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Pad Thai Gai

From: The Most Popular Thai Food Also: Adam Ragusea

Yields 2 servings

Ingredients

For the sauce:

  • 4 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 35 g (best palm, brown second) sugar
:!: It's possible to replace both the fish sauce and tamarind with 3-4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. Not the same, but pretty good.

Main:

  • 2 shallots, chopped AND
  • 70 g garlic chives, cut into 5 cm pieces (optional?) OR
    • 1 bunch green onions (or better Chinese leek), white parts chopped in pieces for aromatics, green finely chopped for garnish
  • 2 garlic cloves, semi-coarsely chopped
  • 1 fresh red chili (optional, can be substituted with chili powder)
  • 1 chicken breast (150 g), cut across the grain, 1 cm pieces. Shrimp is an excellent alternative.
  • 100 g extra firm tofu (optional), cut in cubes
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 Tbsp finely chopped SWEET preserved daikon radish (optional?)
  • 120 g mung bean sprouts
  • 100 g Pad Thai noodles (flat rice noodles)
  • 4 tbsp (40 g) roasted peanuts, crushed
  • oil
  • some water
  • 0.5 lime, cut in 2 wedges. Cut around the core so that wedges would not have core in them.

Instructions

  1. Mix up the sauce and let the sugar dissolve.
  2. Prepare the ingredients. The frying is very fast (3 minutes) and you need everything ready by that.
  3. Prep the noodles:
    1. Method 1: Fill a nonstick pan with water, bring it to boil. Put the noodles in. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then dump the noodles into the strainer and shock with cold water to prevent them from sticking and cooking further. Set aside.
    2. Method 2: soak noodles in warm water. Let it rest there while you prep other ingredients.
  4. ⚠️ From now on cook for one ration at a time!
  5. Dry the pan, return to cooking. Add oil, let it heat up.
  6. Put half of the chicken in, stir a bit, spread the chicken thin and let it fry like that to let it brown.
  7. When the chicken pieces are opaque 2/3rds of the way up, put in half of your tofu, shallots/garlic/chili mixture and stir it aggressively. Push it over to one side of the pan (it's OK that the chicken and veg aren't fully cooked yet).
  8. Dump in half the noodles, a third of the sauce (you can always add more sauce if you think it needs it), splash of water, combine. The water liquidifies the sauce and allows the noodles to finish cooking.
  9. Push everything to the side, on the other side add some oil, crack an egg, scramble it, then fold the combined noodles onto the scrambled egg. Let it roast for a handful of seconds, then mix everything.
  10. Add half the bean sprouts, chives or spring onions, a few chopped peanuts, and stir to combine.
  11. Put it on a plate, garnish on the side of the plate with lime wedges, more peanuts, garlic chives. Wipe out the pan and cook the second portion.

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