Reviewed: Dec. 14, 2006

The sauce on this was far too vinegary. I didn't like it very much at all. I might make it again, but I would probably add some more soy sauce or subtract some of the vinegar.

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RANCOR

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Boone, Iowa, USA

Living In: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

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Reviewed: Nov. 29, 2006

Wow! This was one of my first attempts at Asian cooking. I was looking to make something a little different for dinner. I was also VERY scared of serving my husband and three kids between 7 - 12 TOFU and bean sprouts. I cannot tell you how much we ENJOYED this DELICIOUS entree!! Wow! The TOFU was awesome b/c it took the other flavors into it. My only problem was that I bought too large a package of rice noodles. Make sure you stick with the 12 oz. size. Oh, and I did double the sauce as per the recommendations of others. If you're not sure b/c you aren't familiar with Asian foods...please try this recipe first! You won't be dissapointed! There was absolutely NONE left when we were finished!! Thank you SO MUCH for providing this recipe! Now I have a new culinary direction to get into!! Superb!

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HABERFAMILY

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Cleveland, Ohio, USA

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Reviewed: Oct. 31, 2006

Yummy & Very authentic. My husband made this and pretty much followed the original recipe. We couldnt find the oriental radish, so he left that out and subsituted lime for the tamarind. While he was cooking I thought it smelled way too much of vinegar and told him that many reviewers cut down on the vinegar. However it was too late as he had already added it, but it tasted great! Just like we used to get from our favorite Thai take away in Toronto. We live in England now and I haven't been able to find a local Thai take away, so we have been craving it for a while. This really hit the spot and will become a regular dinner in our home.

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mamamoi

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Reviewed: Oct. 26, 2006

I used this recipe only for the phad thai sauce based on BES review. Then I combined it with the peanut sauce from the "vegetarian phad thai" submitted by Sarah Kai. Anyway, from trials and errors, this is how I make the really good authentic phad thai. Phad thai sauce: 1/2C white sugar, 2 TBSP lemon/lime juice, 1/4C fish sauce, 2 TBSP tamarind pulp soaked in 1/4C water. (stir all and cook in the stove) Peanut sauce for phad thai: Mix together 2 Tbsp peanut oil/sesame oil, 1 1/2C peanut butter, 1/3C water, 1/3C soy sauce, 1C coconut milk, 1 1/4C brown sugar, 1/3C lemon/lime jice. Season with 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp pprika powder, and cayenne pepper to taste. (when you make the phad thai, just put in as much as you need, which depends on how much noodles you make and store the rest on the fridge/freezer). How to: Stir fry chopped garlic and chopped shallots on the wok/skillet until slightly browned, put in minced dried shrimp, chopped salted radish/turnip, and finely chopped thai chilli peppers. Then, just put in your choice of meat, combined all. Put in the noodles, and then the phad thai sauce until all mixed, then the peanut sauce. After this point, you just set it aside, and make room to fry the eggs. Put the noodles mixture on top of the eggs until it's slightly cooked, and combined. Throw in the chopped unsalted peanuts, garlic chives, bean sprouts and julienned carrots. Garnish with beansprouts and lime wedges.

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The_Martins

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia

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Reviewed: Oct. 23, 2006

Great recipe! I used rice vinegar instead of white, worchestershire sauce and fresh lemon juice in place of the tamarind pulp,(tamarind is a main ingredient in worchestershire)I used peanut oil instead of veg oil, cashews instead of peanuts, green onions, snow peas some sriacha sauce and a splash of fish sauce and peanut butter to make the sauce thicker and more nutty. When its all you have you make due, great recipe thanks again!

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Christina Spakousky

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Reviewed: Oct. 20, 2006

Too sweet. I would cut sugar and use less tamarind next time. Also, I think adding ground peanuts adds good flavor.

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ACE_MILLER81

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Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2006

Good basis for a great Pad Thai - the tamarind and white vinegar should be replaced as many have suggested. But certainly results in a nice restaurant-style pad thai.

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Kellygrrrl

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Willingboro, New Jersey, USA

Living In: Los Angeles, California, USA

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Reviewed: Sep. 29, 2006

absolutely perfect when you add bess's "fixes". though I don't think it would be below a 4 without them.

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nskiddo21

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Yuba City, California, USA

Living In: Silver Strand, California, USA

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Reviewed: Sep. 29, 2006

Awesome. I adjusted the recipe to suit the ingredients I had and it was so good. My parents loved this dish. I'll probably be making this tomorrow too.

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XXXNAUGHTY

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

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Reviewed: Sep. 14, 2006

I followed the suggestions made by Bes (all except the fish sauce, we didn't have any one hand) and this was AMAZING. This has made my "top dish" list and we will be making again.

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EMILESVT

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Living In: Midlothian, Virginia, USA

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Reviewed: Sep. 11, 2006

This is the one closet to restaurant quality. I know, I have been looking! I took the advice of the Bes. I used 1/4 cup rice vinegar and the juice of one lime instead of the 1/2 cup of white vinegar. I used 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup fish sauce instead of the 1/2 cup soy sauce. I used cilantro instead of chives. And I marinated chicken breast strips in 1 tsp chili paste, 2 TB soy sauce and the garlic instead of the tofu. You have to marinate the chicken for a little while before cooking it until no longer pink. I omitted the extra salt, sugar and paprika. I might cut down on the sugar in the sauce next time. :-) yum, yum!

