Tofu Pad Thai

Pad Thai relies on a sweet, sour and salty sauce hitting very hot noodles for a very short time.

Tamarind is traditional; tomato paste sharpened with lime gets close enough that the balance survives.

Pad Thai is a two-minute dish with a thirty-minute setup, and reversing that order is the only way it goes wrong.

Get everything within arm's reach of the pan before the heat goes on and it becomes easy.