Pad Thai with Chicken and Shrimp

When the big guy's late getting home and dinner needs to happen fast, Pad Thai fills the bill on all counts. Once all the ingredients are prepped, the cooking part takes a brief 5 or 6 minutes. The key to success is making sure you've everything ready before you start cooking or you'll likely have a disaster on your hands.

This particular version of Pad Thai combines soy sauce with peanut butter and Asian chili paste for heat,  along with a touch of brown sugar for sweet and vinegar for sour. Combined with chicken, shrimp, rice noodles, and a few vegetables the result is light, mildly spicy and crunchy without the heavy sauces that most of us are accustomed to. We loved it and we'd have it again in a heartbeat. Download Pad Thai with Chicken and Shrimp

The noodles are firm; the barely there sauce adds just the right amount of moisture to the dish and the fresh bean sprouts add the perfect crunch. It's not too sweet like some versions are and the combination of cilantro and mint along with fresh lime juice really enhances the flavors. Don't leave any of it out - it just wouldn't be the same...that is unless you absolutely hate cilantro in which case you could replace it with fresh basil.

As for today - well the big guy's buddy Larry's coming to visit for a couple of days so I'll be getting the house ready for company, hauling out the special china and polishing the martini glasses. Kinda' sounds like a party, doesn't it?

Comments

[noble pig]

It's the peanut butter I love in this type of food, so comforting and beautiful!!

[June]

It is comforting and so subtle and fresh. Great warm weather food.(That was kind of obvious wasn't it?)

[Julie]

This sounds wonderful! I think I've only had pad thai from Pei Wei, but your version sounds even better :)

[June]

Hi Julie - nice to see you again! Pad Thai could be the "kitchen compost" pasta if you know what I mean, since one can use almost any meat, seafood or veggies in it. This version was pretty darn tasty, for sure.