Ethnic food?... Part 2: How not to make pad thai

This is what happens when I branch out....but I learned one valuable lesson: the type of noodles matter wayyy more than you would think!

So..I have made pad thai before...and it has always been pretty tasty. One day, Brent and I decided we should make it for dinner (before the mother mother concert)... and I totally screwed up!

So, we will start with the easy part:
Cube some chicken and/or tofu (1 cup)
Prepare some shrimp (deshell, etc...however much you want)

mix cornstarch in soy sauce and marinade the chicken/tofu/shrimp if you want... it makes it better, but I am usually too lazy for this step

The sauce:

1 tbsp tamarind paste and about 1/2 that of water (you can substitute for a rice vinegar/ orange juice combo)
1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of chili sauce (or more if you like it spicy)
2 table spoons of brown sugar
a bunch of cilantro or coriander (same thing?..i'm not sure)
garlic
1/4 cup chicken soup stock if you feel you need more, add more
a little bit of sesame oil
garlic (a few cloves)
and i usually add some lime juice

So, you basically put all those in a sauce pan and cook them a little.

In a separate pan, with a little bit of veggie oil, cook the meat/tofu. The cook the veggies (usually onions, bean sprouts, an that's it, but I always add more stuff)

Then you cook the noodles. Use rice noodles...but buy the ones that look like linguini....not the ones I bought.

Then you mix it all together with the sauce, add some peanuts and a lime wedge..and voila!

BUT, when we made it, we used rice noodles that you soak instead of cooking..and they got all mushed together and tasted like starch, and literally were more like dumplings than noodles :(

Beef and Broccoli

I made some delicious stir fried beef and broccoli. It was really easy and super tasty! Here is the recipe:

1)  Cut thin strips of beef.

 2) Mix in equal parts water and corn starch (about 2 tbsn of each), and a bit of garlic powder. Put the beef in the mixture, and make sure the surface is covered.

      

       

      

      3) On high heat (with a little bit of oil), sear the beef strips (don’t overcook, you want them to stay tender).

4) Remove the beef from the pan, and add bite sixed chunks of broccoli. Cook until they are the desired crunchiness (I like mine barely cooked, and really crunchy)

      

      

      5)   In a separate bowl, mix some soya sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar, but I didn’t have any), ginger, and garlic. Add a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

     6)   Put the beef back in the pan with the broccoli and add the sauce.  Let it cook together for a few minutes to thicken the sauce. Eat it with rice.

8)   I had some beans too…cause my mom made them actually… and cause I love veggies.