2014 Cooking Club Week 5: Pad Thai

Im just putting this up a day early (hope thats ok mods ). I literally dont have the time to put it up tomorrow. And this week has just been mental, havent had a moments rest. Hence no pictures.

I make this quite a lot. I only learned how to make it a few months ago. Its one of those dishes you can substitute some ingredients for others if needs be. Obviously if you have a nut allergy or just dont like peanuts you can leave them out. Or add in other stuff if you want! I sometimes add mushrooms and broccoli to the mix and it works out perfect.

Same with if i dont have noodles, rice, in fairness, goes go well with it. I know it goes against the traditional way of making Pad Thai but to be honest, if you dont have the noodles, rice is not a bad substitute Seriously, dont knock it til you've tried it.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings!

Ingredients:

Serving 3 to 4 people

250 g. pad Thai rice noodles Or any kind of rice noodle
8 Chicken thighs cut into small pieces (about 2 per person) or 4 Chicken Fillets
12 raw medium sized prawns no shells and veins removed
1.5 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chili, sliced
1 thumb-size piece ginger, grated
4 scallions, sliced
2 eggs
300g bean sprouts
50g dry-roasted unsalted peanuts or cashews, ground or roughly chopped with a knife
1 fresh lime, sliced into wedges
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil


PAD THAI SAUCE:
80ml good-tasting chicken stock
3 Tbsp. Tamarind paste (rice vinegar or white vinegar is a good substitute if you cant get to an Asian supermarket)
1 Tbsp. lime juice
3-4 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. white pepper


1) Toss your chicken in 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce and leave.

2) Mix the Pad Thai sauce ingredients together making sure the sugar is dissolved completely.

3) Meanwhile, bring some water to the boil, throw in the noodles and turn off the heat. It is important at this stage that you do not cook noodles. Soak them for about 5 to 6 minutes then rinse under cold water and set aside.

4) Heat your wok or pan over a medium to high heat. Add the oil followed by the ginger, white part of the spring onion, chilli and garlic. 1 minute

5) Add the chicken and stir fry. 2 minutes

6) Add the prawns and stir fry. 3 minutes. The pan will get dry so add 2 tbsp of the pad thai sauce. I usually like to add in the bean sprouts (you are supposed to wait until the very end, i like them added at this point) and any other veg you may want to add in.

7) Make a well in the pan, having everything out to the side. In the middle crack in your eggs and scrambled them as quick as you can.

8) Add the noodles! And 4 tblsp of the sauce to the mix. Lift and turn the noodles with the rest of the ingredients. Repeat this adding more sauce every 2 minutes. This should take 8-10 minutes and the noodles should be sticky and chewy.

9) Serve onto plates with a lime wedge on the side and some chopped peanuts on the side or sprinkled over it.

Enjoy