Homemade Pad Thai Sauce
User Reviews
5
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Servings
8 servings
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Course
Main Course
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Cuisine
Thai
Homemade Pad Thai Sauce
Description
This Pad Thai sauce starts by gently sautéing garlic and shallots in neutral oil until translucent, providing a fragrant base. Palm sugar is then melted and caramelized in the pot to deepen the sweetness and complexity. The tamarind paste is added off heat initially to temper bubbling and then gently reheated to dissolve hardened sugar. Fish sauce brings salty umami to round out the flavor profile. Optional chili flakes offer heat according to taste.
The resulting sauce is thick with a balance of sweet, sour, salty, and umami notes, characteristic of classic Pad Thai dishes. The recipe notes emphasize adjusting tamarind paste quantity based on its varying sourness to suit individual preferences.
This sauce can be prepared in advance and stored for use in stir-frying noodles or as a marinade component. Its flexibility in seasoning allows cooks to tailor the final flavor intensity to preference.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon neutral cooking oil generic cooking oil
- 1.75 oz garlic about 1 head, chopped
- 4 oz shallot about 1 cup, chopped
- 4.9 oz palm sugar roughly chopped
- ½ cup fish sauce
- ¾ - 1 cup tamarind paste see note
- chili flakes to taste (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and shallots, and saute until soft and translucent - about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the pot.
- Return the pot to the stove over medium heat, then add the palm sugar and let it cook until it melts; pressing on any hard chunks to help them dissolve more quickly. After it melts, let it cook a little further until it caramelizes into a slightly darker brown for a richer flavour, being careful not to let it get too dark.
- Turn off the heat then add the tamarind paste; it will bubble aggressively and the sugar will harden initially. Turn the heat back on to low to help the sugar dissolve and add the fish sauce. Turn off the heat after the sugar is mostly dissolved; don't worry about a few chunks left over, they will dissolve eventually.
- Stir the garlic and shallots back in and let cool. You can also add the chili flakes at this stage if you wish to make it spicy.
- Measure the volume of the sauce by pouring it into a liquid measuring cup. Divide the volume by 8 to get the amount of sauce you need per serving (if using my pad thai recipe). Write this number down and tape it to the container of the sauce, also note on the label that you need to add 1 ½ tablespoon of water per serving when you cook.
Notes
- The sourness of tamarind paste varies by brand; adjust quantity between ¾ and 1 cup based on taste.
- If the sauce tastes insufficiently sour after cooking, lime juice can be added to balance the flavor.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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