Pad Thai Noodles

Despite my vivid cooking skills, I am only human like everyone else. I have many crazy days where I am always running a marathon against time, but no matter how busy my day was I always aim to have a nice, warming cooked meal at the table for my family, after all, dinner is the only time where we are all under one roof.

Eating Thai food is an adventure into an explosion of flavours. Lime, chilli, fresh herbs, salty, sweet, fish sauce, coconut just to mention a few recognizable tastes. Thai street food is a favourite of mine, This recipe I replicated from watching a streetfood vendor prepare this for me in Bangkoks china town. I was doubtful when he added ketchup, but to be honest, it really adds flavour.

What I really love about Thai food and south-east Asian cuisine, in general, is the melange of flavour, speed of cooking and the pleasure it gives me. It is all about achieving a balance between sweet, sour, salty and spicy.

My approach to food is always simple, few ingredients, abundance of flavour, straightforward execution and speed. If This is you then check out my South-East Asian recipes here.

Servings: 5

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Start to finish: 25 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of rice noodles,

• 1/4 cup diced shallots

• 2 cloves chopped garlic

• Pinch of chilli powder

• 10 green onions sliced 2" long

• 1 cup bean sprouts

• 1 beaten egg

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 3 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

• 2 tablespoons ketchup

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 4 tablespoons tamarind Sauce (read notes)

• A handful of roasted peanuts (optional)

• 14 pieces shrimp, peeled and deveined

• ¼ cup water

• lime wedges

• Coriander for colour

Method:

· Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 1 hour.

· Mix the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind sauce and ketchup together until the sugar has dissolved.

· Heat some vegetable oil in a wok and fry the shrimps until cooked and set aside.

· Add another tablespoon of oil and fry the shallots and garlic for 1 minute then push to one side of the wok and tilt it, add another tablespoon of oil and scramble the egg on the side until cooked then add the drained noodles and beansprouts, add a ¼ cup water and cook stirring it about until cooked but still chewy. Add the sauce, green onions and shrimps, toss for a minute or two then serve topped with peanuts and a wedge of lime.

Notes:

· If you don’t have rice noodles, use any noodles but cook them al dente before adding.

· You can use chicken instead of the shrimp.

· To make the sauce vegan omit the fish sauce and add some soya sauce instead.

· Depending on the tartness of your tamarind, you may need to use less.

Per Serving: 817 Calories; 19g Fat (20.3% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 158g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 34mg Cholesterol; 185mg Sodium.