Pad Thai

Frank and I had a craving for Pad Thai a couple of weeks ago and I was determined to find an authentic recipe. I found this one, which is more of a guideline than recipe.  I had trouble finding the ingredients at work or anywhere else around here, so we trekked over to Haltom City to a Vietnamese grocery store.  Of course they had everything we needed, and I loved looking at all the interesting ingredients there.  Central Market was out of Rice Noodles when I needed them, but this store had a whole row of them!  We will definitely be going back.

They even had Durian, the stinky fruit that I have seen on many food travel shows, but never in person.

I had never cooked with fish sauce, so we asked a sweet lady at the store, who asked her mom to recommend one and she said the crab brand one was best.  I think the flavor is an acquired taste that I haven't quite acquired yet.  I liked the outcome, but next time may do less fish sauce and compensate with the soy sauce that Pim mentions.  We used whole Thai Chile peppers and I didn't feel like they imparted enough heat to the dish even though I sautted them in the oil as it heated in the wok.  Next time I may try the chili powder in the sauce.  Another thing I would change, I bought tamarind paste and had to soak and strain it.  I didn't realize until later that I could have bought it already soaked and strained.  All in all we were thrilled with our Pad Thai.  We used Shrimp, by the way.  I will make this recipe again and I'm sure I'll concur the learning curve eventually!