Pad Thai noodles, Chicken

If you are familiar with Thai food then you have at some point tried Pad Thai. This delicious and simple to make dish is probably the most popular Thai dish, after all it is one of Thailand's national dishes. I searched for a long time trying to find a recipe that was simple and that I would be happy with. What I ended up with was a combination of recipe ideas and my own experimenting that have given me very good results. If you're not a big fan of the taste of tofu you can mask the flavor by doing this, in a separate bowl combine half of the sauce(below) and the chopped tofu and let the tofu soak in all the flavors until you're ready to add it to the rest of the pan or wok. It's what I do for my husband since he's not a fan of tofu, but by doing this he doesn't push the tofu aside, instead he eats it right up.

Your ingredients :

200 grams Thai dried rice noodles (rice stick noodles)

2 eggs (in a small bowl crack and mix them, set aside)

300 grams Chicken (cut into bite size)

150 grams Tofu (cut into small pieces)

3-4 Garlic cloves

1 Small fresh red chili (finely sliced) or 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 handful chopped chives (or scallions/spring onions only green stems )

1 handful fresh cilantro ,chopped

4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce

1 1/2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Oyster sauce

3 Tablespoons fresh Lime Juice ( or 1 good size lime or 1 Lemon can be replaced)

1 Teaspoon sugar (I've used either brown or white, what ever you have)

3 Tablespoons peanut oil or canola or any vegetable oil

For garnish :

bean sprouts(optional) , some fresh cilantro leaves, fresh lime/lemon wedges ,crushed roasted peanuts

1. The first thing you want is to boil your water too cook your noodles. You can just read the instructions on the package as how long they need to soak- generally 8-10 minutes. After they are cooked run them under cold water and set aside.

2. Next you'll make the sauce, in a bowl mix the fish sauce,soy sauce,oyster sauce, lime/lemon juice, sugar,pepper flakes/red chili, half of your chopped chives and cilantro -reserve the remainder. Set aside and in the mean time

3. Chop the chicken and the tofu .

4. You'll need either a wok or large pan (that's what I use) add your oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic cook for a minute then add your chicken until it's cooked all the way through.

5. Add half of your sauce (from step 2) to the wok/pan and mix thoroughly next add the Tofu and carefully combine. Push everything to one side and in the space add your eggs mix and cook until they are set. Then combine with the rest of the pan.

6. Next you'll need your cooked noodles, and add them to the wok/pan mixing thoroughly . Take your remaining half of the sauce and add it to the pan. Add the remanding chives and cilantro and cook for an additional 2 minutes, just to combine everything.

That's it ! now you can serve it. Put your noodles on your serving dish top with bean sprouts, cilantro, crushed peanuts and your lime/lemon wedges.

No wasn't that easy? I find the hardest part of the recipe to be the chopping :) You can also use Shrimp instead of the Chicken, or just use Tofu. If you don't want it spicy you can also leave out the red pepper and it won't affect the taste at all. If you have leftovers, it still taste yummy the next day!

*The Tofu I buy comes in a big package and this is what I do with the left over ~ I make yummy Tofu Burgers.