Pad Thai

This is one of my favorite Thai dishes and the one I most want to try some day IN Thailand, bought from a street vender. Compared to traditional Pad Thai, this version is pretty boring. But it's tasty and does have the sweet, tangy, spicy taste that drew me to Thai food.

Pad Thai

Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz. box rice noodles
• 8 Tbs lime juice (juice of 4 limes)
• 6 Tbs fish sauce
• 5 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp Thai chile paste (to taste - this doesn't make it very spicy)
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 4 Tbs coconut oil
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 8 green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts + 3 Tbs chopped peanuts (for garnish)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts

Directions:  

1. Prepare rice noodles according to package directions for stir fry.
2. Keep one slice from the middle of each lime for garnish. Juice the limes into a small mixing bowl. Add the fish sauce, sugar, and Thai chili paste and whisk together.
3. Slice chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss with soy sauce.
4. Cut green tops off of onions, leaving about an inch of green with white, and save for garnish. Finely mince the remaining pieces of onion.
5. Put 2 Tbs of coconut oil in large skillet (or wok) over high heat. Crush garlic cloves into oil while it is heating. Stir in the minced onions and 1/4 cup of chopped peanuts, and reduce heat to medium high. When onions are soft, add in the chicken and soy sauce mixture. Continue stirring until chicken is cooked through. Push mixture to side of pan and on the other side add 2 Tbs coconut oil and scramble the eggs. When eggs are done, stir together entire mixture.
6. Reduce heat to low and add prepared sauce, a small handful of bean sprouts (optional), and noodles. Toss together until all ingredients are well incorporated.
7. Garnish with lime slices, long slivers of green onion tops, remaining bean sprouts, and 3 Tbs of chopped peanuts.

This was adapted from the Restaurant-Style Pad Thai recipe on the back of Annie Chun's Pad Thai rie noodles.

I thought it was pretty tasty and the family loved it, but didn't think it was quite as good as Siam Thai (their website says they are open on Sunday, but they are not). I don't know if it's possible to make a good pad thai at home without tamarind paste. On my next try I'm going to use Annie Chun's Pad Thai Sauce since it's all-natural and has tamarind, plus use more traditional ingredients (tofu, dry shrimp and fresh bean sprouts to see if it makes a difference.

~ Enjoy!