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I’m no cook but I do love food and taking photos of food. I’m a food enthusiast. My husband loves pad thai, so yesterday I attempted to make a quick chicken pad thai (replace the chicken with prawns or tofu if you are not keen on the chicken) and it was semi-successful. I learned a few things in the process and I’m hoping the next time it will be better.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 skinless free-range chicken breasts
2 x 200g packs straight-to-wok rice noodles ⁽¹⁾
75g beansprouts
2 free-range eggs
1 heaped tablespoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
2 teaspoons caster sugar ⁽²⁾
Fresh coriander (cilantro for our US readers)
Natural roasted peanuts ⁽³⁾
Spring onions
Limes

In a large wok or frying pan heat the olive oil over a high heat. Slice the chicken breasts then stir-fry the chicken in the wok for 5 minutes until golden brown. Add the noodles and beansprouts. Stir-fry for 2 minutes more, then make a clearing in the centre of the noodles. Crack in the eggs and scramble using a spoon to mix. In a small bowl, mix together the tamarind paste, fish sauce and sugar⁽⁴⁾. Add to the pan, mix well to coat, then add a splash of water f the noodles look a little dry. Remove from the heat, stir through a good handful of the coriander leaves (keep some to top the dish at the end) and squeeze over 1/4 lime (the recipe calls for 1/2 but we found that too much). Serve sprinkled with a few chopped peanuts, spring onions and a lime wedge.

⁽¹⁾ I’d advise getting 5mm uncooked rice noodles instead and cooking these yourself before adding them to the wok. Soak the noodles for 3 minutes in clean cold water, then boil them until they are soft, but still firm, then add them to the wok as the recipes indicates.

⁽²⁾ I used Splenda instead since we didn’t have caster sugar and it worked just fine.

⁽³⁾ It’s really easy to roast peanuts. Get them in the shells so they are unsalted or processed in any way. Remove them from the shells (don’t worry about the “skins”) and place on a baking dish. Bake until you see them turning a nice rich brown. The “skins” will come off really easily once they have been roasted.

⁽⁴⁾ I’d suggest doubling the sauce and adding to taste. We definitely needed some extra sauce.

This recipe is from the July 2008 issue of delicious. If you are looking for a good foodie magazine - this is it! Wonderful articles, great recipes and really lovely photos. I’m thinking of trying my hand at a few other recipes. Perhaps I’ll finally get the knack for cooking and upgrade to being a real foodie. Maybe…

Posted by Lorissa in Lifestyle |

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.