Unlike others who go for authentic taste and so far as buying gourmet ingredients for international cuisine, I take a more practical (read: cheap) approach when cooking: I look for the suitable local substitute.

Thai Kitchen is a brand of commonly used ingredients for Thai cookin. It goes without saying that in their cooking class and cookbooks, they promote their own brand. For example, in their Pad Thai recipe, it called for the Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce and the Thai Kitchen Tamarind Paste. The Thai fish sauce is easy; it’s already available in most supermarket. The tamarind paste however, left me slightly baffled.

Then I remember the pack of Thai rice noodles my brother and I were able to buy in Singapore. It comes with a pad thai seasoning mix. Then the answer hit me: it’s the most used seasoning in the house: Knorr’s pang-asim.

Based on Thai Kitchen’s recipe and the recipe suggestion at the back of that rice noodle pack, I bring you, Poor Nina’s Pad Thai.

A note before I continue: I harldy measure my ingredients when I cook. The measurements in this recipe is an approximation of the ingredients I use, and is made to suit the taste buds of my family. I will post the (near)exact measurements later on (when I can be bothered to measure).

Ingredients
1/8 teaspoon astuete
3.5 cups water
1 big pack Knorr tamarind soup base
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp white sugar
1/2 teaspoon Thai fish sauce (depending on your taste, actually)
1/8 cup cooking oil
1/2 onion
1 pack hibe (dried shrimp)
4 small blocks of tokwa, cubed (firm tofu)
200 grams chicken breast fillet
1 500 gram pack dry rice noodle
2 eggs
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
spring onions, cut into 1″ lenght
1/4 cup finely chopped dry roasted peanuts

1. Put the astuete in a small bowl or cup with 3 tablespoons of water. Stir, then set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix in the tamarind powder, paprika, fish sauce and water. Pour in the water from the atsuete mix, using a strainer to separate the atsuete bean (? corn? pellet? whatever.)
3. Fire up the stove and bring out your favorite kawali or wok
4. Pour in some of the cooking oil, then sautee your onion. When it’s almost transparent, put in the hibe, then the tofu.

My first attempt at making Pad Thai from scratch. I forgot to put in the paprika and the noodles are over-cooked. Doesn’t look appetizing, no?
5. Put in a little more oil, then stir fry your chicken breast.
6. When the breast have browned, pour in your tamarind mix. Bring to boil.
7. When the sauce is boiling, put in the dry rice noodles. The noodles soak in the liquid, so if it looks too dry, but the noodles aren’t cooked yet, add in some hot water.
8. When the noodles have absorbed all the liquid (or most of it), transfer everything into a bowl or another kawali.
9. In your original kawali, pour your last remaining cooking oil. When the oil is hot, crack in the two eggs. When the eggs are semi-set, poke the yolk and swirl the gloop around the wok.
10. With the egg still runny, put the noodles, etceteral back into your wok, then stir, stir, stir.
11. If you don’t like eating your beansprouts raw, toss them in and stir until they’re below everything else.
12. Garnish your pad thai with spring onions and finely chopped peanut

• Rice noodles packets usually advise to soak the noodles in boiling water before cooking. I opted to cook them in the boiling sinigang mix instead so it can absorb the flavor.
• The noodles cook pretty fast. Like pasta, they should be cooked al dente, because overcooked noodles aren’t fun, nor are they pretty.
• As I said, this recipe, though attempting to stay authentic, is made to suit my family’s taste buds. Adjust the amount of sugar, fish sauce and tamarind powder to your liking.
• My favorite brand of Thai fish sauce is called Ang Sarap Patis. No kidding. Right below the name, it says “Imported.” Haha.

For more Thai recipes, head on to Christine’s blog, where she shares her recipe for Thai Green Curry and Pomelo Salad.

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