Country > Philippines > Bohol > Tagbilaran
Date > 2024 > September
Activity > Food Recipes

Series: Thai Food

Thai Food

Pad
Thai

Tom Yum
Soup

September 26, 2024

Pad Thai

Location : Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines

Filipinos and Noodles
Filipinos are fond of noodles. It's part of every birthday celebration for long life. We have many variations of noodle dishes - Canton, bijon, misua, spaghetti, palabok, miki, mami, etc. But Pad Thai never seems to have caught on, despite its delicious flavor, despite the availability of its ingredients and despite being familiar to Filipinos. While Pad Thai spans a wide range in Thailand from street food to haute-zoot restaurants, it's high-end cuisine here that can be ordered only in fine restaurants - it's not street food. I love Pad Thai. This would be my first-ever attempt - using packaged Real-Thai Pad Thai sauce.

Pad Thai History
Although Pad Thai is synonymous with Thailand, it's not an authentic Thai dish and it's a relatively newcomer. It is said that the Chinese immigrants from south China entering north Thailand in the late 19th century introduced Pad Thai. It didn't take the country by storm until the reign of Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram in the 1940s when rice harvest was devastated by floods. He launched a 'noodle' campaign to substitute noodles for rice. Whether that noodle dish was Pad Thai is debated. Another version is that Pad Thai was invented in the 1960s to present a dish to the tourism industry that exemplified 'Thainess'. Unlike Khao Soi which is regional and can only be found in North Thailand, Pad Thai is so good that it is enjoyed nationwide and across the planet - it has become a global sensation.

Recipe
This recipe is a fusion of Real-THAI, Pailin's Kitchen and Simpol. This is now comprehensive adding (logical) steps that the others missed out. As you will notice, even though I'm already using a pre-packaged Pad Thai sauce, the ingredients needed are still a handful.

Ingredients:

200g rice sticks
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic
250g shrimp/prawns
1 cup diced bean curd
1/3 cup small dried shrimp (hibe)
3 tbsp Real-THAI Pad Thai sauce diluted in 3 tbsp water (for even spreading)
2 eggs
200g bean sprouts
chopped roasted peanuts
garlic chives or green onions or scallions
antipasti (or any astringent relishy condiment)
lime wedge or calamansi

Preparation:

Soak bean sprouts in baking soda solution for 15 mins and strain. Set aside
Soak rice sticks in warm water about 15 minutes before cooking for easier cooking. No need to strain. Just lift it up and toss in the wok when needed
Take off the shrimp heads and pound and grind using a 'pestle and mortar' to squeeze the shrimp juices out. Put in 1/2 cup boiling water for 1 min. Strain and and mix in the Pad Thai sauce with the liquid (this allows spreading of the sauce on the noodles. Otherwise, you might taste clumps of the sauce on a spoonful). Set aside
Heat oil in a wok and add garlic until aromatic. Add shrimp, bean curd, dried shrimp and stir fry
Add noodles, Pad Thai sauce (if you didn't make the shrimp juice), and shrimp juice, toss and turn
Move the mix to one side to make room for eggs. Add little oil, then add eggs on the side, break and swirl, then put the noodle mix on top. Wait for eggs to brown - you want it to be omeletty. Then toss and turn everything
Turn heat low. Add bean sprouts, peanuts, garlic chives and mix. Turn heat off. Serve hot with lime and antipasti on the side

Tips:

Don't make big batches because you'll be cooking the noodles a longer time, it will steam and it will be soggy. Also, leftovers don't keep well. Make a batch enough for 2 pax
Be generous with bean sprouts. If not enough, Pad Thai becomes dense and heavy. Bean sprouts make the Pad Thai "porous"
Removing the head and shell of the shrimps was a daunting task - but well worth the added flavor. Better to use bigger prawns - they cost more, but you have fewer shrimps to clean

Pad Thai...memories of Thailand come alive

Ending Thoughts
Despite the mixing and tossing, I still tasted pockets of the Pad Thai sauce, so I adjusted the recipe to include mixing the sauce with shrimp juice before putting on the wok - for even spreading. I couldn't finish everything in one sitting. It was practically 3 servings. So on the 2nd and 3rd meals, I separately fried an egg and put the Pad Thai on top before mixing. This made it taste like new cooking.

Altogether, this Pad Thai is so satisfying even on a first try. The 2nd cooking should already be perfect.

