Thai: Shrimp Pad Thai

Recipe by Paul Young <info@cooking-with-paul.com>

(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz Pad Thai noodles (wide fettuccine-style rice stick)
• ½ pound raw shrimp (peeled and deveined)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, julienned
• 8 green onions, white part chopped, green part slivered
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup cabbage, shredded
• ½ zucchini, sliced into matchsticks
• ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• ½ cup matchstick carrots
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• ½ cup dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced (optional)

Sauce ingredients:

• ½ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup Thai fish sauce (“nam pla”)
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 tablespoon tamarind date chutney
• 3 tablespoons ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce (or to taste)

Procedure:

1. Soak rice noodles in cold water per instructions from package; set aside
2. Prep the Pad Thai sauce: mix all sauce ingredients and set aside
3. Melt butter in wok, then add the eggs stirring occasionally until scrambled
4. Remove scrambled eggs, set aside
5. Bring wok temperature back up, add olive oil
6. Add onions, stir fry until soft
7. Add one ingredient at a time and stir fry until hot: scallions (white parts), garlic, cabbage, zucchini, red pepper, carrots, bean sprouts, scallions (green parts)
8. Make hole in center of wok (push ingredients to the side in a circle)
9. Add ½ of the sauce, sesame oil, agave; mix well
10. Add shrimp to sauce in the middle of the wok, mix well in sauce until shrimp is cooked (about 1 minute or until shrimp starts to curl and turns white)
11. Add noodles to sauce in the middle of the wok, mix well in sauce until the noodles are warm
12. Toss all ingredients in wok
13. Taste and adjust the seasoning: add more sauce, hot sauce, agave (if needed)
14. Gently fold in scrambled eggs
15. Transfer to serving dish
16. Garnish with peanuts, cilantro, and jalapeno peppers (optional)