PAD THAI

PAD THAI
I got this recipe off of Food Network - http://tinyurl.com/d2f99m
It was one of Bobby Flay’s Throw Downs. Poor Bobby lost, but we were all winners, because Nongkran Daks gave us her recipe. I had made the sauce earlier that day, so I only had a few things to get ready. It's important that you do have everything lined up and ready to go, before turning on your wok.

For a real authentic taste, don’t take shortcuts and don’t leave out any of the ingredients-particularly the Pad Thai Sauce that gives the final dish its rich, amber color and succulent taste. Select the rice stick noodles marked “M” for medium; it’s usually on the back near the bottom of the package. Make sure if it’s just for two you only soak half of the package. The thinner and the wider ones are used for other noodle dishes. Salted radish is sold in cellophane packet at Asian markets in the refrigerated section of the product section. This was the hardest ingredient for me to find. I finally found it at the Asian market on South Tacoma Way. You end up with way more than you need but it will last indefinitely in the refrigerator. I am more than willing to share some of mine with you, if you decide to make this dish.

With one bite of this Pad Thai, you will discover noodle heaven.

This makes 2 Servings – If you want to double this recipe, DO NOT double the ingredients, for the bulk will be too much to work with in your wok. Rather, make the dish twice. If you plan to make this for company, cook noodles ahead of time and add bean sprouts and garlic chives when you heat it up. If it is an informal gathering, it is fun to let your guests cook their won noodles.


Ingredients
4 Tablespoon vegetable oil, plus extra as needed
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dried shrimp, optional – I didn’t use the dried shrimp, maybe next time.
½ cup sliced pork or chicken – I just cubed up a leftover pork lion chop.
7 whole shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 Tablespoon salted radish
¼ pound medium-size dried rice noodles (soaked 60 minutes in cold water and drained), I used half a package for four people.
Water
5 Tablespoons Pad Thai sauce, recipe follows
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon ground hot chilies, or more to taste
2 tablespoons ground roasted peanuts
½ cup sliced garlic chives or green onions – I used green onions
2 cups bean sprouts, rinsed, plus more for garnish
Lime wedges

Directions
Once you have everything ready to go into the wok, then you are ready to heat the oil in the wok.

Ad the garlic and stir-fry until golden brown. This I know goes against everything I believe in about cooking garlic, but it works just do it. Add the meat (Chicken or Pork) and shrimp and keep stirring until the shrimp changes color. Remove shrimp to prevent overcooking and set aside.

Add the noodles, but before you do, you better be ready, because it going to go fast!! Make sure you have some water near by, because you will want to add some it things start getting sticking together, and make sure you have two wooden kitchen tools to pull the sticky noodles apart.

O.K. READY???

Add the noodles. They will stick together so stir fast and try to separate them. Add a little water, stirring a few times. Then add the pre-measured Pad Thai sauce, and keep stirring until everything is thoroughly mixed. The noodles should appear soft and moist. IMPORTANT: Make sure your noodles are good and cooked before going on. Taste them, but taste them fast.

O.K. now we are going to start adding stuff, and stirring, and adding. Are you ready?

Return the cooked shrimp to the wok

Push the contents of the wok up around the sides to make room to fry the eggs. If the pan is very dry, add 1 more tablespoon of oil. Add the eggs and spread the noodles over the eggs to cover. When the eggs are cooked, stir the noodles until everything is well mixed this should result in cooked bits of eggs, both whites and yolk, throughout the noodle mixture.

Add chilies, peanuts, garlic chives or green onions, and bean sprouts. Mix well.

Remove to a platter.

Serve with raw bean sprouts and a lime wedge.

Pad Thai Sauce
This is the secret to the whole dish. Make sure you let it reduce for a full hour.

1 cup tamarind juice – more information on this below
1 cup palm sugar plus 3 Tablespoons
1 cup water
½ cup fish sauce
2 teaspoons salt

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan for about 60 minutes until it is well mixed and reduced, and syrupy. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

You can buy premixed tamarind concentrate or make your own tamarind juice. Buy a package of compressed tamarind pulp at any Asian market, cut of a chunk that’s equal to 3 Tablespoons and soak in 1 ½ cups of warm water for 20 minutes Squeeze out the pulp and discard the remaining liquid is tamarind juice. I used my mesh strainer and just used a spoon to push out all the liquid. Make sure you scrape all the pulp off the bottom of the strainer and add to the liquid. Discard the pulp, the liquid is your tamarind juice. Store any leftover juice or noodle sauce in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer.