Prepare your noodles: Place your noodles in a large bowl and cover with luke warm water for about 30 minutes or until the noodles are pliable but firm to the touch. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain and set aside. (Alternatively, you can boil water and pour over noodles for about 2-5 minutes or just until pliable but still firm to the touch, drain, rinse with cold water and drain. Keep a very close eye and feel on noodles so they do not get too soft) Set aside. Do not over soakyour noodles until they are aldente. The noodles will be stir fried again so they need to be firmer than aldente.
Prepare your sauce: In a medium bowl, add brown sugar, tamarind paste, fish sauce and hot water. Stir to dissolve brown sugar and tamarind paste. The paste should be a little thick so that it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from pan and set aside.
Place oil in pan and fry your tofu until crispy on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Add your shrimp and pan sear on all sides until pink and no longer translucent. Remove from pan and set aside.
Prepare all of your prepared ingredients in place (mise en place) so you are ready to do a quick stir fry. (extra oil for frying, shallots, garlic, Sweet preserved daikon radish pickles, Pad Thai softened noodles, eggs, bean sprouts, green onions and peanuts, fried tofu, cooked shrimp and Pad Thai prepared sauce) and set it next to your stove. Set aside and separate some bean sprouts, green onion and peanuts for garnish for 4 servings.
If you have a super large wok and everyone wants the same ingredients, you can make it all in one batch. However, you can make your Pad Thai YOUR way with different additions for each person. Then you can make each portion separately. This recipe makes about 4 portions.
Stir frying: We prefer to make each person’s serving separately as we have a smaller wok. Add a little oil in your wok and add the about ¼th of the shallots, ¼ th of the garlic , ¼th of the sweet preserved daikon radish pickles and stir fry until aromatic. Next add ¼ of the prepared Pad Thai rice noodles and ¼ th the Pad Thai sauce and stir fry until the noodles are well coated and almost aldente. (if your wok is dry and the noodles are still not aldente, you can add a tablespoon or two of water to your wok and fry until aldente.)
Move your noodles to one side and up on the edge of your wok. Add an egg and break the yolk and cook until scrambled and then mix your noodles into eggs. Add ¼ th of the bean sprouts, ¼ of the green onions, fried tofu, shrimp and just a few ground peanuts and stir fry for a minute to incorporate all the ingredients. Repeat this process for the other 3 servings.
Serve your Pad Thai YOUR way with lime wedges, extra ground peanuts, mung bean (bean sprouts), dried chili or fresh chili. Spritz with lime juice and enjoy.