Pad Thai

My first attempt at Pad Thai at home.  I had trouble finding a couple of the ingredients on short notice, but even with the few I omitted, it still tasted great.  It felt like a lot of prep work, especially with a busy 16-month old wreaking havoc underfoot (see last picture!).  But considering I've been craving Pad Thai for a couple weeks now, it was totally worth it.  

I will add, though, that I did not enjoy it quite as much the next day.  I think its one of those recipes that is best eaten fresh.  

[Cook's note: I was not able to find tamarind puree (or pulp for that matter), palm sugar, or shrimp paste, so I made it without the tamarind, used brown sugar, and I added some shrimp chunks to my 'spice mixture' -- I have since found tamarind at a specialty store, but have not yet found shrimp paste, so I really don't know if there is anything more to it besides mushed up shrimp.]

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts, Boneless, Skinless
3 Tbsp Tamarind Puree
2 Tbsp Grated Palm Sugar [I used brown sugar]
⅓ c Sweet Chili Sauce
⅓ c Fish Sauce
1 lb Shrimp, Shelled And Deveined
1 lb Rice Stick Noodles, Wide
2 cloves Garlic
2 Tbsp Shrimp Paste
1 Tbsp Ginger, Peeled And Finely Chopped
2 Small Thai Red Chilies, Seeded (optional)
1 Tbsp Peanut Oil For Frying [or any other oil with a high smoke point]
3 Eggs, Lightly Beaten
2 c Bean Sprouts
1 c snap peas, cut into thirds
4 Green Onions, chopped (green part only)
⅓ c Cilantro Leaves, Raw, Coarsely Chopped
¼ c Roasted Unsalted Peanuts, Coarsely Chopped
1 Lime, Cut Into 8 Wedges

Directions:

1. Cook the chicken breasts in a moderate oven until cooked through. Shred apart using forks. Set aside.
2. Mix together the tamarind**, palm sugar, sweet chili sauce and fish sauce. Set aside.
3. Shell and devein shrimp and cut them into more manageable pieces if they’re large. I sliced them right down the middle, like butterflying but cutting all the way through. Set aside.
4. Place noodles in a large heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water until they soften. Drain noodles and set aside.
5. Blend or process the garlic, shrimp paste, ginger and chili until you have a nice stinky paste.
6. Heat oil in wok and stir-fry spice paste until fragrant. Add prawns, frying for a minute or so.
Add egg, stir-fry until the egg just sets.

what happens when you turn your back
on a busy 16-month old when cooking!

Add noodles, tamarind mixture, chicken, sprouts and half of the onion; stir-fry, tossing gently until combined and everything is heated through.
7. Remove from heat; toss remaining green onion, cilantro and nuts through pad thai.
8. Serve with lime wedges (and perhaps some extra sprouts, cilantro and crispy fried onion pieces for good measure).

NOTE** If you can’t find tamarind puree (which has a smooth consistency) and can only find tamarind pulp (quite chunky consistency) you’ll need to include an extra step in your method.
Soak 40 g tamarind pulp in 1/2 cup boiling water for 30 minutes, giving it a good stir/squish every now and then.
After the 30 minutes, strain the mixture over a bowl, pushing through as much of the pulp through the strainer as you can and making sure to scrape the underside of the strainer occasionally to collect all possible pulp.
Discard the solids left in the strainer and use the pulp/liquid mixture in the bowl as for the tamarind puree in the recipe.