**The Art of Preparing a Classic Thai Dish**

As we sit down to enjoy this exquisite Thai dish, it's essential to understand the importance of each ingredient and its role in creating a harmonious balance of flavors. In this article, we'll delve into the details of preparing a classic Thai recipe, exploring the techniques and tips that will elevate your cooking experience.

**The Importance of Lime**

Firstly, let's talk about lime - a crucial component in many Thai dishes. "Lime is actually very important at the brightness to it," says our chef. "It and it just turns it into something a little bit more fresh." While lime is technically optional, our chef always incorporates it into the dish, and for good reason. The acidity of lime helps to balance out the flavors in the dish, creating a refreshing and invigorating experience.

**Cutting Lime with Precision**

To extract the most juice from the lime, our chef demonstrates how to cut it using a technique called type II cutting. "You want to cut just off the core," she explains. "This piece becomes super easy to squeeze." By cutting the lime at an angle, just above the core, we can release the maximum amount of juice without having to deal with the stubborn core. This simple trick makes all the difference in achieving a perfectly balanced dish.

**Classic Garnishes**

A classic Thai dish is never complete without garnishes that add texture and visual appeal. Our chef showcases a few essential garnishes, including peanuts, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and fresh herbs. "You don't have to put them on," she cautions. "But if you want to make it look beautiful, they're a must." Each garnish adds its own unique flavor and texture to the dish, creating a truly immersive experience.

**The Power of Presentation**

Presentation is key in Thai cuisine, where the visual appeal of the dish can elevate its overall flavor profile. Our chef demonstrates how to arrange the ingredients on the plate, showcasing each component with pride. "I want people to see how many shrimp are you getting on this plate," she says with a smile. By presenting the dish in an attractive manner, we can highlight the quality and abundance of the ingredients, making each bite feel like a special treat.

**The Secret to a Perfect Balance**

As we prepare the dish, our chef emphasizes the importance of achieving a perfect balance of flavors. "You want it not too sweet, not too salty, sour and savory," she advises. By carefully adjusting the seasoning, we can create a harmonious blend of flavors that will leave us wanting more.

**Sourcing High-Quality Ingredients**

Our chef stresses the importance of sourcing high-quality ingredients, particularly when it comes to ingredients like fish sauce and dried shrimps. "It's not hard," she says. "But if you take the time to source all the ingredients, it is so worth it." By choosing fresh, sustainable ingredients, we can create dishes that are not only delicious but also environmentally friendly.

