Bring some Thai into your Pad.

Ok, so the title is a bit hokey, but you get the gist of it. After I finished my previous blog post on a local Thai restaurant, I thought, what if folks don't have such a place nearby, how do they experience the food? The best way I could open that door is to give you the simplest recipe: Pad Thai. It's a one pan noodle dish full of flavor, and the person making this dish can decide on what protein, if any, they want in it: seafood, beef, pork or chicken. I'm not fond of tofu, but if that's what you like, you can add that too.

The rice noodle is what makes this dish so light, and distinctive; but if hard pressed to find it, Japanese Udon, or even a flat pasta such as linguine or fettuccine could be substituted, but then it really wouldn't be Pad Thai, and that's what you really want.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) package of rice noodles
2 Tbsp peanut or canola oil
½ small onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups shredded cabbage (use mixture of white and red for color contrast)
1 cup bean sprouts
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp Thai chili sauce
¼ chopped peanuts

Preparation:

Soak noodles in cold water for 30 minutes; drain and set aside.

In a Wok, or large deep skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat; sauté onion and garlic till onion softened; do not let garlic brown or burn. Add eggs and cook until firm; add in rest of ingredients and noodles; mix, breaking up fried eggs and cook for 10 minutes, or until noodles are tender. If desired, mix in 1 pound of precooked protein item; cook additional 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour
July 8, 2008

Sing Ha Thai Restaurant

Sing Ha Thai

92 E Center Street
Moab, UT, 84532

(435) 259-0039
Fax: (435) 259-0005

Website: http://singhathai.com/
This link is for the main restaurant located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu; the Moab restaurant is part of the Sing Ha Thai Restaurant Corporation.

Being fond of Thai cuisine, we were looking forward to trying out Sing Ha Thai; several of Roy’s coworkers had eaten there, and said the food tasted good. We were to find out later on that there was more to the story than first told.




To enter the restaurant, you need to walk up a set of stairs, past a couple of offices, and near the back is the entrance to the restaurant itself. The interior is smallish, too many tables, so you cannot help but see what your neighbor is eating, and hear their conversation. However, a friendly greeter will take you to a table, and then you can peruse the menu which is ala carte; there is also a tea menu.

We ordered two appetizers: Spring Rolls, crispy, but with the typical large shreds of cabbage inside we’ve been seeing in Asian restaurants in the Four Corners area. Crab Rangoon, crispy wontons with smooth cream cheese, but tiny flecks of crab, so we were not sure if it was real crab or imitation.

The main entrees were Chicken Pad Thai, not exactly what we were used to; while it tasted good, it had an unusual flavor we couldn’t identify. The Sweet and Sour Shrimp was very good; rice was extra though, and that seemed chintzy on their part, considering the prices charged for the menu items. The portions are not large, so if sharing, consider ordering more than one main entrée.

At first we considered this a place to go back to if we were truly in the mood for Thai; however, we changed our minds several hours later when we both were not feeling very well. When Roy went back to work the next day, his coworkers asked him about his experience with Sing Ha Thai. He told them, including how we both fell ill the same evening. Surprise, surprise; his coworkers said they had experienced the same thing, but didn’t tell him, so he wouldn’t be negatively influenced beforehand. They couldn’t be sure if it was the food or not, but our experience, coupled with their comments, indicates it most likely was. Was it the large amount of shredded cabbage, the unusual taste we couldn’t identify?

So, we will not be visiting Sing Ha Thai restaurant again.

Mary Cokenour