This pad Thai brings together tender rice noodles, juicy prawns and crunchy bean sprouts in a sauce that’s sour, salty and sweet all at once. Cook the portions separately in a hot wok so the noodles absorb the sauce without turning mushy.
Pad Thai is known for its combination of rice noodles, egg, bean sprouts and a punchy sauce. In this version, prawns add a mild, slightly sweet flavour, while chives bring a fresh, green note. The sauce is made with tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar: tamarind adds fruity sourness, fish sauce brings salt and savoury depth, and palm sugar rounds out the flavours. None of the three should overpower the others. Taste the sauce before you start cooking; tamarind products vary widely in sourness and concentration.
Use dried, flat rice noodles about 3 millimetres wide. Soak them in lukewarm water until pliable but still a little firm in the middle. They’ll finish cooking in the wok, where they absorb the sauce. Don’t boil them in a pan of water first: they’ll soften more quickly and break more easily when stir-fried. If your noodles are still stiff after soaking, give them more time to soak rather than boiling them.
A hot wok and small batches matter more than constant stirring. If the pan is too full, the ingredients cool down and the noodles are more likely to steam than fry. So cook each portion separately and have all the ingredients ready beforehand: once the wok is hot, everything moves quickly. Stir the sauce until smooth first so the palm sugar dissolves. If palm sugar is hard to find, you can use light brown sugar; the flavour will be a little less caramel-like. Ideally, choose tamarind paste or concentrate with no added sugar, and use a little less if the paste is very sharp.
Serve the noodles straight away, with chopped peanuts, lime wedges and chilli to taste. The peanuts add a dry crunch, while a squeeze of lime just before eating makes the sauce taste fresher again. Bean sprouts and chives are at their best when warmed through briefly right at the end. Leftover pad Thai can be cooled quickly, covered and stored in the fridge, then reheated within two days until piping hot throughout; the noodles will be softer, though. Store the lime and peanuts separately if you’ve already prepared them, so they retain their fresh flavour and crunch.
Soak the rice noodles in lukewarm water for 20–30 minutes, until pliable but still firm. Drain and set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together the tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar and 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water until the sugar has mostly dissolved. Divide the sauce into two equal portions.
Get all the remaining ingredients ready. Heat a wok over high heat. Cook one portion at a time: add 1 tablespoon of oil and briefly fry half the garlic without letting it brown.
Add half the prawns and stir-fry until almost cooked through. Push them to the side, crack in 1 egg and stir until just set.
Add half the drained noodles and one portion of the sauce to the wok. Toss and stir-fry until the noodles have absorbed the sauce and are al dente. If they’re still too firm, add a small splash of water as needed.
Briefly toss through half the bean sprouts and chives. Transfer the portion to a plate and repeat with the remaining oil, garlic, prawns, egg, noodles, sauce, bean sprouts and chives.
Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts. Serve immediately with lime wedges and chilli to taste.
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