April 08, 2006

PHAD THAI - MY OH MY

Saturday is usually our splurge day when it comes to food. Our splurge dish of choice this weekend was phad thai.

Phad thai is the standard comfort food dish in Thai restaurants. Lots of pan-fried, fettucini-like rice noodles, a sauce varying from light and salty to red and tomato-y, some type of meat, shrimp, or tofu, bean sprouts, julienned carrots, cilantro, a scrambled egg, crushed peanuts, and a shot of freshly squeezed lime. Each establishment's recipe varies a little. We used a recipe from a Vietnamese/Thai cookbook from J's sister. It was delicious. This was our first time making this dish but we've had it several times in restaurants. Phad thai is like the beginner to Thai food's favorite dish. We never order it any longer because Thai cuisine has so many other better dishes that are more authentic to the culture.

We followed the recipe this time, but if we make it again, we really need to try to make a healthier version. Betweent he salt and the sugar and the oil and the mound of noodles, you feel like you've been hit by a truck after eating a big bowl of it. Dure, every slurp is delicious, but it's not easy on the system if you have been towing the healthy line the other days of the week. I'll work on that healthier version in my head. In the meantime, you can see how we dried the noodles after cooking, or gaze at the wonderfully sweet spot shrimp (caught Friday off the San Juan Islands, I might add!) and the aromatic garnish plate. For a condiment, the cookbook had a recipe for a very salty, spicy sauce comprised of lime juice, finely diced chilis (we used jalapenos), minced garlic, and lots of fish sauce. I could barely ingest it for the salt. I added a fair amount of mirin to combat this but still....whew! Added to the food it was a hit but don't eat it on its own.

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