Pad Thai

I didn't know I liked Thai food until I was 23 years old.  We are blessed to live in an area with an abundance of really good Thai restaurants.  My husband also loves Thai food and he encouraged me to try something other than volcano chicken, which isn't Thai at all.  It is sort of like orange chicken with some Thai chili sauce on top of it.  I've tried a few different curries, several soups, and some noodle dishes.  My favorite so far has been Pad Thai.  Yes, I know it isn't really authentic, but I still love it.  At some point, I realized that my 4 year old also like it, as long as you called it "spicy peanut butter pasta."  I looked online for a while to try and find a recipe that looked good and didn't require too many strange ingredients.  I finally gave up and just asked my friend Teresa, who is an excellent cook.  She gave me a great recipe.  Her recipe didn't call for peanut butter, but I went ahead and added it because I like it.  If you don't use peanut butter, add two extra tablespoons of brown sugar.  I am posting a double recipe of the sauce because I like my Pad Thai with a lot of sauce.  I made the sauce earlier in the day to save time while I was cooking.  I made mine meatless.  You can add chicken, shrimp, pork, or tofu to this if you want.  I didn't use tofu because I don't like it!

Pad Thai
8 oz. Thai rice noodles (or enough for 2 people), linguine-width, available at Asian/Chinese stores
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups fresh bean sprouts
3 spring (green) onions, sliced
1 cup fresh cilantro
1/3 cup crushed or roughly chopped peanuts (or other nuts, such as cashews)
1 1/2 tablespoons tamarind paste dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water (look for tamarind at Asian/Chinese or Indian food stores)
4 or 5 tablespoons fish sauce
2 - 4 tablespoons chili sauce, or substitute 1/2 teaspoons. or more dried crushed chili or cayenne, to taste
4 tablespoons. brown sugar
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
 oil for stir-frying
wedges of lime for serving

1. Bring a large pot of pot to a boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. Note that you will be frying the noodles later, so you don't want to over-soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but are still firm and a little "crunchy". Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combining the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. Note: this may seem like a lot of sugar, but you need it to balance out the sourness of the tamarind - this balance is what makes Pad Thai taste so amazing!
3. Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp. oil plus garlic. Stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds).
4. Add the noodles, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over. Using two spatulas, wooden spoons, or other utensils, immediately stir-fry the noodles. Use a gentle "lift and turn" method (like tossing a salad) to prevent noodles from breaking.
5. Stir-fry in this way 1-2 minutes. If you find your wok/frying pan too dry, push noodles aside and add a little more oil to the bottom.Add the bean sprouts. Continue "tossing" 1 more minute, or until noodles are cooked. Noodles are done to perfection when they are no longer "hard" or crunchy, but chewy-sticky wonderful!
6. Taste-test for seasoning, adding more fish sauce until desired flavor is reached. Toss well to incorporate.
7. Lift noodles onto a serving plate. Top with generous amounts of fresh cilantro, spring onion, and crushed/chopped nuts. Add fresh lime wedges.