Thai One On! Home Style Pad Thai! Easier Than You Think!

Today I am doing an awesome collab with my friend Mary Ann from the Frugal Chef channel!  If you don't know her, please go and check out her channel here:  http://bit.ly/2aOd0r2  She is making an awesome Red Thai Curry meatball today so be sure to check that out when you are done enjoying my Homestyle Pad Thai recipe today!

This may look intimidating, but it really isn't.  Pad Thai is just a simple noodle dish with over the top flavor!  There are as many ways to make Pad Thai as as there are cooks who make Pad Thai.  This is considered the official dish of Thailand and has its roots in the days of WW 2 when the leaders encouraged people to eat more noodles in an effort to reduce rice consumption.  Now Pad Thai is as familiar as spaghetti is to folks the world around.

Pad Thai has many variations, but there are some constants.  Always fish sauce, always cilantro or Thai basil, always tofu and chili flakes or sauce as well as bean sprouts and rice stick noodles and crushed peanuts.

The sauce is simple to make with ingredients that are readily available in the ethnic section of your grocery store.  If you have a hard time finding them, then seek out your local Asian market where you are in for a treat and an adventure all at the same time!  You will be giddy with all the new and amazing ingredients that are waiting there for you!  Did you know you can get barley flakes at the Asian market?  How about boba for boba tea?  Yep you can!  But that is something for another day!  

We start with the noodles which need to be soaked in hot tap water for 10 minutes and drained.  Get all your ingredients ready.  I have chicken, shrimp, tofu and eggs in mine along with green onions, shallots, ginger paste, lemon grass paste, garlic and bean sprouts.  The sauce is easy to throw together with fish sauce, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, rice vinegar and water along with some palm sugar for sweetness.  

Peanut oil is my oil of choice for high heat flash stir fry.  Everything gets cooked then mixed with the noodles and sauce and then eggs are scrambled right in the pan and mixed in. Then ready to serve with more bean sprouts for crunch and more peanuts sprinkled over.  

This is super delicious and if I do say so myself, tastes just like the pad Thai from our local restaurant and I can make a pan full for my family with leftovers for less than it costs for one portion at the restaurant.  Not that I don't love going there, but it is not cheap.

I hope you will give this home style Pad Thai a try and I hope you love it!

I also hope you will go and check out the Frugal Chef channel where Mary Ann is making an amazing red Thai curry meatball for you to enjoy.  Also be sure to check out her vast library of videos that she has been making for a number of years!  She is my long time YouTube friend and I know you are going to love her as much as I do!

Happy Eating!

You can see how I made this in my YouTube video:

You can see my friend Mary Ann of the Frugal Chef channel's video for Red Thai Curry Meatballs here:

Noreen's Kitchen

 Home Style Pad Thai

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast 1 pound fresh shrimp, shelled & deveined 1/2 pound extra firm tofu, cubed 2 eggs 8 ounces flat rice noodles 1 cup green onion, sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups mung bean sprouts 1/2 cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped

1/4 cup palm sugar, crushed 1/4 cup fish sauce 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 1 tablespoon tamarind paste 1 tablespoon ginger paste 1 tablespoon lemon grass paste 1/4 cup sweet Thai chili sauce Lime wedges for serving 2 tablespoons peanut oil

Step by Step Instructions

Cut chicken breast into thin strips. Set aside with the shrimp.

Soften noodles by placing in a bowl with hot tap water. Allow to soak for 10 minutes

before draining. They will not be completely hydrated at this point, however they will

finish cooking with the rest of the dish. Set aside softened noodles.

Mix sauce together by adding palm sugar, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, tamarind paste

and sweet chili sauce to a bowl. Stir well to combine. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil in a wok or large, heavy bottomed skillet.

Fry tofu until it is nicely browned on the edges. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add just a small amount of oil back to the pan. Add the chicken and cook through.

Add shrimp, garlic, ginger and lemongrass paste, as well as 1 cup of the bean sprouts

and the green onion. Stir fry well until shrimp is nearly done and everything is hot.

Push the contents of the pan to one side. Add a bit more oil to the exposed part of the

pan and add the eggs in. Cook until set on the bottom then stir until scrambled.

Add tofu, noodles, peanuts and sauce to the pan and stir well to incorporate everything

together.

Remove from pan and serve along with additional raw bean sprouts, lime wedges,

chopped peanuts and dry Thai chili powder

Enjoy!

