Want to make a gluten free pad thai that rivals that of your favorite Thai restaurant? Here's a recipe that I tried and it was fabulous!! Interesting fact about palm sugar, it is apparently lower on the glycemic index than regular sugar.
GF Pad Thai
Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of palm sugar
1/3 cup of Fish sauce (I used Thai Kitchen brand)
1/2 cup of Tamarind Soup Base Concentrate (I found this at the Asian Mart on 86th)
Thai Bird Eye Chillies (found this at Whole Foods Market/Clay Terrace) or you can use red pepper chili flakes
3 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 whole chicken breast thinly sliced
1/2 lb of shrimp de-veined
Approx 4-5 oz. of Rice Stick Noodles
2 eggs
1 cup of matchstick carrots
(I bought mine already shredded....this will save you time)
1 1/2 cups of mung bean sprouts
1 cup of asian chives
(I found these at the Asian Mart in the produce section)
cut into 1 1/2 inch segments
1 cup of cilantro
1 cup of coarsely chopped salted, roasted peanuts
1 lime for lime wedges
Tips:
If you don't like spicy, adding the chili is completely optional.
The tamarind sauce will thicken up in the fridge, heating the sauce up in the microwave for a few seconds will thin it out again.
Chopping the palm sugar cake rounds with a sharp knife works well.
Let's start by making our pad thai sauce. Combine fish sauce , chopped palm sugar, and tamarind concentrate in a small sauce pan. Cook sauce until the palm sugar completely dissolves, making sure you taste it. You may need to add another 1/2 cake of the palm sugar as the tamarind concentrate is really tart. To make the sauce a little spicy add some finely chopped Thai Bird Eye Chillies chopped finely...add these to taste. A little bit goes along way. After palm sugar is dissolved remove from heat and let sauce cool.
Boil noodles for about 4-5 minutes, drain immediately and rinse with cold water. Noodles should be Al dente.
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok on high (or you can use a deep frying pan), cook raw thin sliced)chicken and the cleaned shrimp for about 4-5 minutes. Remove meat from the wok and set aside in a bowl.
Add the rest of the oil into the pan, add garlic stirring frequently so the garlic does not burn. Add noodles and stir for about 1 minute.....you can then add 3-4 tablespoons of your tamarind sauce.
You may save left over tamarind sauce in a sealed glass jar, it will keep up to a month in the fridge. Continue to stir until noodles are well coated. Add cooked meat to the noodles and continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.
Push the noodles and meat mixture and noodles to one side of the wok and crack your egg one at a time into this space. Scramble eggs with your wooden spoon letting them cook for about 30 sec. Add carrots, washed sprouts and the asian chives.
Cook for one more minute, stir frying everything together, you may add an additional tablespoon of sauce if you feel like it needs it at this time. Garnish with cilantro, lime, some remaining chives and peanuts.....and enjoy!!
1 cup of matchstick carrots
Chopping the palm sugar cake rounds with a sharp knife works well.
Let's start by making our pad thai sauce. Combine fish sauce , chopped palm sugar, and tamarind concentrate in a small sauce pan. Cook sauce until the palm sugar completely dissolves, making sure you taste it. You may need to add another 1/2 cake of the palm sugar as the tamarind concentrate is really tart. To make the sauce a little spicy add some finely chopped Thai Bird Eye Chillies chopped finely...add these to taste. A little bit goes along way. After palm sugar is dissolved remove from heat and let sauce cool. 
