Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Chicken Pad Thai

Okay, confession time. I made this from a kit by Thai Kitchen that comes with the rice noodles and sauce. I'm trying to screw up my courage to make real pad thai, but I wanted to be sure I could master this before I bought a bunch of ingredients from the International Market.

It was pretty good. Joe and I could've dealt with it being a little spicier, but I'll keep that in mind when I graduate to making the real deal. It was a perfect amount for 2 people. It was actually nice to not have to worry about putting away leftovers. I think that I may have overcooked the noodles just slightly. They weren't quite as firm as I prefer. The thing I really liked about this pad thai was that it had all of the texture variations that I love: the slippery noodles, the crunch of the peanuts and the bean sprouts, and the texture of the chicken.



Ingredients
- Thai Kitchen Pad Thai kit for two (includes rice noodles and sauce)
- 4 oz chicken, tofu, shrimp, or vegetables (I used chicken. This might not be enough protein for people who are big meat-eaters.)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
- 1/2 cup bean sprouts
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- (I also used some green onion I had.)

Instructions
1. Boil 4 cups of water. When water reaches a boil, remove from heat source and soak rice noodles for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Pour 1 tbsp of oil into a large frying pan or wok. Place egg in pan and cook until scrambled through. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and cook the chicken, tofu, shrimp, or vegetables. Once cooked, put the noodles and sauce in the pan and toss until noodles have completely absorbed the sauce. Toss with egg and bean sprouts. Garnish with lime and peanuts.