This weeks recipe may not be super healthy however it is one of my favorite dishes that is packed full of vitamins, flavor and spices. Spices like Cayenne pepper has been very popular spice in cooking for thousands of years. High in Vitamins A, C, B complex, calcium and potassium, cayenne is a wonderful healing aid for the digestive system since it acts as a catalyst and increases the effectiveness of other foods and herbs when used with them.
Pad Thai consist of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, cayenne pepper, and bean sprouts. Garnished with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime, the juice of which can be added along with Thai condiments (crushed peanuts, garlic chives, pickled turnip, cilantro, lime, spicy chili oil, chili powder, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar). It is usually served with scallions and pieces of raw banana flower.
The whole meal takes about 15 minutes of prep time, 12 minutes to cook and this recipe will sever 2.
Ingredients:
• 8 oz. Thai rice noodles (or enough for 2 people), linguini-width, available at Asian/Chinese stores
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups raw chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced
• Marinade for Chicken: 1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• optional: 1-2 fresh red chilies, minced
• 3 cups fresh bean sprouts
• 3 spring (green) onions, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander/cilantro
• 1/3 cup crushed or roughly chopped peanuts (or other nuts, such as cashews)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
• vegetable oil for stir-frying, and wedges of lime
• PAD THAI SAUCE:
• 3/4 Tbsp. tamarind paste dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water (look for tamarind at Asian/Chinese or Indian food stores)
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce, + more to taste
• 1-3 tsp. chili sauce, or substitute 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
How to prepare:
1. Bring a large pot of pot to a boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. Note: you will be frying the noodles later, so you don't want to over-soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but are still firm and a little "crunchy". Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combining the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. Note: this may seem like a lot of sugar, but you need it to balance out the sourness of the tamarind - this balance is what makes Pad Thai taste so amazing!
3. Place chicken slices in a small bowl. Stir together the marinade and pour over chicken. Stir well and set aside.
4. Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp. oil plus garlic and minced chili, if using. Stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds).
5. Add chicken together with the marinade. Stir-fry 30 seconds to 1 minute. When wok/pan becomes dry, add a little chicken stock, 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, to keep the chicken frying nicely. Continue stir-frying in this way until the chicken is cooked (5-8 minutes).
6. Add the noodles, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over. Using two spatulas, wooden spoons, or other utensils, immediately stir-fry the noodles. Use a gentle "lift and turn" method (like tossing a salad) to prevent noodles from breaking. Stir-fry in this way 1-2 minutes. If you find your wok/frying pan too dry, push noodles aside and add a little more oil to the bottom (but no more broth, or the noodles will become soggy).
7. Add the bean sprouts and a little more cayenne pepper or Chili sauce. Continue "tossing" 1 more minute, or until noodles are cooked. Noodles are done to perfection when they are no longer "hard" or crunchy, but chewy-sticky wonderful!
8. Taste-test for seasoning, adding more fish sauce until desired flavor is reached (I usually add at least 1 more Tbsp. fish sauce). Toss well to incorporate.
9. Lift noodles onto a serving plate. Top with generous amounts of fresh coriander, spring onion, and crushed/chopped nuts. Squeeze fresh lime on top and enjoy.
**Kick up the heat by adding crushed red pepper flakes when you add the chicken in step 5, add as much as you like to really bring out all the flavors in this dish.
We would like to thank our friends at NUTRITION ZONE for this recipe.