**A Delicious Experience**

As we enjoy our expertly prepared Thai dish, we're treated to a symphony of flavors and textures. From the crunchiness of peanuts to the nuttiness of bean sprouts, each bite is a delight for the senses. By following our chef's tips and techniques, we can create this delicious experience in our own kitchens.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, preparing a classic Thai dish requires attention to detail, creativity, and a willingness to experiment with new ingredients and techniques. By understanding the importance of lime, garnishes, presentation, balance, and sourcing high-quality ingredients, we can elevate our cooking to new heights. Whether you're a seasoned chef or a novice cook, this article has provided you with valuable insights and tips to help you create a truly unforgettable Thai dish.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSawaddee ka welcome to hot thai kitchen so today is an exciting day because we are doing  an updated version of the ultimate Thai dish pad thai it's already have a video of pad thai  and it's a perfectly fine recipe but today I am coming at you with more tricks more tips for an  even better version so if you've already watched that one check out this one anyway because you  might learn something new let's get started let's start with the most important thing about Pad Thai  which is the sauce it's very simple you need three ingredients the sweet the salty and the  sour so the suite is palm sugar so palm sugar I will have a video all about it so stay tuned  for that now when I do have it I'll link to it in the description below but in short it's the  nectar of the coconut or the sugar palm tree and it usually comes in a puck like this and all you  have to do is just chop it with a sharp knife just like that some people like to pound it in  the mortar and pestle some people like to grate it I just usually chop it and then it'll just  crumble to small pieces like that now the salty my favorite ingredients in the whole wide world  as you all know is fish sauce the fish sauce flavor is prominent in this recipe so you want  to make sure it's good I do have a video where I recommend what fish sauce to use I will link  to that below if you're vegetarian and you want to know what to use instead I do have a vegan  Pad Thai recipe I'll link to that as well below and now the sour is tamarind this is also very  very important tamarin is a sour fruit so this is basically the pulp of it mixed with water so you  get sort of this thick consistency you can buy the pace already made like this but I actually prefer  making it from the pulp the flavor and acidity is much better I do have a video all about how  to make that I will link to that as well below and that's it no other ingredients necessary it's a  very simple but delicious sauce now one thing I'm gonna do differently in this video is I'm going to  caramelize my palm sugar first and develop that more intense caramel flavor it is optional if  you're in a rush you can just dissolve it but why not I've got time I like to keep the heat  relatively low at this point so it doesn't burn and catch you off-guard and I'm just waiting for  the sugar to darken in color a little bit we don't want it to get that caramel bitter oh the stove is  hot okay make sure you keep stirring from the edges so that you keep mixing the part that's  more cooked I like that color again not overly caramel rolling with water and that will stop the  caramel from cooking and it'll hurt and right away don't worry fish sauce goes in and Tamron goes in  and now it will smell like fish sauce in the air you're just waiting for the caramel to the sugar  to dissolve because now when you add the water to harden right away but that will just happen  in time so I'm actually gonna just turn this off and by the time you're ready to use it all the  sugar will be dissolved that's how simple pad thai sauce is and you can make a whole bunch of this in  advance keep it in the fridge and it will last you an indefinite amount of time let's go over all the  other ingredients and this is where peptide gets a bit complicated because it is a pretty long list  of ingredients if you want to make like a legit version and this is why very few Thai people  actually make it at home because you know it's a lot of prep but we're not in Thailand so we've  got to make it ourselves you want a good one let's talk noodles first rice noodles so this is what I  use size medium that's important it's the peptide size this is the brand that I like it's widely  available you don't have to use this friends but there are other brands where the noodles  are thinner so when you make it it doesn't have as nice of a chew so if you make it and if you  find it's a bit mushy just use less water okay it might be that your noodles are a bit thin so  I've soaked my noodles in room temp water for one hour I drained them and then what I'm gonna  do I've discovered that if I cut them it makes it easier to eat to separate at the end so just  take scissors and cut them once so that they're about half the length and by the way you can soak  the noodles in advance drain them keep them well sealed in the fridge and it'll last you a few days  so you don't have to do this the day off okay now the rest I got shallots and garlic pretty  straightforward there I got some pressed tofu pressed tofu very very firm tofu is the firmest  and you can get and it comes in a package like this now if you can't find pressed tofu you can  also use extra firm tofu but if you feel like it's still gonna crumble in the pan just fry them up  first cut them up fry them up the frying will firm out the exterior so that it won't break apart on  you okay now this is Type O one or sweet preserved daikon radish classic Pad Thai ingredient but it's  very hard to find it adds a little bit of a crunch a little bit of a sweet salty jonas a quoi if you  don't have it I have discovered a good substitute you can use the japanese preserve daikon radish  called tuck 1 this is like the yellow pickle you find in sushi sometimes it's got like a  very similar feel to it just chop it up really small if you can't find it at all just omit it  it'll be fine finally dried shrimp I got some sort of medium-sized dried shrimp over here and  this is so important it's sort of like shrimp jerky that's a lot of umami flavor to it and  then you just run your knife over just like that you can also just run it in a food processor and  blitz it into like the little flakes that works as well so all of that we've just talked about  I'm gonna add to the tofu bowl because they're all getting added at the same time so for the sake of  organization but trust me you will need you want to just combine them one more thing I'm gonna add  and it's of course optional is Thai chili flakes but I do think when PAP tie is a little bit spicy  it's good alright vegetables to vegetables but very important I got bean sprouts and also garlic  chives so garlic chives are sort of like a mix of chives and green onions super super classic  and all you have to do for the garlic chives is you want to cut off the ends because this part  is pretty tough so that can go and then cut them into like inch and a half two inch pieces and make  sure you wash these well sometimes they come with little snails that hide like inside at the bottom  of each stalk so you know FYI so that goes with the bean sprouts other than that I'm almost done  see I told you it's a lot of stuff we got some eggs and roasted peanuts Oh some fresh