Pad Thai with Shrimp

I have Pad Thai with Chicken on this blog too. There is some small different process between Pad Thai with chicken and with shrimp, is that we don’t marinate shrimp. My method of marinating meat before cooking is to make the meat more flavors and also create the meat tenderer. Shrimp meant is very delicate. It is easy to be absorbed the saltiness from salt, fish sauce and or soy sauce and also need less time for cooking.

Pad Thai is a well known and popular dish in Thailand and the world, from street vendors to high end restaurants food. Pad Thai in Thailand uses shrimp the most, for street vendors they use dry shrimp, and for more expensive and high end restaurants use fresh shrimp. Here my recipe is from real and original Pad Thai so there are some ingredients you might not be familiar with for example, garlic chives (Chinese chives) and salty radish. There are available at Asian grocery stores. Thai restaurants in North America use green onion instead of garlic chives and they skip the salty radish but if you would like to try the original favor then here it is.

35 cm. or almost 14 inch, and or family size of a wok is the maximum capacity for frying 1 pkg(450g) of Rice stick noodles which is one batch of this recipe. The noodles get enough heat properly will produce the better texture (try not to have the noodles stick on the bottom of the wok).

For the ingredients like Fish sauce, Soya sauce, Oil and Tamarind sauce are adjustable by your own taste. In my culture we learn to cook by estimating the amount of ingredients in mind not by measurement. Often it’s hard for me when I have to follow the recipes with measurements except for making the Western cakes.

(approx. 4 - 5 servings for a single dish meal)

Ingredients
1 pkg. (450 g)              dry Rice stick noodles

2/3 lb (or 300g)            Shrimp

½ pkg (250 g)               pressed Tofu – cubed

3                                   eggs

½ - 1 cup                     chopped Salty Radish (optional)

3 – 4 cloves                  chopped Garlic

2 - 2 ½ cups                 Tamarind sauce (see recipe below)

9 -10 tbsp                     Vegetable oil (adjustable, depending on the wok and noodles’ condition)

2 -3 tbsp                       Fish sauce (you can adjust your taste by adding small amount each time until suit your taste.)

1 ½ tsp.                         Soya sauce

½  tsp                            Fresh ground pepper.       

1 lb.                               Bean sprouts

1 bunch                         Garlic chives (Chinese chives) (cut into 1 inch long)

        Ground chili pepper

1 - 2                                                      Limes

Instructions

1. Place noodles in a bowl and cover in lukewarm water.  Soak approx. 1 hr. and drain.
2. Stir-fry tofu cubes with 2 tbsp oil until golden at medium high heat, remove tofu from wok.
3.  Fry eggs with 2 – 3 tbsp oil at medium high heat and cut the eggs in the wok with a turner of frying pan. Adds radish and mix well and stir-frying for a minute, and remove from wok.
4. Mix shrimp, garlic and soy sauce together and add into the wok right away with 2 tbsp oil. Stir-frying until the shrimp is just cooked, and removes from the wok.
5. Add noodles in the wok with 2 – 3 tbsp oil and stir-fry until noodles set and then add tofu and eggs, and mix well. Pour tamarind sauce gradually until the noodles absorb all the sauce. In the same time add fish sauce and stir-fry until noodles are soft and fully cooked.
6. Add cooked shrimp and fresh ground pepper and mix well.
7. Have a taste if the favor just what you want or need more fish sauce or tamarind sauce as your favor.
8. Add some bean spouts and Chinese chives. Turn the heat off. Mix the bean spouts and Chinese chives into noodles well and serve.

 Garnish with

• Bean sprouts
• Chopped Chinese chives ( cut 1 inch long or you can substitute with green onion)
• Chopped peanuts
• Ground Chili pepper
• A piece of Lime (if you need more sour favor beside from Tamarind)

Sauce (makes 2 batches) you can make this sauce in advance, it can be kept in the fridge for 4 – 6 weeks.

200 g.             Tamarind (cake of dried fruit, see picture of Tamarind this blog)

_{5 - 6} cakes      Palm Sugar (8 cakes in a pkg = 454g) (see the picture of Palm Sugar this blog)

5 cups             Water

Instructions

1. Soak tamarind in water until soft, about 30 minutes (break apart the cake of fruit as it becomes possible to speed up the softening).
2. Discard the seeds and pods.
3. Dissolve palm sugar into tamarind mixture of heat.   Heat to boiling.
4. Set aside.

Tamarind becomes thick liquid