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The Noodle 100 · make it at home

Pad thai with prawns, the Bangkok way

35 min (plus soaking) · 2 (cook one plate at a time)

The sauce is tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce, not ketchup. Cook one portion at a time in a very hot pan, and wrap it in an egg omelette if you want it like Thipsamai.

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The real one

You need

• 150 g (5 oz) dried rice noodles, 5 mm (1/4 in) wide, soaked in room-temperature water 1 hour
• For the sauce: 3 tbsp tamarind concentrate, 3 tbsp palm sugar, 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (warm together until the sugar melts)
• 3 tbsp oil, 2 shallots sliced, 2 cloves garlic minced
• 8 raw prawns, 80 g (3 oz) firm tofu in small cubes, 1 tbsp sweet preserved radish chopped, 1 tbsp dried shrimp
• 2 eggs
• A big handful bean sprouts, a handful garlic chives cut in 3 cm lengths
• To serve: crushed roasted peanuts, chili flakes, lime wedges, more sprouts

How to make it

1. Prep (10 min): Make the sauce. Drain the noodles. Have everything by the stove; it goes fast.
2. Fry (3 min): Heat half the oil in a wok until smoking. Fry the shallots, garlic, tofu, radish and dried shrimp 1 minute, then the prawns until pink.
3. Noodles (3 min): Add the noodles and a splash of water and toss until they soften, then half the sauce. Keep tossing until the sauce is absorbed and the noodles are chewy-tender; add a splash of water if they stick.
4. Egg (2 min): Push everything aside, add the rest of the oil, crack in the eggs, scramble briefly, then fold through.
5. Finish (1 min): Toss in the sprouts and chives for 30 seconds. Plate with peanuts, chili and lime. Repeat for the second plate.

Tips

• Never more than two portions in a home wok; crowding steams the noodles.
• Thipsamai's Superb: wrap the finished noodles in a thin omelette.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.