Pad Thai

I originally got this recipe from The Far East Cookbook, but I have adapted it over the years to my taste preferences and ease of cooking. This probably takes under 1/2 hour from start to finish, and the bulk of the time is in preparing the ingredients. Once you start cooking, it goes very quickly, so make sure you have everything ready before you heat up the wok. I sometimes add other vegetables if I have them on hand. Fresh pea pods are delicious.

Pad Thai

8 oz. flat rice noodles
1 tbs. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. hot chili paste or sriracha sauce
2 Tbs. fish sauce
4 tsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3 carrots, in matchsticks
1/2-1 lb. cooked shrimp, chicken or egg
6 oz. bean sprouts
6 green onions, thinly sliced on a diagonal
2 Tbs. sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped peanuts to garnish
1/4 cup chopped cilantro to garnish

1. Place noodles into a large heatproof bowl. Add enough hot water
to cover noodles by 2 inches and let stand 15 minutes or until softened.
Drain and set aside.





2. Mix together the soy sauce, chili sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside. Make sure all your ingredients are ready (vegetables cut up, eggs cooked, etc.) before you begin cooking, because once you start it goes very fast.





3. Heat a wok (or large pot or frying pan) until very hot. Add 3 Tbs. vegetable oil and swirl to coat wok. Add garlic and bell pepper and carrot and stir fry 3 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.





Add noodles, and sauce mix and stir-fry 1 minute. Add a little water if noodles begin to stick.







Add shrimp (or chicken or egg), bean sprouts, green onions and sesame oil and stir-fry 2-3 minutes until hot.







Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro and serve hot. Add salt and additional fish sauce and chili sauce to taste.