Phad Thai

After the trip to Bangkok last Dec, I ate my first plate of Phai Thai and fell in love with it :)

A plate of delightful Pad Thai at a street stall in Bangkok

Another plate of Phad Thai from the food court at the Bangkok Paragon

Another plate of Phad Thai at the airport :P

Upon returning home, I went in search for a recipe to cook this Thai most popular hawker dish. My search on the net led me to Chez Pim's Pad Thai for beginners.   Her very detailed step-by-step instructions were almost over-whelming... I kept it at the back of my mind... thinking of trying it out one of these days...  Then, back to work, no time to experiment in the kitchen and I forgot about it... until...

It's the school hols and a start to a long break, I'm once again looking at food blogs, looking for experiments to conduct in the kitchen... Stumbled into The Little Teochew's blog and read her entry on Chez Pim's Pad Thai and salivated over the photographs of her sinfully good Pad Thai... I knew I had to try the recipe somehow to satisfy my craving!

After reading through Chez Pim's write-up, I've decided to keep my $200+ wok and bought a new $18 stainless steel chinese wok. I tried to season the wok as instructed. I poured in a full cup of oil into the wok and started to 'smoke' out the entire wok. There was so much smoke that Jerome had to come into the kitchen to check if I had set the kitchen on fire :P From a shiny stainless steel wok, I eventually ended up with a dirty/burnt-looking wok. I wonder if this was meant to be... Jerome said I've damaged the wok :P

According to Chez Pim, the Pad Thai will taste good in a seasoned chinese wok. If the wok is well-seasoned, the rice noodles will not stick to the wok. So I guessed my wok was seasoned alright. And the thing about using a seasoned chinese wok is this... you can't wash it with soap! Just a gentle scrub and a rinse of water before putting in back to the fire to dry it up before storing it away. I know I'll be looking for signs of mould the next time I use the wok again...

Anyway, after all the trouble, here's my Pad Thai... looking kinda pale...but fortunately, it tasted good!
 Sorry, but my efforts are really far from Chez Pim's and The Little Teochew's. Look at their pictures of Pad Thai to know what I mean... Will definitely try the recipe again and make some improvements.

My 1st Pad Thai... out from my kitchen...