FOODIE WEEKEND - Comfort food, Pad Thai

Captain and I spent almost a week in Rome for the funeral of his father and ironically this sad moment became a rare time of when the family get together.  My sister-in-law and her husband cook well and during the week, they cooked fantastic dishes that we ate voluntarily, but after a week, I began to miss food at home.  I need a good plate of my comfort foo.

I am not Thai but to me the best food in the whole world is Thai food.  The whole combination of spicy, sweet and sour is simply satisfying and comforting to me - a good bowl of Tom Yum Gong when I have a cold, a dish of Som Tam salad when I just want something light after a long day or a good plate of Pad Thai for a hearty well deserved meal.  I am lucky enough to have a great Thai take out joint just 50 meters away from my house but once in a while, I cook my own Thai dishes at home.

Today, I am sharing with you a recipe for Pad Thai given to me by a friend, Ayami San.  She posted a picture of her Pad Thai on Facebook a few months  ago and I almost licked the screen of my computer when I saw it!  I asked for the recipe and she was so sweet to give me and for that I am going to name this recipe after her.

Pad Thai alla Ayami San

Ingredients – serves 2

300 grams of Thai flat rice noodles ( I use low fat brown rice noodles from Thai Choice)

2 eggs

Some cooking oil, preferably vegetable oil like sunflower oil, peanut oil or canola oil

A cup of chives cut into 1 inch length

A cup of bean sprout ( I like the crunchy texture, so I always put more)

1 ½ cup of tofu cubes, pre-fried.  The texture should be soft inside and crunchy outside.

1 ½ cup of prawns, cleaned and de-shelled (you can substitute this with minced chicken or minced beef instead)

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

½ a cup of coarsely chopped lightly roasted peanuts

Ingredients for Pad Thai sauce

1 ½ table spoon of tamarind paste mix with ¼ cup of water

       3 tablespoon of fish sauce

red chilli sauce or sambal olek or chili paste to your taste (I like my Pad Thai on the spicy   side so I put about 3-4 tablespoon of chili paste prepared with dry chilies)

 3-4 tablespoon of brown sugar

Method

 To prepare the sauce, add the ingredients together in a sauce pan and simmer on low heat        until thicken.

Boil some water in a pot and drop in the noodles and cook till soften.  Drain the water and set aside.

Heat a wok and pour in about 3 tablespoon of cooking oil, add in the minced garlic.

Once the garlic started to fragrance, add in the shrimp.

When the shrimps are half cooked, add in the tofu.  Cook for about 1 minute.

Then add in the noodles, pad thai sauce and stir well.

Now, this bit is a little tricky especially when you are doing this the first time.  Push the content of the wok to the side leaving a space in the middle.  Break the 2 eggs in the middle and break them up by stirring slightly.  Let them cook for about 15- 20 second then stir back in the noodles on the side.

Finally, add in the chives, bean sprout and stir for a while.

Just before you turn off the heat, stir in the peanut. 

Serve with lime wedge and chili flakes if you like.  I did not have either so I used chopped bird eye chili instead.