Authentic Pad Thai

Although this is NOT an OLD WEST recipe--it is so delicious and you must try it.

What I do because you may find a difficult time finding a Thai grocery store to get these ingredient from is that I order them online on Amazon or on Walmart.com prior to when I want to cook this for my family 

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp heaping  palm sugar, chopped

• 3 Tbsp water

• 4 Tbsp tamarind paste/concentrate 

• 2 Tbsp of fish sauce

Pad Thai

• 4oz dry rice noodles, medium size, soak in room temp water for 1 hour

• 2 Tbsp dried shrimp, medium size, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

• ¼ cup roughly chopped white onions

• 1 square piece of pressed or very firm tofu...cut into small pcs. 

• 3 Tbsp finely chopped sweet preserved daikon radish

• Dried chili flakes, to taste

• 2–3 Tbsp vegetable oil

• 10 medium sized shrimp, But you can also use 1 pound of Chicken breasts. 

• 2 eggs

• 2 ½ cups bean sprouts, loosely packed

• 10 stems garlic chives or chives, cut into 2” pieces

• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

How to make Pad Thai sauce

Add palm sugar (or brown sugar) to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in color dark brown--do not burn Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste—sugar will harden right away this is fine, let it simmer and then turn off the heat. Sugar will be dissolved in 5-10 minutes.

Cut drained noodles in half so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss and separate in the wok.

In a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flake's

Heat a wok if you have one, or a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Sear shrimp, or chicken (whatever you’re using), until done and remove them from the pan. In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil. (Don’t skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.) Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they’re still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. Break yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles. Toss the cooked protein back in (unless you’re using shrimp, shrimp cooks fast so you don't overcook, just place it over your plate when you serve). Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives (or chives) and half the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.

Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top. I like chili flakes also and cilantro.