Pad Thai

Continuing my Thai cooking adventure, I finally ventured into the most well-known of Thai dishes, Pad Thai. This classic dish has countless varieties -- some sweet, some sour, some chewy, some dry -- and this one seems to be a pretty good middle ground in all those aspects. The recipe below is adapted from the Food Network.

The sauce is what gives the dish its distinctive flavor, and I found it easiest if I made a lot of the sauce (the amount below) and simply refrigerate it for future use; that way, preparing Pad Thai doesn't take long at all.

You can buy premixed tamarind concentrate or make your own tamarind juice. Buy a package of compressed tamarind pulp at any Asian market, cut off 3 tablespoons of paste and soak in 1 1/2 cups of warm water for 20 minutes. Squeeze out the pulp and discard; the remaining liquid is tamarind juice.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra as needed
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup sliced pork or chicken.
• 1/2 cup whole shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon preserved radish (optional)
• 1/4 pound medium-size dried rice noodles (soaked 60 minutes in cold water and drained)
• 5 tablespoons Pad Thai sauce (recipe below)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon ground hot chiles, or more to taste
• 2 tablespoons ground roasted peanuts
• 2 cups bean sprouts, rinsed, plus more for garnish
• Lime wedges

Pad Thai sauce

• 1 cup tamarind juice
• 1 cup palm sugar plus 3 tablespoons
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

1. Make the sauce. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan for about 60 minutes until it is well mixed and syrupy. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the garlic and stir-fry until golden brown. Add the meat and shrimp and keep stirring until the shrimp changes color. Remove the shrimp to prevent overcooking and set aside. 
3. Add the noodles. They will stick together so stir fast and try to separate them. Add a little water, stirring a few times. Then add the Pad Thai sauce, and keep stirring until everything is thoroughly mixed. The noodles should appear soft and moist. Return the cooked shrimp to the wok.
4. Push the contents of the wok up around the sides to make room to fry the eggs. If the pan is very dry, add 1 more tablespoon of oil. Add the eggs and spread the noodles over the eggs to cover. When the eggs are cooked, stir the noodles until everything is well mixed-this should result in cooked bits of eggs, both whites and yolk, throughout the noodle mixture.
5. Add chiles, peanuts, and bean sprouts. Mix well. Remove to a platter. Serve with raw bean spouts and lime wedge. 

Serves 1-2. Eat it.