Recipe(tried): Thai-style Fried Noodles, Pad Thai

Thai-style Fried Noodles, Pad Thai

Pad Thai is often called the signature dish of Thai cuisine. There are several regional variations, indeed it has been said that Thailand has not only a different curry for every day of the year, but also a different pad Thai for every cook in Thailand!

You need a cup of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts to make this pad Thai.

1 cup cup of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts
8 ounces Chantaboon rice noodles. These should be soaked at room temperature for a short while (30 minutes to an hour) until soft.
5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
2 tablespoons chopped shallots (or small red or purple onions)
1/4 cup dried or 1/2 fresh cooked shrimp
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup palm sugar
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate mixed with 5 teaspoons water
1 medium egg, beaten
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, very coarsely broken up.
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup tofu that has been marinated in dark sweet soy.

Heat a little cooking oil in a wok and add the garlic and shallots, and briefly stir fry until they just shows signs of changing color. Add the remaining ingredients except the egg and the bean sprouts, and stir fry until the tofu is nearly cooked. Continuing to stir with one hand, slowly "drizzle" in the beaten egg to form a fine ribbon of cooked egg (if you don't feel confident with this make an egg crepe separately, and then roll it up and slice it into quarter inch wide pieces, which you add to the mix at this point). Add the bean sprouts and cook for no more than another 30 seconds. Remove from the pan to a serving platter.

Garnish

Mix a tablespoon of lime juice with a tablespoon of tamarind juice and a tablespoon of fish sauce, and use this to marinade half a cup of uncooked bean sprouts, half a cup of chopped chives, and half a cup of very coarsely ground roasted peanuts. Sprinkle this mixture on the cooked pad Thai. Cut several limes into segments and also slice up some cucumber into rounds then halve the rounds. Put the lime segments and cuke segments around the serving platter.

Pad thai is served as above. You may add Thai chili powder, sugar and crushed peanuts at the table.