Pad Thai Noodles
Author: Chef Pablo
Ingredients
  • 13 oz Ban Pho - Rice noodles (thin variety)
Sauce
  • 6 tsp Fish Sauce
  • 8 tbsp Tamarind Juice
  • 6 tbsp Palm or Coconut Sugar
Meat and Vegatables
  • 8 tbsp Peanut Oil
  • ¾ lb. fresh Shrimp, shelled, deveined and butterflied
  • 1 package firm Tofu (Cut into thin strips ~1 in. long and ½ in. wide)
  • 10 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
  • 6 Shallots (you can substitute ½ a medium red onion)
  • ½ cup Shrimp (small dried)
  • ½ cup Sweetened Salted Radish, chopped
  • 4 tsp dried Red Chillies, ground
  • 6 Eggs
  • 6 cups Bean Sprouts
  • 2 cups Garlic Chives, cut into 1-1/2 in. pieces
Garnish
  • 1-1/2 cup Unsalted Peanuts, crushed
  • 1 Lime, cut into wedges
  • 10 sprigs Cilantro
  • 8 Green Onions, cut into 1 in. pieces
Instructions
  1. Soak the dried rice noodles in cool or lukewarm water for about 45 minutes to an hour. Do not let them sit for too long or they will get too soft when you cook them. They should still be firm when you remove them from the water.
  2. While the noodles are soaking, in a bowl, mix together the fish sauce, tamarind juice and palm or coconut sugar. Stir this will crushing the sugar to help it dissolve. You'll want to taste this to make sure it has that special salty sweet and sour flavor.
  3. Drain the noodles and set them aside.
  4. I prefer to make this dish in single serving batches. If you try to cook too much at one time, your ingredients will absorb all the heat from the wok and you'll end up simmering the food rather than stir-frying it. So, separate your ingredients into 6 even batches.
  5. Heat your dry wok on as high a heat as possible until it's smoking hot.
  6. Add 2 tsp of peanut oil and very quickly stir fry the shrimp until they turn pink (it shouldn't take very long at all).
  7. Add a quick sprinkling of fish sauce to the shrimp right before removing them from your wok.
  8. These next steps are going to happen very fast, so it's best to have all of your ingredients prepped, measured out and ready to go.
  9. Swirl in a couple of teaspoons of peanut oil and wait 30 seconds for it to heat up.
  10. Add the cut up pieces of tofu and fry for about 2 minutes, stirring gently so you don't break them apart. They should have a nice light golden color to them.
  11. Add the garlic to the tofu and stir fry for about 20 seconds. Just a couple of quick tosses should do the trick.
  12. Add the sliced shallots (or thinly sliced red onion) and toss a couple of times.
  13. Add in the sweetened salted radish, dried shrimp and ground dried chillies, stirring and tossing very quickly with the other ingredients. Less than 30 seconds.
  14. Add the drained noodles and toss well with the other ingredients, cooking very quickly for less than 2 minutes.
  15. Push the noodles up along the sides of the wok, leaving an open area of the wok in the middle.
  16. Add 1 tsp. of peanut oil to the wok. Crack and pour in an egg, scrambling it lightly as it cooks.
  17. Use your spatula to chop up the cooked egg and toss it with the noodles and other ingredients.
  18. Add in the sweet and sour sauce you prepared earlier and toss with the noodles.
  19. If your noodles are too firm, add in a couple of tablespoons of water to and let them cook a couple minutes longer.
  20. Once your noodles have cooked to your liking, add the shrimp back in along with ⅔'s of the bean sprouts and all of the garlic chives.
  21. Cook until the vegatables are wilteded and transfer to a serving plate.
  22. Garnish with the remaining bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, cilantro, green onions and a lime wedge.
Recipe by Chef Pablo's Recipes at http://chefpablos.com/asian-recipes/pad-thai-noodles/