Easy Pad Thai

I have a friend called Alicia.  She and I used to refer to each other as ‘fristas’ – friends who were more like sisters.  For a time, we were inseparable.  We shared many meals and even more laughs.  She is one of those people who, though you may not see each other for years and though at times your mind wonders if your friendship was destined to only ever be a season in your life,  your heart knows she is and always will be your frista.  Which is why I always smile and laugh thinking about all the fun times we shared whenever I cook this dish.  This meal is always referred to as “Alicia’s Phad Thai” in our home as she gifted us this recipe after with full bellies we begged her for it.  I hope you love it as much as we do.

Over the years, we have tweaked it just a little with a couple of easy substitutions which I will note at the end of the recipe turning it into a compliant and yummy Low Carb Healthy Fat (LCHF) dinner – which we think tastes 99.5% as good as the original!  And, if cooking with 100% certified pure, food safe essential oils is your thing, then I have you covered there as well!

Alicia’s Easy Phad Thai (as written by Alicia)

Ingredients:

250g rice noodles, dry 1/4 fish sauce 1/4 cup lime juice (fresh if you can) 2 tbs palm sugar Tamarind “juice” (see note) 2 tbs peanut oil 1 chicken breast, sliced Handful of yummy prawns 1 squid, scored on inside and cut into pieces 4 spring onions, cut on the angle 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 small red chilli, finely chopped (optional) 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup chopped peanuts Handful of bean sprouts Coriander and Lime wedges to serve

Alicia’s Method:

Place the noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water, let stand until tender.  Drain, rinse under cold water until water runs through cold and set aside.

Combine fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar in a small jar, shake well to combine and set aside.

Heat wok until hot, add a small amount of oil and stir fry chicken until browned (in batches if necessary).  Transfer to a plate with paper towel and set aside.

Add remaining oil, heat until hot and add spring onions. garlic and optional chilli and stir fry for a bit. 

Push to one side of the wok and add eggs until slightly cooked.  Then stir eggs with the spring onions etc to scramble.  Add prawns and squid here and cook through.

Add noodles, fish sauce mixture and chicken.

After cooking a little add bean sprouts, chopped peanuts and a drizzle of tamarind “juice” all over and mix until heated through.

Serve immediately and garnish with coriander and lime wedges.

Notes from Gracious Goodness :

Tamarind “juice” is an equal mixture of tamarind paste and water.  Usually about 5 tspns of each mixed together.  You don’t need a lot but adds a nice bit of sour and depth to the phad thai. You will find Tamarind paste in the asian isle at the supermarket.

I often add some julienne vegetables into this dish as well – zucchini, carrot, capsicum all work really well.  One of the kids doesn’t like seafood so we often use 5 chicken thigh fillets instead of the chicken breast, prawns and squid.  This also turns it into an economical weeknight dinner for a family.  And if someone in your family (yes – same child!) doesn’t like chilli simply omit from the main recipe and add fresh chilli on to individual plates of those that like a little bit of spice.

It’s really easy to make this LCHF (low carb healthy fat) and it tastes just like the original version – in fact I have dished this up to unsuspecting dinner guests before and nobody picked that there was anything different to normal!  All you need to do is get yourself 2 packets of Konjac flat style noodles.  Slendier is a brand name of Konjac noodles that I can source here in the Limestone Coast from Coles and Woolworths but I am sure that there are other brands just as good out there.

If you prefer you could zoodle some zucchini to use as the noodles but this will alter the mouth feel of the dish and make it a little more watery.   I suggest that if you are using zoodles you only flash saute them in the wok before adding the sauce to prevent them from releasing too much juice.  The slight crispness of the zucchini will work well with the crunch of the bean sprouts and peanuts.

When converting to LCHF, I also sub out the palm sugar for stevia.

Essential Oil variation - In this recipe you could sub out the 1/4 cup lime juice for 1/4 cup water and 4 drops of doTERRA Lime essential oil.  You won’t get the same acidic punch but you will get the flavour kick.  You could also add a drop of doTERRA Cilantro and doTERRA Lime essential oils into the tamarind juice if you didn’t have fresh coriander and lime wedges to serve. 

I’m not going to lie – fresh is best in this dish, but you have some very tasty options available to you if you don’t have any fresh stuff in the kitchen or garden!  Only ever use essential oils in your cooking that say they are safe for internal use on the label. These oils will have the Food Standards of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) tick of approval as a food additive.

If you would like to learn more about CPtG food safe essentials oils head over to here or send me a message. I would love to chat with you about my two favourite things - food and oils!

I hope you enjoy this dish in any of its variations.  Just promise me you will share as many laughs with friends whilst eating it, as Alicia and I did.

Sandra xo