Welcome back to QCK!
As always I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and sane!
I feel like now more than ever, comfort food has become a widely trending topic so I’m going to be sharing more of my favorite comfort food recipes as well as some healthier recipes that are still really easy to make.
Today, I’m sharing my recipe for Shrimp Pad Thai, one of my top 5 comfort foods. I think really any Asian takeout is on my top 5 list, but there’s something special about a warm noodle dish with a little bit of spice.
The best thing about this dish is that it’s a 30-minutes or less recipe and you probably have everything you need to make it. Usually when I see pad Thai recipes I get instantly turned off because I’m sure I either don’t have the ingredients (and they can sometimes be pretty hard to find) or I think it’s probably going to take forever, but testing this recipe out taught me that neither of those things are true.
Substitutions
The key to Pad Thai isn’t necessarily having all the right ingredients, but about having the right substitutions.
- Tamarind Paste: If you don’t have tamarind paste, substitute lime juice and double the amount.
- Palm Sugar: If you can’t find palm sugar you can use either brown or white sugar. I use brown because it makes for a stickier sauce that coats the noodles better than white sugar would.
Tips and Tricks
- The most important thing here is to not let the shallot, garlic, and ginger burn. This is hard to do because Pad Thai needs to be cooked on fairly high heat, the best way to ensure you don’t burn these is to have the shrimp ready to go in the pan right away and have the sauce and noodles cooked and ready to follow right after.
- Because you want the noodles done ahead of time, it’s best to let them sit in a bowl of cold water until you’re ready to add them so they don’t stick together.
- I think everyone likes Pad Thai a little differently, I prefer mine to be a little sweeter with a lot of spice, so use this recipe as a guideline and season things to your personal preference.
Recipe
| Prep: 5 Min | Cook: 15 Min | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 2 |
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Palm Sugar (see substitutions list above)
- 3 Tbsp Tamarind Paste (see substitutions list above)
- 1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek (garlic chili paste)
- 8 oz Rice Noodles
- 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 M Shallot, minced
- 1/2 in piece of Ginger, minced
- 10-15 L Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Bean Sprouts
- Peanuts, crushed
- Cilantro, Chopped
- 1 Green Onion, thinly sliced
- 1 Lime Wedge
Directions
- Cook rice noodles according to directions on package.
- While the noodles are cooking, combine fish sauce, sugar, tamarind and chili paste in a small sauce pan. Heat and stir until sugar is disolved, set aside.
- In a medium sauté pan on high, heat the oil, add garlic, ginger and shallot.
- Quickly add the shrimp and sear on both sides.
- Add the noodles and toss everything together.
- Add the sauce and let it reduce until it coats the noodles and there’s very little liquid in the pan.
- Serve with bean sprouts, peanuts, cilantro, green onion, and a lime wedge.
As always, I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you tried it out let me know in the comments. For more recipes check out my homepage and follow along on Instagram. Don’t forget to like, follow, comment and share. Thanks for reading!
Quarter Cup Kitchen 