Yes, my friends. That’s what good Pad Thai is: pure happiness.

When my friend Julie and I were in England a couple of summers ago, we discovered how important it was to make reservations at restaurants on Saturday nights.  Unfortunately, we learned a little too late.  After we had sat in the Loch Fyne in Henley-on-Thames for about an hour, we realized getting a table might just take until the next morning.  We left and wandered in the drizzle to a nearby Thai restaurant.   Looking back on that night, I realize the Pad Thai we ordered was not that great, but since we were so hungry, and so tired, it tasted like food from the gods.

The very first time I ate Pad Thai was when Shannon made it for me.  She followed the recipe in America’s Test Kitchen’s The New Best Recipe.  Although I have never bought it on the streets in Bangkok, from what I understand, it’s pretty close.  It isn’t like some of the reddish, greasy versions of pad thai you find in American restaurants (or English restaurants, apparently), it’s lighter, tangier, and in my opinion, perfectly wonderful.

However, since I can easily down the full recipe by myself in one day, I decided it would be better to make with whole grain noodles instead of the traditional rice stick which is made from white rice.  I also cut back on the sugar by replacing it with Agave nectar.

The way I make this is a mixture of what I learned from that book, how I saw Shannon make it, and how I have adapted it myself over the years. I hope you enjoy making it.

The ingredients I list can be hard to find, but some of them are really crucial to the taste.  Since that is the case, I’ll give you links to some of the products for those of you who don’t have a nice Asian store to buy them.

fish sauce (If you’re kosher or vegetarian, though, go ahead and use soy sauce)

chili sauce This Huy Fong Sriracha is available all over the place, but if you can’t find it, you can order it, or just use a pinch of cayenne pepper. (But Connie, you can just leave it out altogether, the Pad Thai will still be great!)

tamarind Tamarind is the trickiest ingredient here, but it’s really essential. The recipe just won’t taste right without it. And usually it’s pretty hard to find (Thank goodness for amazon!).

The only other real option for substituting tamarind is tamarind paste. It will make your noodles darker, but it tastes okay. Here is a link for it, though it looks like amazon isn’t selling it right now. This was the brand I used when I lived in Colorado, though, and I found it at Whole Foods.

brown rice pasta