Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 200 g flat rice noodles
• 3 tbsp tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 40 g palm or brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 150 g firm tofu, cubed and patted dry
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 200 g raw prawns, peeled
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 150 g beansprouts
• 3 spring onions, cut into batons
• 50 g roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp chilli flakes, to serve — optional

Method

1. Soak the noodles

   Cover the noodles in warm — not boiling — water and leave until pliable but still firm in the middle. They finish cooking in the wok, and noodles boiled soft now will be paste later.

   15 min

2. Mix the sauce

   Stir the tamarind, fish sauce and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Taste it: it should be aggressively sour, salty and sweet all at once, because the noodles will dilute it.

3. Fry the tofu

   Get the wok properly hot, add the oil and fry the tofu undisturbed until golden on at least two sides. Push it to the edge of the pan.

   5 min

4. Add garlic and prawns

   Add the garlic for a few seconds until it smells sweet, then the prawns. Cook just until they turn opaque — they will keep cooking in the residual heat.

5. Scramble the egg

   Clear a space in the middle, pour in the beaten egg and let it set for a moment before breaking it up into soft curds.

6. Toss it together

   Add the drained noodles and the sauce and toss constantly over a high heat until the noodles have drunk the sauce and turned glossy. Throw in the beansprouts and spring onions for the last thirty seconds so they keep their snap.

   3 min

7. Serve

   Straight onto plates, with crushed peanuts, a lime wedge and chilli flakes for anyone who wants them. Pad thai waits for nobody — it stiffens as it cools.