July 22, 2011

{chic eats} Easy Pad Thai

Welcome to a new segment for those of you who like food as much as I do.  (If you don't, I'm not sure we can be friends.)

Having a busy toddler makes going out to eat more of a production than it's really worth sometimes.  This is a problem for me because I love good food and I am not a good cook. (Here's the proof.) But I'm learning through trial and error because I want the Bitty to eat as much healthy, homemade food as possible, just like my mom did for us growing up.

I don't have all day to prepare a meal and going to the grocery is a form of torture for me.  So I'm going to share some easy recipes that are a hit in the {Mommy Chic} household.  And I'm also posting these because, like my mom, I throw meals together without strictly adhering to the recipe and then I'll forget how I made it or that I made it at all.

The first {chic eats} recipe sounds like a lot of ingredients and trouble, but it was really fairly easy.  Like I said, I have maybe an hour to prepare dinner so I can't saute/flame/cremebrulee all day.  (Not true, I could creme brulee ALL DAY.)

I love Thai food but we have a depressing shortage of Thai restaurants nearby.  I finally summoned the courage to make Pad Thai at home and it was so good!  This is a mixture of several different recipes found all over the web and cookbooks, so I don't know who to credit.  Myself, I think.

You probably have all of these ingredients (except for rice noodles, fish sauce and Sriacha).  If you like spicy dishes, you will use Sriacha often, so it's a good thing to have available.  The fish sauce smells awful, but is so salty it will be around longer than you.

{chic eats} Easy Pad Thai
Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast or shrimp (I prefer chicken)
1 box of dry rice noodles
3-4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large eggs
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/8 cup vinegar (or rice vinegar if you have it)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3-6 scallions, chopped (for mixing and garnishing)
1 lime
Chopped peanuts (optional)
Bean sprouts & grated carrots (optional) - I don't like these so I opted out

  • Soak noodles in hot water according to package instructions. Drain.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, juice from 1/2 lime*, fish sauce, vinegar and Sriracha. 
  • Slice chicken into thin slices. 
  • In a large nonstick skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, then chicken. 
  • Brown chicken til fully cooked.  Set aside.
  • Add a little more oil, then add eggs and scramble in wok, until they are in tiny little pieces to mix into the noodles. 
  • Turn down the heat to medium, add the sauce, noodles, and scallions, tossing constantly until noodles are soft. Turn off the heat and add cooked chicken and mix.  Top with chopped peanuts and more scallions (optional) and squeeze fresh lime juice.**
Serves 3-4 people.  Or 1 me.

* I prefer the Oprah-method of squeezing lemon and limes. You get so much more juice from with your teeth than your fingers! Be forewarned, if you have chapped lips, this is NOT a good idea.  Also, your teeth will taste awful and bitter, so you'll want to rinse out your mouth immediately after.

** I added more hot sauce to my dish, because it's not spicy until my nose is dripping.

Let me know if you tried it and how it went!  If you have any recipes you'd like to share, please send me an email!

6 comments:

Katherine said...

Yum! I adore Pad Thai and always have sriacha on hand :)

The Mod Dog said...

How much siracha did you use, I don't see it listed in the ingredients list?

Amy said...

I just bought some Oyster Sauce... is that kind of the same thing as Fish Sauce? Does it taste the same? I know they use both in Chinese cooking but I have no idea what they both actually taste like!
And can I substitute something else for the siracha? I really can't handle hot/spicy dishes!
Thanks!

Finley said...

Amy - definitely dont substitute ouster sauce for fish sauce, they're two totally different tastes that I can't describe. I've read a recipe where you can buy a package of Knor Sinigang soup and use that so you don't have to buy a bottle of fish sauce. And you don't have to use Sricha at all if you dont like spicy. :)

J M U said...

I tried this recipe tonight, it would have been awesome had it not been so dang salty.... I am not sure if I did something wrong, as far as I know I followed the recipe precisely, or if it is possible that my fish sauce was bad?! Does it get saltier the longer it is around? I would like to make it again, what could I do to make it less salty??

Finley said...

Unknown - sorry, I should make a disclaimer that I just throw ingredients in "to taste" and may or may not have accurate measurements. I had no idea it would be so popular!

I adjusted the ingredients to cut the fish sauce & vinegar in half. I actually haven't followed this recipe since I made it, so I'm going to try it this week and see what else needs adjusting!

Thanks for leaving a note!

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