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Pad Korat

SERVES: 4 PREP: 10 minutes TOTAL TIME: 20 minutes

Pad Korat

SERVES: 4 PREP: 10 minutes TOTAL TIME: 20 minutes

Pepper's most requested dish!

My hometown of Korat is about three hours east of Bangkok. Some people call it “the gateway to Isaan” because it’s one of the biggest cities in the northeastern part of Thailand. Farming is popular there, so all around you’ll see lush green fields where they grow rice. Even my grandpa was a rice farmer. The famous noodle dish in Bangkok is pad thai, of course, but in Korat we have our own style, pad Korat—it’s a little more on the spicy, savory, and saucy side. I cooked pad Korat all the time for the kids growing up. If there was meat or seafood tossed in, that meant Daddy had some money, but if it was getting near the end of month, sometimes it would be made with just vegetables. Either way, it reminds me of home.

These days, I cook Korat noodles for Chrissy, Luna, and Miles at least twice a week and my claim to fame is that I can make it with just about anything we have in the fridge—chicken, beef, tofu, eggs, vegetables. All I need are some pad ai rice noodles and my cupboard of sauces. The possibilities are endless. Instead of soaking the dried noodles beforehand, I add them to the wok with the sauce, so they soak up all the sweet and savory goodness in the pan. At the very end I toss in scallions and bean sprouts so they stay fresh and crunchy, then serve the noodles with lime wedges and chile powder so everyone can tweak the spicy-sour flavor to their own taste.

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INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 teaspoon Roasted Chile Powder (recipe below)
½ pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (2 to 3 thighs), cut into bite-size pieces (see Note)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons Thai soybean paste, or 4 teaspoons brown miso paste mixed with 2 teaspoons water
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or the brine from any jar of pickled vegetables)
8 ounces dried vermicelli (thin rice stick noodles)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1½ cups bean sprouts
4 scallions, green parts only, cut into 1-inch pieces

For serving

Lime wedges

fish sauce

Roasted Chile Powder

In a wok or large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering-hot. Add the garlic, shallot, and chile powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chicken and toss, cooking until browned all over but not cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, soybean paste, brown sugar, vinegar, and 1 cup water, mixing until combined. Add the dried noodles.

Cook, stirring, until the noodles have softened and absorbed the water, 2 to 3 minutes (you can always add more water if the noodles look too dry). Once the noodles have soaked up the sauce, push them to the side of the pan and add the beaten eggs. Swirl the pan in a circle to spread out the eggs, letting them sit undisturbed for a minute, then stir and mix them into the chicken and noodles until they’re mostly cooked but slightly wet (like a soft scramble), about 1 minute. Add the bean sprouts and scallions, toss again to mix, and then remove the pan from the heat, letting the bean sprouts and scallions wilt in the residual heat.

To serve, place the noodles in a serving bowl or divide among the plates. Serve with lime wedges, fish sauce, and chile powder, so everyone can season their noodles as desired. If you have a lot of hungry people in your house, you can easily double this recipe. Sometimes I use up to two pounds of dried noodles—my big wok gets so full I have to have Chrissy hold it while I stir!—and it disappears in no time anyway. In my experience, you can never have too much.

Roasted Chile Powder

Roasted chile powder is one of my most essential ingredients because it adds both earthiness and heat. If you can’t find dried Thai chiles at the market, any small dried red chile will work. 2 cups dried red chiles, such as Thai, de árbol, or japones. Preheat the oven to 350°F. If you have an oven hood fan, turn it on. Spread the chiles evenly across a sheet pan and roast for about 6 minutes, checking them halfway through. The chiles are done when they change color from red to a very dark reddish brown. Watch closely near the end to make sure they don’t burn.

Transfer chiles to a plate and let cool completely. Place them in a mortar and grind with the pestle until they’re the size of red pepper flakes (or use a spice grinder or small blender on high speed for 10 to 15 seconds; make sure the blender is totally dry). Store the chile powder in an airtight container; it keeps for about 3 months or longer if kept in the freezer.