Pad Thai: Where Ingredients Become the Art of Flavor Balance

 

Finding delicious food to taste brings happiness. Traveling is also a way to recharge and energize your life. When you get a chance to travel to Thailand, make sure to explore the incredible food scene. All the delicious, famous, and must-try dishes are at the top of your list!. Otherwise, it would feel like you haven’t truly arrived in Thailand, a country renowned for its amazing cuisine, award-winning must-try restaurants and good prices. What’s more, certain Thai dishes beautifully reflect the local culture of the people in their specific provinces. Thai tradition has passed down and refined Thai food from ancient times to the present, shaping it into a national identity such as Pad Thai.

 

The Origin Story of Pad Thai

There are four main categories of Thai food by cooking method: Boiling/Soup, Spicy Salad, Pounding/Pound-Salad, and Curry. We may have adopted deep-frying and steaming from Chinese culture. Thailand also received another key influence, the consumption of noodle dishes, such as noodle soup from China as well.

‘Pad Thai’ This is one dish that international tourists always mention when they visit Thailand. You can easily find it all over the country, but you see it most often in the Central region. Originally, people called this dish ‘Kuay Tiao Pad’ (Stir-fried Noodles). Thai people later changed this stir-fried noodles dish to better match the Thai palate. They refined the flavors to be sour, sweet, salty, and spicy tastes.

The creation of this dish happened by the Prime Minister, Field Marshal P. Pibulsongkram. He promoted the dish to encourage Thai people to eat more noodles. It was reducing rice consumption during the economic downturn by the war.

 

Ingredient

Thai cuisine is famous globally for its fantastic taste. Numerous awards guarantee its quality. The ingredients, condiments, and spices, all perfectly preserve the unique Thai character.

 

Noodle That Made Thai Cuisine Famous

Pad Thai is  a type of savory dish made with thin noodles stir-fried with seasonings. These seasonings include tamarind juice, yellow tofu, radish, dried or fresh shrimp, chives, bean sprouts. You’ll find many different sizes and types of noodles, but most commonly choose small or thin noodles as the main ingredient. A delicious local option is Chanthaburi’s ‘Chan noodles.’ These noodles are wonderfully extra chewy and soft. Restaurants that use them often feature the name ‘Pad Thai Sen Chan’ on their signs to attract customers.

‘Sen’ means the shape of a noodle which is long.

‘Chan’ is from Chantaburi Province.

Today, chefs modify by using alternatives like vermicelli, konjac noodles, or rice noodles, to customize the dish for individual preference. No matter the noodle, Pad Thai always keeps its distinctive Thai flavor!

 

Unique Ingredient of The Local

Pad Thai’s popularity and widespread presence in Thailand led to the development of local variations. They use famous local ingredients to make them unique. 

• In Amphawa, the district of Samut Songkhram Province, chef uses boiled soybeans and pork belly to add distinctive features.
• In Ang Thong Province, Chefs use chopped raw mango or chopped raw star fruit to garnish depending on the season.
• In Phetchaburi Province, No bean sprouts and chives but includes stir-fried kale and use thin noodles.

These variations contribute to the unique food culture of each province in Thailand.

When eating, people commonly enjoy it with side dishes such as fermented vegetables, banana blossoms, raw bean sprouts, chives, and lime slices. 

 

Making Pad Thai Extra Charming

There is also a modified version of Pad Thai that you might find intriguing. The chef mixes all ingredients and then wraps it in an omelet. We call it  ‘Pad Thai Wrapped in Egg’.

Sometimes, the chef uses fresh shrimp to replace dried shrimp. We call it ‘Pad Thai with Fresh Shrimp’.

These are the highlights of each restaurant. As it gained popularity among tourists, it spread beyond Thailand. Thai restaurants in other countries absolutely include Pad Thai on their menus. This dish has become an essential item, as people around the world are familiar with and enjoy it.

 

Famous Restaurants

This cuisine has become the main dish that foreigners seek out when they visit Thailand. Many restaurants in Thailand have won world-class awards due to their meticulous preparation of this dish. They select top-notch ingredients and deliver high quality, so they collect so many awards.

• ‘Pad Thai Fai Thalu’ this restaurant has received the Michelin award for four consecutive years.
• ‘Thipsamai – Pad Thai Pratu Phi’, a legendary restaurant, won the title of “Best Fast Food in the World” at the Chowzter Fast Feasts Award 2014. Their renowned dish is the shrimp Pad Thai wrapped in an omelet.
• ‘Baan Pad Thai’ this restaurant has received the MICHELIN GUIDE award in the Bib Gourmand category for five consecutive years.

These are just a few examples of restaurants that have won awards, showcasing the deliciousness of various Pad Thai menus. Many more restaurants await discovery when traveling to Thailand. Moreover, it is also available as street food, easily found at roadside vendors and local stalls.

This Thai noodle menu will make your meal perfect. If you haven’t tried genuine Pad Thai, you’re missing out on Thailand’s most beloved flavor masterpiece! It’s the ultimate combination of tangy, savory, and satisfying.