Shrimp Pad Thai
Pad Thai is quite popular in Thailand, where it is considered a street food. Some think this dish came with Chinese traders to Thailand, whereas others argue that it was an invention all from Thailand alone. Either way, we have a lot of things to be grateful for in the way of Pad Thai.
The rice noodles almost look like linguine, and instead of boiling them they must be soaked for ten minutes. In the end they are more al dente than soft, which is quite delicious with the complementary crunchy vegetables. As with most things, you make the vegetables that take the longest to cook first so the whole meal can come together as one finished product by the end of the cooking process.
Our Shrimp Pad Thai can easily be converted into a more vegetarian friendly option by replacing the shrimp with tofu if that’s your thing. You can also use Ground Tamarind to make a tamarind paste in place of a pre-made tamarind paste if you don’t want to go searching for the paste. If you don’t have a wok to make this pad Thai, don’t worry, a skillet will do the job just as well. The wok is just a little fancier and will make you feel more authentic.
This recipe is tasty and was eaten up quite quickly. It’s also rather spicy- one of our taste testers ate a Thai Bird Chile but was able to mute the heat from that with the noodles. Then he decided he would double check to make sure it was as hot as he thought it was, eating another chile without the noodles to ease the pain of the heat. Unfortunately, he discovered that yes, the Thai bird chile was still just as hot the second time around.
- 3 ounces Pad Thai rice noodles
- 2 Tablespoons Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced fine
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
- 1 cup mung bean sprouts
- 8 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped fine
- Juice of half a lime
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tablespoons peanuts, chopped fine
- 2 teaspoons Organic Coconut Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Ground Tamarind, made into a paste with water
- 1 egg
- 2 Thai Bird Chiles
- Soak noodles for 10 minutes in room temperature water. Drain and set aside. Do not soak for more than 10 minutes. While noodles are soaking, prepare your other ingredients.
- Place 2 Tbsp oil in the wok along with the chiles and heat to medium-high. When oil is hot, add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add shrimp, sprouts, scallions, and cilantro. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring gently or until shrimp are pink.
- Add lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, coconut sugar, tamarind, and noodles to the wok. Stir ingredients constantly to combine liquids and coat ingredients in sauce. Cook until noodles are soft and begin to caramelize on the bottom of the wok, about 3-4 minutes.
- Push ingredients to one side of the wok, and crack the egg into it. Cook egg until just cooked through. Stir all ingredients together and serve with chopped peanuts and lime wedges.
