Serves: 2 people
Ready In: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Recipe Summary:
Pad Thai is the king of Thailand's street food scene - and for good reason! It's super-easy to make, cheap and loaded with punchy South East Asian flavours that'll have you begging for more!
After riding, cooking & training with Thai chefs across Thailand; believe me, I've eaten my fair share of Pad Thai. In this version, I've brought you the authentic flavours of this iconic dish, but none of the fuss.
Pre-prepare your sauce at home, load a few simple ingredients into your framebag and bam, you're on Petchaburi Soi 5 drooling like a hot mess!
Sauce: pre-make at home
- 1 tbsp lime juice / half a ripe lime
- 2 tbsp tamarind puree
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 tbsp brown or coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
Carry with you on the trail:
- 200g dried Pad Thai rice noodles
- 1/2 onion, sliced (brown, yellow)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 big handful of chopped peanuts
- 1 Spring onion including green tops
- Chilli flakes
Optional Extras:
- Lime wedges/juice for dressing
At Home:
- Find a small airtight but lightweight container (plastic honey pots work well)
- Mix all the “Sauce” ingredients into the container and stir
On the Trail:
- Get your water on to boil
- Slice your onion, roughly chop your garlic and remove the stalk from your spring onion
- Snap your noodles in half, add them to the boiling water, chuck a lid on and remove the pot from the heat. These need 5 minutes ONLY!
- Add some oil to your second pot/pan, get it on the heat and add the onion & garlic
- Fry for 2-3 minutes or until the onion/garlic mix is starting to go golden
- Check your noodles. They should be soft but not sloppy. If they need a bit more cooking, get them back on the heat now. When they’re done, drain the excess water
- Add your cooked onion & garlic mix, all the pre-made sauce and chuck a little water in the container, shake it up and add it to the pot
- Add peanuts, chilli flakes and stir quickly over the heat to warm the sauce
- Get your spring onion, slice it lengthways in half, and then again into quarters
To Serve: Portion your masterpiece onto your plate/bowl and garnish with chopped peanuts, extra chilli flakes and the quartered spring onions. If you don’t have plates/bowls then just garnish the pot and tuck in!
Recipe Notes:
- The spring onion should be eaten raw in between mouthfuls. Trust me!
- I like to add store-bought crispy shallots to mine. But they’re not-essential
- On a long bike trip, cafes make excellent places to nab good sugar from. They won’t mind – promise!
Dietary Notes:
To make this dish plant-based, simply:
- Use this: Mushroom Oyster Sauce
- Buy this: Plant-Based Fish Sauce
(Or alternatives in your region)
Can a cyclist who’s travelling with his bikes comment :). What a great recipe Sam… easy to make, delicious to devour, simple to clean up. Looking forward to repeating to use up the remaining noodles 🙂
Thanks Geoff! So good to hear you enjoyed the recipe and you’ll be making it again. I think it’s super interesting what you’re doing with the van + bike combo. We did the same here in NZ and the two really do compliment one another! The Bikepacking Cookbook should be PERFECT for you, as you’ll be able to have a pantry (in the van) and then divide the ingredients out depending on how long you intend to ride for…. Dreamy!