Spicy Pad Thai with Chicken

I love Thai food. My favorite Thai food restaurant is in Hollywood, CA. It's called Torung Restaurant; it only takes cash, the parking is across the street at the gas station, and it's the best Thai food you will ever have. My go to dish is the Kang Ka Ree, which is yellow curry with potatoes, carrots, onion and your choice of meat.  Even my dad likes this place the best for his favorite dish, Thai Fried Rice, and he is picky!

But today, we aren't talking about curry or fried rice.  Today we are talking about Pad Thai. This is a favorite not only with me, but all across America as well as Thailand. There are street carts in Thailand making this noodle dish for tourists and citizens to enjoy. It was originally concocted in order to lower domestic rice consumption (Thailand's largest export was rice) and promote Thai nationalism during WWII (sorry, I love history). Anyway, I have been testing out this recipe for a while now and this one is a winner!  I hope you have fun trying it out!

Continue below for tasty looking pictures and recipe!

Mince garlic and chop shallots.

Slice up the green onions.

Juice some lime juice!

Chicken before...

... chicken after!

Saucey goodness mmmmm!

  

Noodles added to chicken!

After bok choy and green onions are cooked, scramble the eggs on the side of the pot.

Finished!

Plated!

Yummy close ups below! 

I'm totally eating this for lunch tomorrow...

Pad Thai

Estimated time to make is 45 minutes

Ingredients

Sauce (makes about 1.25-1.5 cups)

• 1/4 cup palm sugar (can use brown sugar as substitute)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (can use 1-2 tablespoons salt as substitute)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 whole lime, juiced
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons garlic chili sauce
• 1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
• 1-3 tablespoons sriracha sauce, to taste

Pad Thai

• 1/2 of the pad thai sauce (use more if desired)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (for stir frying)
• 1 package of rice stick noodles (white, flat noodle)
• 1 shallot, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 bunches of baby bok choy, roughly chopped
• 1lb chicken breast or thigh, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 bunch of green onions, sliced (1/2 for cooking, other half for serving)
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts (optional)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts, finely chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Start by adding 1 tablespoon of oil to a medium sauce pan and turn to medium heat.
2. Add your garlic and shallots and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
3. Next, add the rest of the sauce ingredients in the same pan and turn the heat to low until palm sugar/brown sugar is dissolved (it will only take a few minutes).
4. While the sauce is doing its thing, chop the rest of the ingredients and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once it’s boiling, drop the whole package of noodles in and let them boil for 2-3 minutes; until limp but too firm to eat. 
5. Turn off the heat, drain the noodles in a strainer, and rinse them with cold water (the cold water will help stop the cooking process so the noodles don't get too mushy). Leave the in the strainer for now.
6. Back to sauce! Once the sugar is dissolved in the sauce pan, increase heat and boil for a few seconds. Remove from the heat. The sauce is done!
7. Now it’s time to stir fry. You’ll need 2 utensils to stir fry the pad thai (I used two wooden spoons). It is easier to separate the noodles this way, so they don't stick together.
8. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce to the same large pot you cooked the noodles in (trying to save pots here).
9. Turn the heat to medium and drop in the chicken chunks; cook until done (about 6-8 minutes, test by cutting the largest piece with your wooden spoon). 
10. Add the drained noodles and 1/4 cup of chicken broth and toss. Then add the bok choy, green onions, and 1/2 of the prepared Pad Thai sauce. Mix into the noodles.
11. Make sure to constantly separate the noodles to prevent them from sticking to one another. If noodles are too sticky, add a little more oil. 
12. Once noodles, bok choy, and green onions are cooked (2 minutes), it’s time to add the eggs. Move noodles to one side of the pot and toss the beaten eggs in. Scramble and stir the egg until cooked (about a minute or so).
13. Turn off the heat, add the sugar, peanuts, and bean sprouts and toss until thoroughly combined.
14. Serve with more green onions on top!  Enjoy!

I would love to know if you try out this recipe, so please let me know in the comments or on Google+.

Thank you for stopping by!

XOXO Shelly