The Magic Ingredient

One of the wonderful things about Seattle, one that I miss very much, is the plentiful supply of delicious Thai restaurants. Here, not so much with the Thai food. I have yet to find a place with decent noodles. Over the years I've been on a quest to find a recipe for Pad Thai, because really, how hard could it be to make it myself? Save the $8 a week I was spending on Thai food. Now that I have no access to the delicious wonderfulness that is Pad Thai, it had become more of a necessity. The problem is, the available Pad Thai recipes suck. Seriously, ketchup? Blech. Brown sugar and fish sauce? With vinegar? Certainly doesn't smell like anything I'd want to eat. And the boxes of Pad Thai, or the frozen stuff from Trader Joes? Not horrible, but it just doesn't taste like the stuff in the restaurant.Then I stumbled upon this. I'm not sure how I found it, followed a link from one of the blogs I read, to another, then another, before I know it I'm reading the intimate details of some stranger's life. But more importantly, I discovered the secret ingredient to making Pad Thai that actually tastes like Pad Thai.

Tamarind paste. Available in your local Asian market.

Tonight, I made Pad Thai. The real stuff, that tastes like what you would get in a good Thai restaurant. Even Adam thought it was good. He was very complimentary. He doesn't give out compliments easily. He didn't even complain about the number of dishes I left for him to clean. That means it was really really good.