

What do you most like to eat, and why?
I like hot, spicy food. It can be from any part of Thailand but it has to have lots of chili. Some of my favourite dishes are tom yam(sour, hot soup), nam prick (chili sauce) and gaeng pah (forest curry). I also like kway tio (noodle soup) because I can always add more spices to it.

What is your top priority at work?
I think teamwork is the most important thing. I have seven people working for me at Thai Thai restaurant. Whether my work is successful or not depends partly on them, too.

If you were not a chef, what other career would you choose?
That’s a hard question. I’ve never been anything but a chef. Maybe I might try being a food writer. I’d like to write for magazines about food, sharing cooking techniques and tips with readers.