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really rosie

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Reviewed: Aug. 7, 2006

i'm giving 4 stars because this was really good, and i'll definetly make it again, but i also followed a lot of suggestions made by others, so i feel the original recipe is lacking. changes i made: 1/4 c rice vinegar instead of white, lime instead of tamarind (but i will use tamarind as soon as i can find it!), 1/4 c seasame oil instead of 1/2 c vegetable, didn't add the salt or sugar at the end, added 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter to the sauce, used fish sauce instead of soy sauce (although i added a splash of soy sauce to both the sauce and tofu/egg mix), didn't use radish but did add some red pepper flakes, didn't use paprika at all, and added some cilantro at the end. phew. i agree it was just a bit too sweet in the end, even without adding the sugar in the third step; i think rice wine vinegar would be ideal. i also used chinese noodles, personal preference more than anything. next time, i would use a bit less sugar and add some green onions, also as suggested. thanks, nan - it was still great!

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lockesmom

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Houston, Texas, USA

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Reviewed: Jul. 28, 2006

Excellent pad thai, although maybe pushing a little far onto the sweet side. I used mostly fish sauce in place of the soy (I was almost out of soy sauce anyway) and no radishes, and lime in place of the tamarind. Overall, delicious, and I'd be happy to make it again.

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Kelly H

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Living In: Austin, Texas, USA

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Reviewed: Jul. 23, 2006

This is sooo good and esay to make. Pad thai is one of my favorite things to eat and this is just great. My store didn't have pad thai noodles so I sub'd refridgerated stir fry noodles and it was still great. Also, couldn't find tamarind pulp, so used the Mexican tamarind juice in a can and tastes fine. I followed others and put 2 T of super crunchy peanut butter into the pad thai sauce. The peanuts i bought were salted so I just didn't add any salt in at the end. But this dish came out perfectly. The amt of noodles I used was a 17 oz package and it worked well. Recommend highly!!!

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naedwards

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Palm Springs, California, USA

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Reviewed: Jun. 25, 2006

Made the suggested below changes and this dish turned out great! The wee misses loved it, and that says it all for me.

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BZMUM

Home Town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Reviewed: May 31, 2006

A little difficult to manage the first time I made it, but the second time it did not take as long. I added the whole package of tofu and used a little extra soy sauce.

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thenettiep

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Irwin, Pennsylvania, USA

Living In: Arlington, Virginia, USA

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Reviewed: May 15, 2006

I love this recipe. I already have all the stuff in my house so I can make it whenever. As others have suggested, I use 1/8 cup of soy and 1/8 cup of fish sauce (rather than 1/4 soy) I would also cut down a bit on the vinegar (1/4 cup maybe?).

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Chris..Cooked.

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Living In: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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Reviewed: May 1, 2006

Outstanding recipe - very close to going out. Followed recipe very close but made changes that others suggested. Big ones are reduce oil to about half, add red pepper flakes and hot chili sauce to taste, and the biggest give rice noodles plenty of time to soak before begining to cook. Ours were still tough when placed in wok. Fixed this by adding about 1.5 cups of water and a lid and steamed noodles soft but I think they would've been better if they'd just soaked longer.

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JC

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Puyallup, Washington, USA

Living In: Tacoma, Washington, USA

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Reviewed: Apr. 28, 2006

Great recipe. Did mine with chicken. If you really are into authenticity, do not leave out the tamarind and substitute fish sauce for soy sauce. Leave out the white vinegar (what's that all about?), instead put 2 TBS lime. Instead of Paprika use 1 TSP (TEASPOON) chili powder (make sure you read TEASPOON correctly or else it will become EXTRA spicy). Definitely substitute PEANUT OIL (or canola) for the vegetable oil. Make sure the peanuts are unsalted, dry roasted. Chop the peanuts instead of grinding. For the tamarind, use tamarind concentrate, about 2 TBS mixed with 1/4 cup water (making tamarind juice). Substitute FISH SAUCE (I use the THAI brand) for SOY SAUCE. Soy sauce should be used for the tofu while it's frying. And it should be used as coloring for the noodles while they are in the pan/wok. Use pickled oriental radish (about 1/2 cup) this adds a great taste to the noodles. These changes were all from researching over 10 pad thai recipes. Tried these changes and it was stunning. Also, if you have shrimp paste lying around somewhere, it would be nice to add a teaspoon of it to the mix. It's great but optional.

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Bes

Cooking Level: Beginning

Living In: Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

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Reviewed: Apr. 12, 2006

I made this for my parents and sister one evening because I love pad thai, but they had never tried it (and are not very adventurous with new flavors). They made fun of me while I was making it, because it smelled really bad (I used fish sauce and soy sauce), but when it came time to serve it, they ate it all up! I used shrimp instead of tofu and I used lime juice instead of tamarind.

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