It is always favorable to visit Southeast Asian countries as you can find many delicious food rich in spices. One of the best countries to visit is Thailand. Thailand provides you with a lot of afforable and delicious food that is not common to be found in other countries. Besides, the richness of the spices used in the food will satisfy your hunger well.
Pad thai is one of the famous dish coming from Thailand. It mainly consists of rice noodles, bean sprouts tofu, shrimp, and spicy. Though many people said that it is a kind of junk food, but it is not really as it has some nutrients on it. It has vegetables, such as bean sprouts, garlic and raw banana flowers and some healthy spices. So, pad thai is not that bad!
If you are looking for an idea of other Thailand food, you may read Health Benefits of Thailand Spicy Foods and Benefits of Tom Yum Thai Soup in Daily Basis (Tasty and Healthy).
What is pad thai, how nutritious it is and how to make a healthy version of pad thai will be elaborated in the next section. Stay tune!
What is pad thai?
Pad thai is an original dish coming from Thailand. Pad thai is commonly enjoyed as a street food that is served in food stalls and some restaurants in Thailand. However, nowadays, you can simply find pad thai in restaurants in Southeast Asia countries.
Pad thai has various ingredients inside it. You can find the source of carbohydrate from rice noodles, protein from eggs and chicken or meat and other ingredients that are nutritious. Not only consisting of rice noodles and meat and eggs, there are also various of vegetables, such as bean sprouts, radishes or turnips.
Surprisingly, in 2011, CNN has put pad thai as the fifth of World’s most delicious food. So, there is no doubt to try pad thai when you visit Thailand.
How nutritious is pad thai?
This question must be the one you are waiting for. By looking at the ingredients in it, you can tell that pad thai is quite healthy for you. Though it is commonly sold by street food vendors does not mean it is unhealthy or classified as junk food.
However, if you are looking at the amount of calorie pad thai has it might surprise you. One serving of common pad thai sold in Thailand has around 300 to 400 calories (for chicken pad thai). But if you want to have less calories in your pad thai, you can simply eat the vegetarian version, which means no meat no egg.
In one serving of chicken pad thai, you will find:
- 298.6 calories
- 11.8 fats
- 92.8 mg of cholesterol
- 681.9 mg of sodium
- 215.8 mg of potassium
- 35.5 g of carbohydrates
- 13.5 g of protein
- Vitamin A, B-12, B-6, C, D, E
- Calcium
- Copper
- Iron
- Folate
- Magnesium
You can see that pad thai has a lot of nutritious ingredients in it. So, there is no regret to consume it.
What are the health benefits of consuming pad thai?
By looking at each ingredients of pad thai, you will see how pad thai is healthy for your body. Here are the health benefits of eating or consuming pad thai:
Good for weight loss
Rice noodles as one of the main ingredients in pad thai has low fat level. So it is perfect for you that are in weight loss program.
However, you still have to pay attention to the method of cooking pad thai as it may greatly increase the fat portion in the dish. Use vegetables and steam the rice noodles together to make it low fat. Read 7 True Health Benefits of Rice Noodles Good for Weight Loss to see the other health benefits of rice noodles.
No more getting sick easily
Vitamin C in bean sprouts is very beneficial for boosting your immune system. Besides that, bean sprouts also offers iron both for men and women to keep the body healthy. This perfect combination will keep your body strong and no diseases will dare to come into your body!
Getting healthy heart
Chicken in pad thai is very rich in protein that facilitates you to get good muscles and growing well. Besides, chicken, especially chicken breast is very beneficial for controlling the amount of homocystein amino that is good for controlling cardiovascular diseases.
How to make healthier version of pad thai?
Everybody must be dreaming of eating any food without feeling guilty or having stomachache. If you still doubt of the nutririton of pad thai sold in street food stall or restaurant, start making your own version of pad thai. The following will give you a short idea of making pad thai for everybody!
You will need:
- 8 ounce of rice noodles (flat and dried wide)
- ¼ cup of fresh lime juice
- 3 tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tbsp of chili sauce
- 1 tbsp of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp of cooking oil
- 2 large beaten eggs
- 14 ounces of tofu (drained, cubed and dried)
- 2 carrots (medium-medium sized, peeled and shredded)
- 2 cloves of garlic minced.
How to make it:
- Soak the rice noodles based on the instructions on the page are clear. In another bowl, whisk lime juice, fish sauce and chili sauce together in a small bowl.
- Cook egg in a wok, scramble it and add some tofu and let it be cooked until it is brown.
- Add carrots and garlic to the wok and let it be cooked for around 3-5 minutes to be softened.
- Add the mixture of lime juice to bring a simmer.
- Put the rice noodles in, cook and stir it for 1 minute. Don’t forget to season your pad thai with salt and pepper or chili flakes. Turn the heat down and place your pad thai on a plate and it is ready to be eaten!
So,you can see how healthy pad thai is when you cook it at home. When we cook it at home, we are sure about the hygiene and freshness of the ingredients.
Read Benefits of Tom Yum Thai Soup in Daily Basis (Tasty and Healthy) and Healthiest Health Benefits of Thai Soup for Wellness.