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Cooking Pad Thai Rice Sticks
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:44 am
by ozchick
Well this was a disaster ! He he....I stir-fired them fo about 20 minutes and they were just impossible to eat ! They were rubbery and like road tyres !Should they be crisp and brittle?
Mm....it's a mystery to me. Does anyone on here know how to cook this stuff?
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:49 am
by sierra2469alpha
Oz - you talking the broad noodles or thin, vermicelli-like rice noodles?
P
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:36 pm
by ozchick
sierra2469alpha wrote:Oz - you talking the broad noodles or thin, vermicelli-like rice noodles?
P
Mm...they're long like fettucine...... flat, not like spaghettii, they're about 5mm wide and thin in texture, like ribbon pasta, but made of rice, (not like angel-hair pasta or that thin fine rice noodle stuff).
I soaked them for 10 minutes according to the instructions. I think they're supposed to turn out crisp, maybe a bit like poatatocrisp texture but gees I'm not sure really what they're ultimate 'cooked' state is meant to be. Oh yeah there are some real mysrerious things on the grocery shelves here in Sg. The rice sticks I have are certainly available in Oz but I've just never cooked them before.
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 1:02 pm
by sierra2469alpha
Just checked David Thompson's That Food bible for ya. As I suspected - they aren't the types to go crispy. They should have a slightly more cooked texture than al-dente.
Unless you cook them, then shallow fry in vegetable oil.
I'm assuming the instructions tell you something different? Cheers, P
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 1:05 pm
by familyof5
if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach you've got problems.
the noodles in phad thai are not supposed to be crisp.
given that you soaked them, then cooked them for 20 minutes, i'm guessing they were pretty gluggy? you overcooked them!
you really should just soak the noodles in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, meanwhile cooking the rest of the ingredients. when they are done, simply toss through the noodles (after draining them obviously...), and sprinkle the nuts/coriander on top.
for some recipes, try this site. i love it.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/search. ... blication=
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 5:20 pm
by ozchick
Nah Sierra and FOF I did what it said to do, stir fried after soaking. There's no way I have over-cooked them. At no stage through the cooking process were they edible. And when you two say, 'cook' I mean what is that ? I could have boiled them I suppose ? That's not what the instructions said to do but I reckon it was the only other option...mm...anyway FOF gonna check out that site..maybe there's hope for me yet !
Posted: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 5:27 pm
by sierra2469alpha
Oz - Fo5 is right - with Pad Thai, you don't have crispy noodles. We did a Royal Thai cooking course and usually the ONLY crispy noodles are the ones use shallow fry - and they are dried vermicelli like rice noodles that fluff up really quickly.
If you want a Pad Thai recipe just let me know and I'll scan mine for you.
Cheers, P
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:49 pm
by sillingw
sierra2469alpha, I'll take the recipe
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:59 pm
by familyof5
your cooking disaster has inspired me ozchick. i'm doing this one tonight.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/9096/pad+thai
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:59 pm
by sierra2469alpha
OK I just packed the scanner away as we have a houseguest from tomorrow! Give me a few hours and I'll scan it and post it here as an attachment!
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 3:39 pm
by bgd
Good to hear about others' failures, at least I'm not alone. Had my own failure with a pig's trotter recently.
Get yourself down to a Thai restaurant and order Pad Thai. It will give you something to aim for.
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 3:46 pm
by sierra2469alpha
Only suggestion on that one, and this applies to pretty much much all Thai - when using fish sauce in a hot (temperature) dish, ALWAYS use fish sauce as a seasoning AFTER you have removed the food from the heat - think of it as a final sprinkling of sauce. Using fish sauce and "cooking" it makes the Nam Plac (fish suace) tart and loses flavour.
Source: Paul Blain and David Thompson (Darley St Thai) and personal friends
HTH, P
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 7:29 pm
by familyof5
I must drag out that cookbook of his...its the big pink one, right? i got a bit scared of it, because from memory, it has no pics.
thanks for the tip.
anyway, got home late. so soup and toast for me.
Posted: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 7:33 pm
by sierra2469alpha
Yep - same same - David and Pauly are gods!
Has pics, luv
Posted: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 2:46 pm
by familyof5
hmmm maybe because all the recipes had ingredients lists as long as my arm?? must dig it out.