Pad Thai

I am such a huge fan of Pad Thai, such strong bold flavours packed into a dish. A perfect dinner really. I decided to try making it from scratch, sauce and all and I was pretty proud of the result. 

 















What you'll need:
1 chicken breast, cut into strips
5 prawns
1 tsp corn flour
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 spring onions, chopped
Pad Thai noodles 
1 egg, lightly beaten
Peanut oil
optional to serve: 
red chilli, finely chopped
bean sprouts
crushed peanuts
lemon/lime wedge


Sauce:
1 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
3-4 tbsp fish sauce
1-3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
3 dessert spoon brown sugar


(You can adapt each of these flavours to taste, remember it's better to add less and slowly add a little more to get it right)


How to create:
- Place noodles in a bowl and pour over boiling water, leave for about 8 mins. The noodles should soften but they will still have some resistance, they will soften when you cook them in the sauce though, so don't panic. Once they are done, drain and rinse with cold water.
- Now combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small jug or bowl, now the quantities I have given make a fair bit but I just slowly added it until there is enough.
- Combine the corn flour and soy sauce, make sure there are no lumps, now add the strips of chicken and stir through to coat it well.
- In a wok or large frying pan, heat 1-2 tbsp of oil, then add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant, now add the spring onion and fry for a couple of mins. 
- Push the garlic and onion to the side and add the egg, stir it to break it up, then mix in the onion mix, then remove from wok.
- Add a dash more oil if the pan is dry, add the chicken, stir until cooked through, add the prawns here is you are using them.
- Add the noodles now and about 1/2 of the sauce mix, toss gently so that you don't break the noodles. If the mix is getting too dry just add a little more sauce, cook until noodle have softened.
- Stir through the sprouts once the noodles are done.
- Taste it and alter flavours if necessary.
 - serve topped with more bean spouts, fresh coriander, crushed peanuts and a lemon/lime wedge.