Jasmin's Pad Thai Recipe at Epicurious.com

Jasmin's Pad Thai Recipe at Epicurious.com:


Ingredients:

"2 tablespoons red onions, finely chopped
A dash of peanut or olive oil
Shrimp (deveined), or calamari (cleaned and sliced) or chicken or pork (thinly sliced)
An egg
A small handful of thai rice noodles
1/2 a cup (max) of chicken stock or water
4 to 5 glugs of fish sauce
A heaping tablespoon tamarind sauce*
1/2 tablespoon palm sugar or unrefined caster sugar
A pinch or 2 of crushed red chile flakes
A handful of bean sprouts
3 or 4 scallions, cut into 3-inch sticks
2 to 3 tablespoons raw cashews, coarsely chopped

For garnish:
Fresh lime wedges and cucumber slices


*Tamarind sauce—of course you can buy this already prepared, but it’s an entirely different sauce when it's fresh: place a small handful (about 2 to 3 tablespoons) of dried, vacu-packed tamarind nuggets in a bowl and cover with very hot water for about 5 to 10 minutes to soften. Use your hands to squish the nuggets until the water becomes really thick and gloopy. You'll notice your hands getting really soft, so spread a good amount of it all over your arms and face. Great for the skin. Anyway, using a rubber spatula, rub the sauce through a strainer, leaving the pits behind. Store the sauce in an airtight mason jar (keeps about a week). Rinse off your arms and face."


Preparation:

Get everything ready to go because this dish takes only about five minutes to cook.

In a wok (you can use a large frying pan but it is just not the same-even if you use a cheap wok) Fry the onion in a little peanut or olive oil. Add the protein, cook for a minute. They'll continue so don't worry too much if they are still slightly opaque, and move then over to the side. Make a well in the center. Crack the egg in there and scramble with a fork till cooked. Push over to the side along with the protein.

Break the noodles in half and add to the center with about 1/4 cup of stock, the fish sauce, tamarind sauce, palm sugar (dissolve in a little hot water if too thick), and red chile flakes. Mix well into the noodles, leaving protein and scramble off to the side.

Cook the noodles in the sauce for a few minutes, stirring lightly to ensure that they don't clump together. The noodles should be just softened-you want them nice and chewy. Taste and adjust the seasoning-add more stock if necessary.

Now add the bean sprout sand the scallions, stir everything together, and heat it through. Immediately turn onto large plate and top with the chopped cashews. Garnish with lime and cucumber slices.