Pad Thai with Shrimp or Chicken

This is my version of the very familiar Thai noodle dish. It takes a little practice to make this

meal, but if you prepare all the ingredients in advance and place them in bowls, you will have success as the cooking part must be done quickly.

Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cup tamarind (prepared from soaking in water)

3 tbsp. fish sauce

4 tbsp. palm sugar

Roasted, ground peanuts (a handful)

3 garlic cloves crushed and chopped

1 shallot chopped fine

1 chicken breast sliced thin (or bowl of cooked shrimp)

2 scallions chopped up

cilantro chopped

beansprouts

1/2 pkg. flat rice noodles

lime wedges

1 egg scrambled

**You may need to go to an Asian grocery store to find the tamarind and palm sugar.

It is possible to find the fish sauce in a regular grocery store. Pre-roasted and ground

peanuts can also be found in an Asian grocery, however you can also make them yourself

by roasting a handful of raw peanuts in a pan and then crushing them in a mortal and pestle.

Take a piece of tamarind about the size of a small lime and put it in a bowl with some warm water.

Squish it around and then strain out the solid pieces. Measure out 1/2 cup of smooth, brown

tamarind pulp. You can add a little more water if necessary to get enough pulp.

Add 4 tbsp. of palm sugar and 3 tbsp. fish sauce to the tamarind pulp. If the palm sugar is solid

in the container, warm it a bit in the microwave until it's soft and you can scoop it out. Mix these sauce

ingredients well and set aside.

Prepare all the other ingredients and place them in separate bowls.

NOODLE PREPARATION:

This is the trickiest part!! Boil a pot of water and then turn off the heat.

Add the rice noodles and soak them for about 5 minutes. The noodles should be soft and

almost fully cooked. They will finish cooking when they are stir-fried with the other ingredients.

The key here is not to oversoak the noodles!! If you oversoak them, they will break apart into small

pieces when you stir-fry them. Drain the water and place the noodles in a bowl.

Cooking and Assembling the dish:

Add 3 tbsp. of oil to a wok or large frying pan and saute the garlic and shallots 2 minutes on med. heat.

Add chicken or shrimp and cook. (Raw chicken will take a few minutes longer.. .precooked

shrimp only needs to be heated.)

Add the prepared noodles and the tamarind sauce. Mix around until the noodles are evenly coated with sauce. Move the noodles aside and on the side of the pan, fry the scrambled egg. Mix it into the noodles. Add the scallions and then the beansprouts. Mix around and the take off the heat. Do not let it cook too long!! The beansprouts should still be crunchy. Plate the noodles. Top with peanuts and cilantro. Serve with a lime wedge.

**Chili sauce can be served as a condiment if you like your Pad Thai spicy!

#noodles #padthai #thai #chicken #shrimp #peanuts