tastes  a lot better trust me and that is it I'm done Oh I told you it was a lot of ingredients but trust  me it's all worth it okay let's get cooking all right I'm gonna heat up my wok and again I can't  stress enough but have all your ingredients at arm's reach this goes fast so a little bit of  oil goes in and you know how I said that was all the ingredients well I lied because you  still need well you don't need but if you want have some protein in it I am using shrimp as is  pretty classic of Pad Thai but you can do chicken pork whatever you want I'm just gonna steer the  shrimp first cook them off so I don't have a wok to worry about their doneness another add  them back in absolutely and you can add as many shrimps as you like just searing them on one side  and then when they're done flip them cook them on the other side and pray that the smoke alarm will  not go off that's it shrimp are super fast to cook some stuff after flipping them I'm going to turn  it off and the residual heat will continue cooking the shrimp just move them into a bowl for now we  will add the Mack you later and by the way for our patreon members for the show after the show I'm  gonna talk about different variations of pad thai that exists in Thailand and you want to know more  about becoming a patreon member I will link to it in the description box below I'm going to add a  little bit more oil just to the same wok and this way we have all the shrimp flavor still in there  as well at this point medium is okay and now all the tofu and the garlic and the shallots and all  that stuff in this bowl goes in and we're gonna saute that until the garlic and the shallots are  wilted if it looks a little dry like it does now just add a little more oil this is not diet foodlike already at the stage it smells like papayas all these combinations of ingredients oh no so  good now the noodles go in and now the sauce right away I'm gonna switch weapon into tongue  and then at this point I'm just gonna keep tossing until the noodles can absorb all  the liquid now at this point here's a trick if you notice that the noodles have absorbed all  the sauce but you want to make sure it's done but you're not sure the noodles have  completely cooked turn it off it'll be fine take your time to taste and if it's  still under done you can add a splash more water and then keep it cooking that way you  don't end up with under cooked noodles people think sometimes it give you stir fry like you  say you have to go go go go go and you can't stop you can in this case anyway turn it off  and really take your time like don't don't panic okay so I'm gonna taste my noodlesmmm and it's perfect so we can keep going and Adam is again dying from chili fumes but that's  okay we sacrifice for hot I kitchen all right so now I'm gonna push the noodles to one side I'm  gonna make room for my eggs you can add a little bit of oil if you're afraid that the eggs gonna  stick you might need more oil the eggs go in I'm gonna break the yoke and now I'm gonna just push  all these noodles over the eggs but that stays for about 30 seconds so the eggs will cook the  color looks nice it's a little bit darker than my original version because we caramelize the sugar  Oh chilies chilies in the air okay let's talk mm-hmm get a little bit of charring nice and  smoky flavor that's perfect now almost done half of the peanuts are gonna go in all the  vegetables it looks like a lot but trust me it is okay with low wills down and then I'm gonna turn  off the heat now so the bean sprouts are actually really really important because they help lighten  up the texture of the noodles otherwise when you don't have that much bean sprouts it becomes a  very heavily like heavy noodle dish but with the crunch of the bean sprouts it's just the perfect  consistency and that's it you guys Popeye is super fast that is exactly what I was going for yes when  you play Pad Thai it's very important especially the first one that you go around they'll walk and  pick up all the bits and pieces cuz those tend to like fall behind and then the first plate will be  like a bunch of noodles and no tofu no nothing so just pay attention to that yes my goodness  now classic garnishes we've got lime lime is actually very important at the brightness to  it and it just turns it into something a little bit more fresh it is technically optional but I  always put it and I'm going to show you how type II will cut lime which is also the most sensible  way to cut line for a most effective juicing instead of doing wedges or slices or whatever  you cut it just off the core right and then this piece becomes super easy to squeeze and then  with the rest you again slice it off the core you want to avoid the cork as the core is what makes  it hard to squeeze then for the final piece you cut the core off there you go and then you can  cut these smaller if you wish but in Thailand the limes are much smaller so typically you  just see like a piece like this on the side but that's like that's a little ridiculous because  it's huge so this is North American size lives I'm going to cut that down in half and then now  you've got an easy to squeeze piece of lime I'm gonna throw in a little extra peanuts on top it  always comes with a side of bean sprouts I'm just showing you like what's classic here but  you don't have to and some people like to add extra bean sprouts because again this is sort  of like a heavier dish so the bean sprout will help lighten it up and then to make it beautiful  you can add an exercise of garlic chives and I'll show you a way to cut it pretty ly so you  take like 2 3 plants and then you cut them at a sharp bias there you go doesn't that look great  now I know what you're thinking you're thinking wait what happened to the stream aha you think I  forgot but I didn't because well okay honestly I wanted to put them on top at the end anyway  but I would have forgotten if Adam hadn't pointed them out to me but I wanted to save this room for  putting on top because it's like an expensive ingredient you want to show off you don't want  it like hiding under all the noodles you want people to see how many shrimp are you getting on  this plate I paid $15 for this you know how many shrimp are you're gonna get it's my restaurant  days coming through all right now we are ready to eat I'm gonna do a squeeze a lime give it a tossdo this make sure I get some bean sprouts some garlic chives I'm gonna get some tofu bits of  eggs ah yes that is the smell I am telling you they just don't make pot I like this in Thai  restaurants outside of Thailand for reasons I don't understand because it's not hard it  is a lot of ingredients but I'm telling you if you take the time to source all the ingredients  it is so so well worth it it should not be overly sweet okay like Pat I should not be  like Searby Renji sweet it should be a perfect balance of sweet salty sour and a lot of food  my meat coming through the fish sauce coming from the dried shrimps crunchiness from the  bean sprouts some nuttiness from the peanuts I mean every ingredient is there for a reason  and it is so good so good so I hope you give this a try the recipe as always will be on  hot Thai Kitchen calm when you make it send me a photo on Facebook Twitter or Instagram  and if you haven't subscribed to the show make sure you do so you don't miss an episode like  this and click the bell icon as well so you get a notification when I post a new video  thank you as always for watching and I will see you next time for you next delicious time\n"