Get a printable version of this recipe on my website: http://bit.ly/2aM5AT5

What's for Dinner? Ham and Cabbage Bake with Noodles

August is waning and I can feel and smell autumn trying really hard to burst on to the scene.  Autumn is by far, my favorite time of all the year.  In  my estimation, the finest of all seasons, with spring coming in second, winter trailing behind spring and summer in dead last.  I HATE SUMMER!  I never did well in the heat.  The only thing that saves me in the summer is gardening and the bountiful harvests that I get from my hard work in the spring, along with the canning and putting up or putting by that is done inside an air conditioned house!


Today is one of the first this summer that the humidity decided to take a holiday and a the temperature did not raise into the nineties.  As I walked outside this morning, I could feel Autumn calling to me, letting me know that she was on her way to put the earth to sleep for another winter.  I for one have never been sad to see the summer go.  Back to school, making way for Halloween and Thanksgiving as well as the changing of the clocks are all highly anticipated.  These things make me know that no matter what may happen, the seasons will always turn one into another keeping grounded for yet another year.


Autumn brings with it so many things that I love, leaves, pumpkins, gourds, hay bales in my front yard, putting the garden to bed for the coming winter, wood smoke, chilly mornings, campfires in my back yard and the ability to cook items that are just not good when the weather is hot and muggy.  Who wants to eat a big heavy meal when the temperature outside is breaking 100 degrees and the humidity is breaking 100 percent.  Who can eat anything for that matter when things are that uncomfortable?  But Autumn is my friend.  She is gentle, she whispers to me each morning when I step outside on my back deck with my hot coffee and breath in the cool, dewy air that is crisp and satisfying and smell the faintness of a wood fire, that someone has stoked to take the morning chill of his house.  She says “I Love You!”  “I am here for my yearly visit.”  “Enjoy me while I am here!”.  Perfection!


The beginnings of Autumn are magical to me.  It restores me, body and soul, bringing with it cool weather and the opportunity to spend comfortable time outdoors with my family.  It also brings with it cool weather veggies at their peak.  Crucifers abound, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, chard, kale, collards, mustard, Brussels sprouts and my favorite cabbage!  I for one, don’t think that there is anything better than a steaming plate of cabbage, sauteed with onion, apples and butter!  Green cabbage can be done like this as well as my personal preference, Savoy or curly cabbage.  Let’s not forget the red cabbage either, cooked long and slow and made to be sweet and sour, Harvard style.  YUM!  Love on a plate.


Today’s recipe will focus on the previously mentioned Savoy or curly cabbage, rich and green and bumpy and delicious.  Paired with onions, apples and ham, they join together to make a perfect main course alongside some buttery egg noodles and you have an Eastern European standard waiting to show you how wonderful dinner can me!  Give this one a try and you will not be sorry that you did.  Salty ham, tender crisp cabbage with just a hint of sweetness from the apples and onions.  You will be happy.  Instead of noodles, pair this with some prepared frozen Pierogies that have been sauteed with butter after boiling in a hot bath.  Delicious!  I think I can hear Autumn knocking at my kitchen door and she has brought me a dish of ham and cabbage and noodles.  I am happy!

Here is what you will need to make this recipe:

1 medium Savoy cabbage (use green cabbage, bok choy or other greens of your choice)

1 large onion sliced

1 apple cored, peeled and sliced

½ stick butter cut into slices

½ cup hot water

1 ham bullion packet

1 pound ham steak

1 bag egg noodles prepared and buttered

Rinse, core and chop cabbage into medium sized pieces.  Place in a large casserole dish or baking pan along with sliced onions and apples.  Place butter slices atop cabbage.  Mix ham bullion into hot water and pour over cabbage in waiting pan.  Cut ham steak into quarters and remove outer rind.  Place slices of ham atop the cabbage, onions and apples.  Cover with aluminum foil and place pan on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes.  Make sure not to peek, or you will lose all that good steam that will build up under the foil and it may take even longer for the cabbage to cook.  

While the cabbage and ham are baking in the oven, boil water in a large stock pot and prepare 1 12 ounce bag of egg noodles until they are cooked to you preferred doneness.  I don’t like them mushy.    When they are done, drain and butter with a couple tablespoons of butter or use some olive oil if you like.  

At the 35 minute mark, check the cabbage for doneness.  If you are happy, get ready to serve!  Plate up some noodles and cabbage and top with a nice piece of ham.  Sprinkle on some celery or caraway seeds and you are in for a treat!  Just like your Bubbe used to make!  Wink ; ).  

I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy it!  Until next time; See Ya!