DHOMS EASY PAD THAI

Serves 2

1 clove   garlic (optional)

1/2 tbl    fish sauce or soya sauce

200g      prawn cutlets, chicken or pork

180g       rice noodles, soaked in cold water (approx. 1 hour) and drained

              (soaked noodle weight approx. 280g)

40g        golden shallots or reds onion

30g        salted radish, finely diced (optional)

100g      firm tofu, finely diced

2            large free range eggs, slightly beaten

150ml    chicken stock or water, a little extra may be required

150ml    Dhoms Pad Thai Sauce

1            cup bean sprouts, little reserved

handful  garlic chives, cut into 3cm lengths, little reserved

              crushed roasted peanuts

              crushed dried chilli

              lime wedges 

              vegetable oil

• Stir-fry prawns/chicken/pork in a little oil in a Teflon frying pan or wok with garlic and fish sauce until just cooked.
• Add dried prawns (optional), tofu, dried radish (optional) and shallots/red onion, cook for a few minutes.
• Add rice noodles and stir.
• Add chicken stock/water and cook 2-3 minutes to allow noodles to absorb stock/water. Add a little extra water/stock if still dry.
• Add pad Thai sauce and reduce heat. Stir and allow noodles to absorb sauce.
• Push noodles to side of pan, add a little oil and add eggs, cook until almost set.
• Add garlic chives, bean sprouts and half the peanuts. Stir briefly over low heat until mixed through. It should taste SALTY, SWEET and SOUR. Adjust taste as required. You can add a little extra Pad Thai sauce if necessary. Garnish with reserved bean sprouts, garlic chives and rest of peanuts.
• Serve with crushed dried chilli and a squeeze of lime to taste. A little sugar or fish sauce may be added if desired. It depends on your individual taste!

Pad Thai requires quite a large surface area for cooking, even to make a single serving. A wide heavy aluminium Teflon pan may work better than a steel wok, especially if cooking on an electric stove. If cooking for a large group it is better to make small batches of the dish rather than attempting to cook a large quantity all at once. Alternatively a large quantity may be cooked on a large flat gas hot plate. If you are a Pad Thai beginner it’s good to practice doing the dish slowly with half the quantities in the recipe to make a single serve.

Noodles

Use 3-5mm wide dried flat rice noodles, available in most supermarkets.

Garlic Chives

This flat leafed vegetable/herb is sometimes difficult to find, except in specialty fruit and vegetable shops and markets. If you live in the Cooroy area you can order them through Cooroy Harvest Fresh. We grow our own at Dhoms Kitchen. The seedlings are easy to find and grow well in our sub-tropical climate. Once established they will last for years in your garden.