Thai one on...

Thai food is something that I have never made at home. I'm slightly intimidated by a lot of the recipes. Mainly because they contain some ingredients that I've never heard of.  When I found this recipe for a simplified pad Thai in The Best 30-Minute Recipe book by Cook's Illustrated Magazine, I had to try it.

I used my awesome new wok. Since it's non-stick, I only used oil in Step 3 and skipped it for Step 4. Instead of an 8 oz package of rice noodles, I used 13.2 oz and upped the fish sauce and brown sugar by a 1/2 tablespoon each.

It was fresh and so delicious. Completely doable at home. I highly recommend this recipe!

Simplified Pad Thai
Serves 4

• 8 ounces thick rice stick noodles (use the fettucini-size thai rice noodles)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 Tbs fish sauce
• 1 Tbs unseasoned rice vinegar
• 3 Tbs brown sugar
• 4 Tbs vegetable oil, divided
• 3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large eggs, beaten lightly
• salt
• 6 Tbs chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
• 3 cups bean sprouts, well rinsed
• 5 whole scallions, sliced thinly
• 1 medium lime, cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Cover noodles with hot tap water (not boiling) in a large bowl and soak until softened, pliable, and limp but not fully tender, about 20 minutes. Drain noodles and set aside.

2. While noodles soak, stir lime juice, water, fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of oil together and set aside. Prep and measure out the rest of the ingredients while noodles are soaking.

3. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels. Heat 1 more Tablespoon of oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet (or wok) over high heat until just smoking. Add shrimp, spread into single layer, and cook without stirring for 1 minute. Stir shrimp and continue to cook until spotty brown and just pink around the edges, about 30 seconds. Transfer shrimp to its own bowl, cover, and set aside.
4. Add remaining Tablespoon of oil and garlic to skillet and return to medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add eggs and ¼ tsp. salt and cook, stirring vigorously until eggs are scrambled, about 20 seconds.
5. Stir soaked noodles into eggs. Add fish sauce mixture, increase heat to high, and cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are evenly coated (about 3 minutes).

Add ¼ cup of peanuts, bean sprouts, all but ¼ cup of scallions and cooked shrimp. Continue to cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are tender, about 2 minutes (if not yet tender, add 2 Tablespoons water to skillet and continue to cook until tender).
6. Transfer noodles to serving platter and sprinkle with remaining scallions and peanuts. Serve, passing lime wedges and chopped cilantro.

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