Lara Ferroni held a photo contest. The winner in the “edibility” category was a photo of phad thai from Rice and Noodles, a blog by Mae Gabriel. I wanted to eat it immediately. If you don’t want to eat it immediately, I’m not sure we’re going to hit it off.
The recipe called for Maesri phad thai sauce in a jar. When I make phad thai, I make my own sauce. It’s good, but as Strong Bad would say, it has officially reached rigamarole status. Mae’s phad thai is streamlined. No garlic or shallot beyond what’s in the jarred sauce. Just egg, noodles, phad thai sauce, fish sauce, scallions, and bean sprouts, cooked in peanut oil and then garnished.
First, I had to find Maesri phad thai sauce. They didn’t have it at Uwajimaya. Ordering it online would have been absurd. Then I remembered Mekong Rainier Grocery, at 3400 Rainier Ave S. It’s the only Thai supermarket in town that I know of. (Actually, I think the owners are Lao, but the ingredient overlap is nearly total.) They had it for $1.29, along with a bunch of other Maesri sauces, plus many brands of fermented gouramy fish.
Because I’m a meddler and because I was making this for myself for lunch, I simplified the recipe even further. I left out the meat, threw some chile flakes in with the sauce, and garnished with just bean sprouts, peanuts, and lime juice.
It was excellent, of course. I’d use a little more sauce next time, but a lot of lime juice made it more than flavorful enough. The most time-consuming part was boiling the water and then waiting for the noodles to soften. They should make frozen rice stick noodles that you can just thaw in the microwave and have them ready to stir-fry. That’s my kind of convenience food.
I’m so jealous. We do not have ANY Thai markets here in the greater Baltimore area (I know, I’ve been looking forever.) My only choice is to mail order Kaffir Lime Leaves and specific brands of fish sauce etc. I’m sure I’d have to mail order this too.
Maybe I’ll have to make a trip to Seattle.
I notice the recipe calls for one “dsp” of fish sauce. What in the world is that?
Hi! Thank you so much for the mention and the links. I am so pleased i have inspired you to make pad thai for lunch. :)
I’m glad you liked the ‘easy-cop-out-jarred’ version!
Derek, I assumed it meant teaspoon. I added a few dashes, and probably next time I’ll make some prik nam pla for the table.
Mae, it’s an honor. That was really one of my favorite food photos of all time.
It is dessert spoon ‘dsp’. My measuring spoons includes a dessert spoon – smaller than tablespoon but bigger than teaspoon. I guess in US you don’t have that. Here in UK, certainly have it. I have Nigella’s measuring spoons just for reference if you’re wondering. :)
I would definitely have fish sauce for dessert.
Thanks Mae. Living in the colonies has its drawbacks. No dsp and no Nigella Lawson.
Derek, half a tablespoon should do the trick, i suppose – without checking, i don’t think there’s much difference.
If in doubt, you can always add the fish sauce later when you’re ready to eat. Then you’ll know how much exactly you’d want. Some peeps have different tolerance to salt. :)
Hey Matthew,
If you were going to the I.D. to pick up the sauce, why not pick up the tasty fresh rice noodles? They don’t have to be softened before use and I think they’re easier to use and taste better.
Interesting. I don’t really associate the texture of fresh noodles with phad thai, more with rad nah and pad see ew. I’m not saying I think it would be bad, by any means.