Pad Thai

Pad thai is a wonderful preparation and is Thailand's national dish. It is a street food in Thailand and very popular here in Australia. It combines the tangy tamarind, spicy chilli and crushed peanuts. It is one of those dishes that you want to keep on eating.

Ingredients:

½ cup tamarind extract

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon palm sugar

1 tablespoon cooking oil

3 red chillies

½ teaspoon of chopped garlic

2 teaspoon of chopped onion

1 teaspoon of lime juice

uncooked prawns/shrimp

½ cup firm tofu

2 cup flat white noodles

1 cup bean sprouts

½ cup roasted and crushed peanuts

fresh coriander leaves

1 egg

salt to taste

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Soak the flat rice noodles in boiling water until they are soft. Drain the water and wash with cold water and set aside.

The tamarind extract can be bought in any store but if using whole tamarind, soak the tamarind in warm water and them blend it in the blender. Strain the juice using a strainer.

Pad thai sauce

Add tamarind paste to a wok and add the fish sauce. Add the palm sugar and brown sugar,stir and let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Set the sauce aside in a bowl.

Noodles

Coat the wok with oil add the garlic, onion and red chillies. Add prawn to the wok and cook until they are pink. Add firm tofu and the egg and cook it for 2 minutes.

Add the noodles to the wok and add 3-4 teaspoon of sauce and add lime juice. Toss the noddles until they are coated with sauce. Add the lime juice and bean sprouts and toss again.

Serve the pad thai with roasted and crushed peanuts.