Pad Thai with Chicken and Shrimp

Every once in a while, lightning strikes and I have one of those “Eureka!” moments. Sadly, I can’t say this involves a time machine or some incredibly super-duper scientific discovery like anti-matter or anything. I mean, anti-matter would be awesome wouldn’t it? Then there could be stuff like this! (facepalm)

This epiphany, if you will, involves food (of course it does).

Pad Thai’s been one of those dishes I could NEVER get right. After a dozen failures (miserable at that, they were all barely edible), I stumbled on an old post on Use Real Butter which opened my eyes. And after consulting a link at Chez Pim, I knew I was set. Not an hour later (I immediately ran off to the store and had to cook this), I had a nice steaming plate of noodles and devoured it without hesitation. The first portion was only ok, the next was much better (the secret is in the sauce!) and within two weeks, I probably cooked it 4 times.

What was wrong with what I was doing before? Turns out one of the most important techniques is incredibly simple. Cook small portions at a time, preferably individual servings if you can! Why? It’s easier to manipulate everything as a whole and being able to move ingredients around the pan/wok really helps when trying to mix things together and also when cracking in the egg. That, and with the dish taking 2-3 minutes of actual cooking time, you can still churn servings out at a good clip.

A word of caution though, this is by no means healthy food. I had to use a lot of oil to avoid too much sticking and that may be a little excessive but it does get the job done.

Recipe adapted from Use Real Butter and Chez Pim.

Pad Thai w/ Chicken and Shrimp

Serves 4
Time : 45 minutes (mostly prep time)

Ingredients:
– 1 lb rice noodles, just undercooked per packaging directions
– 1/2 – 3/4 lb chicken breast, thinly sliced
– 12 medium shrimp (maybe 1/2 lb at the most), peeled deveined (tails ok)
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 – 2 tbsp salted turnips, minced
– 2 tbsp chives, chopped
– Generous handful of bean sprouts
– 2 – 3 oz firm pressed tofu, sliced
– 4 eggs
– 1 lime, wedged
– Handful of crushed peanuts

Sauce:
– 1/2 cup Tamarind paste
– 1/2 cup Fish sauce
– 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
– 1 tbsp+ Chili Powder

Method:
Prepare EVERYTHING beforehand. Have everything within an arm-length of the stove, pad thai is cooked quickly and you don’t want to waste precious seconds fumbling around for things. Separate the noodles into 4 portions (this is key since the noodles stick together and again, you don’t want to waste time pulling the noodles apart!)
1. Combine the sauce together in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Fill a medium saucepan with water (could be the water you cooked the noodles in) and leave simmering on the side. You’ll be using this to quickly dunk the noodles before adding them to the frying pan (If the noodles are piping hot when you start cooking you may not need to do this.
3. Heat a frying/pan over high heat with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Add a quarter-portion of sliced chicken (2-3oz) and a portion of the shrimp (4 shrimp). Let it cook undisturbed for about 15-20 seconds, then turn and cook another 15-20 seconds.
5. Add 1-2 tbsp of the sauce and a portion of garlic, quickly stir everything together.
6. Dunk a portion of the rice noodles in water, drain and add to the frying pan along with 1/4 cup of the sauce. Mix well to combine.
7. Push the noodles to one end of the pan and crack 1 egg on the other side. Let the egg cook for 10 seconds undisturbed and then use the spatula to break it apart and mix with the noodles.
8. Add a portion of salted turnip, tofu, bean sprouts, and chives in. Stir and toss for another 30 seconds to a minute and plate immediately.
9. Serve with lime wedges, crushed peanuts, and extra chili powder.

NOTE : If done right, you should not need to scrub the pan between portions. Took me a couple tries to get this down.