Laogong Sour Phad Thai

We all have - I hope we do anyways! - that one exotic dish we tried on that one vacation that we dream of spending the rest of our lives eating, but can't because of geography and ecology and all the rest...and then we think, 'Wait! Surely there's a recipe with decent substitutes! I'll try that!' Well, what follows is exactly that, a blend of phad thai 'substitute' recipes.

Good phad thai - the phad thai I was lucky enough to enjoy as takeaway for 30 baht/US$0.90 a plate when I lived in Bangkok - needs some ingredients (palm sugar and tamarind paste) that are rather uncommon and/or expensive in much of the world. I'm hoping once life settles down a bit to have a kitchen pantry with those ingredients in it, so when I'm able I'll post that phad thai recipe as well.

In the meantime, what follows is my substitute phad thai. I won't lie, it was a touch on the sour side and too obviously not real phad thai for me to love it. My husband, on the other hand, asked me to make it again for dinner the next day...during dinner. So, it's at his request that I'm posting this recipe here! I hope you enjoy it as much as he did!

Laogong Sour Phad Thai

(4 servings)

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

3 tablespoons of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of lime juice

2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter*

2 tablespoons of rice vinegar

2 tablespoons of water

2 teaspoon of kecap manis

2 teaspoons of light soy sauce

Sriracha (to taste)

227g / 8oz flat rice noodles**

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil***

5 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)

Protein**** (if desired)

2 eggs (if desired)

340g / 12oz bean sprouts

2 green onion stalks (chopped)

2 tablespoons of crushed peanuts (to garnish)

Lime wedges***** (to garnish)

*This is 100% not Thai and 100% my husband's preference (and my own!). If you don't have natural peanut butter, mix a little hot water in with the peanut butter to make it a little less solid and lumpy.

**Prepare according to the package instructions. (Unless your package instructions are as useless as mine were today - 20 March 2022 - in which case soak them in hot water for about 10 minutes, until they become more flexible.)

***Use a neutral vegetable oil like canola.

****I love tofu puffs (80g / 3oz) or some shrimp myself, but chicken, pork, et cetera, can also be used. Whatever you're using, if it's meat cut it into cubes that will cook quickly.

*****If you can't find whole limes, a squeeze from a lime juice bulb will do the trick as well!

Directions

1) While the rice noodles are soaking or cooking (whatever your package recommended), make the phad thai sauce by combining the brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, water, kecap manis, light soy sauce, and sriracha and set aside. (Feel free to go easy on the sriracha if you're uncertain of your spice tolerance, you can always add more to the finished dish if you want.)

2) Prepare all the remaining ingredients as necessary (rinse the bean sprouts, chop the green onions, et cetera) and place near the stove. (I find putting everything in the order it goes in helps me as things move pretty quickly once the cooking starts.)

3) Heat the vegetable oil in a wok (or skillet) over high heat and once it's hot cook the garlic until fragrant (30 seconds or so?).

4) Put your protein in the wok and continue cooking until it's mostly done (the chicken will be white, the shrimp pink, et cetera).

5) Add the rice noodles to the wok and cook for a minute or two, then push them to one side and add the egg (if desired) to the open side and scramble it for another 30 seconds before stirring the egg into the other ingredients and adding the phad thai sauce.

6) Stir in the bean sprouts and green onions and continue cooking until the bean sprouts aren't crunchy anymore (your personal preferences will come into play here), then remove the wok from the heat, serve immediately with whatever garnishes you have available, and enjoy! This recipe served two comfortably, although my husband was a little upset there weren't seconds or leftovers!