--- Gigit (TheLoneRider)
YOGA by Gigit | Learn English | Travel like a Nomad | Donation Bank

Pailin's Kitchen: Pad Thai in 5 mins

Simpol: Pad Thai

Neurons

(September 27, 2024) I have long used the word 'neurons' to describe cognitive abilites. I would say something like, 'the neurons connect with other neurons'. Sometimes, I would interchange the words 'neurons' with 'dendrites'. It just dawned on me to ask, 'What exacty is a neuron?'. Of course, now that we have AI, I asked. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening....more »»

Bohol, Philippines

tourist attractions

Danao Adventure Park - zip lining, cable car ride, caving, river rides/trekking, off-road buggy ride, root climbing, rappelling and ultra-glide rides
Alona Beach - hub for tourists with hotels, resorts, restos, bars and dive shops
Chocolate Hills - hills side-by-side shaped like giant Kisses chocolate
Tarsier - pocket-sized marsupia looking like a monkey
Balicasag Island - one of the best dive spots in the Philippines
Loboc River - river cruise on a boat
Anda Beach - fine white sand beach with resorts, restos and cottages, 3 hours by bus from Tagbilaran
Cabagnow Cave Pool - brackish water pool about 5ft deep inside a limestone opening on the ground, 8 feet deep, P50
Lamanok Island - walk on a 100m bamboo bridge on stilts to a resto area to take a boat tour to caves and nearly attractions, P300
Combento Cave Pool - cave pool with underwater cave system, P20
Can-umantad Falls - long narrow drop until it hits a bulbous mound spreading it into a a curtain-like water canopy and down into a splash pool
Canawa Cold Spring - deep refreshing cold spring with developed pool area
Firefly Tour - evening boat ride into the river to watch fireflies

hotel

Fox & The Firefly Cottages - SUP paddle boarding, luxury riverside native cottages, mountain bike tours, SUP yoga
Baranggay Valladolid, Loboc, Bohol
Bohol Tropics Resort - seafront location, manicured surroundings, swimming pool, resto/bar
0133 Graham Avenue, Brgy. Cogon, Tagbilaran, Bohol 6300
Oasis Resort - Alona Beach location, dive center, resto / bar
Alona Beach, Panglao, Bohol

yoga

Jing Yoga - health & well being through yoga
The Courtyard - Airport Road fronting the church
Bohol Meditation and Yoga Center - 2nd Floor Lim Magtajas Bldg. CPG Avenue

Bohol Travel Info/Tips

Bohol FYI / Tips

the tourist area where most of the hotels, restaurants, ticket offices, tour operators are, is located within the Alona Beach area
the tourist attractions in Bohol are far apart and spread-out. It would be difficult to visit them all using public mass transit. Better hire a van (P3500/day) if in a big group, or rent a motorcycle (P400/day + gas)
Bohol relies on its tourism for revenue. As expected, everything they can capitalize on from tourism is extensively used and developed

Tagbilaran Port to Panglao

You can charter any tricycle from the port all the way to Panglao (~P300), but if you want to do it on the cheap,

don't take the tricycles lined-up inside the port. Walk past the port gate and immediately outside, you'll see many tricycles. Take one to the bus terminal in Dao (~P15)
in Dao, take the jeep that plies the Panglao route (~P20)

Tagbilaran (Bohol) to Cebu City by boat

** schedules and rates keep changing, call for latest schedule

Weesam Express - departs 6:15 AM, 11:30 AM, 4:00 PM
one way: Economy (aircon) P500.00, Economy (non-aircon) P400.00, First Class P600.00
round trip promo (at least 2 days advance booking): Economy (aircon) P600, Economy(non-aircon) P500, First Class P1200
round trip promo (1 day or on the day booking): Economy (aircon) P800, Economy (non-aircon) P700, First Class P1200
Ocean Jet - departs 6-7:05-8:20-9:20-10:40-11:40AM, 1-2-3:30-4:20-5:30-6:30PM, 2 hours, arrives Pier 1 in Cebu
Open Air / Tourist Class P800, Business Class P1000
+63(32)255 7560 / +63 (32) 255 0115 / 0917 638 0000
SuperCat (2GO) - departs 5:50-11AM, 3:45-5:25-8:15PM, arrives Pier 1 in Cebu
P 500.00
+63 32 233 7000

Things to do, Places to go in Bohol

Chocolate Hills - this is a clustering of more than 1200 hills within a 50km² area. They range in height from 30-50 meters. What's unusual is their near-perfect conical shape resembling an individual chocolate chip. No one knows how they were formed. Entrance is P50/pax.
Tarsier Conservation Area - located Upper Bonbon, Loboc. The tarsiers are no longer being played at by tourists as circus props, but instead, visitors now view them in cordoned-off areas in their natural 6ha habitat. As they are territorial and nocturnal, they are predictable on where they can be viewed. P50/pax.
Alona Beach (Panglao) - Alona Beach is the tourist hub of Bohol. It has 1.5 kms of white sand beach lined-up by bars, hotels and restos. Alona is also the jump-off point for Balicasag Island, a world class dive destination.
Danao Adventure Park - located in Barangay Magtangtang, 72 kms (2 hours ride) from Tagbilaran. Adventure activities include river trekking, tyrolean traverse, rappelling, bouldering, rock climbing and ziplining.

Blogs

Bohol blogs