Ingredients
Sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind paste (dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water; look for tamarind at Asian/Chinese or Indian food stores)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 to 3 teaspoons chili sauce (or 1/2 teaspoon or more dried crushed chili or cayenne, to taste)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Pad Thai
8 ounces rice noodles
6-8 raw shrimp
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons sesame or coconut oil
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 to 2 fresh red chilies (minced)
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup cilantro (fresh; chopped)
3 green onions (sliced)
1/3 cup peanuts (crushed or roughly chopped; or other nuts, such as cashews)
Garnish: lime wedges
Directions
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Dunk in noodles and boil until they are limp but still firm and a little “crunchy” to taste. Rinse noodles thoroughly with cold water and set aside. Tip: Undercook the noodles since you will be “frying” them later.
Toss shrimp in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and a dash of chilis with a small amount of lime juice and set aside. For the pad Thai sauce, combine ingredients in a cup, starting with 4 tbsp. sugar.
Warm a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 Tbsp. oil and swirl around, then add garlic and ginger. Stir-fry 1 minute and add the shrimp. Stir-fry 2 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and plump. Push ingredients aside and drizzle a little more oil into the pan. Crack in the egg and stir-fry quickly to scramble.
Add noodles and drizzle over 1/3 of the pad Thai sauce. Using a gentle turning motion, stir-fry everything together. Add more sauce every 30 seconds to 1 minute until sauce is used up and noodles are sticky and chewy tasting (5 to 8 minutes).
Turn off heat. Fold in bean sprouts and green onion. Taste-test, adding more fish sauce if not flavorful enough. If too salty or sweet, add a good squeeze of lime. Sprinkle the nuts and coriander on top. Thai chili sauce can be served on the side for those who like it extra spicy.
