Gluten Free Pad Thai

I have this “rule” that when I go to a restaurant I order something I can’t make at home. So naturally, I love Pad Thai. Something about the how fresh it tastes, and the mix of different flavours, makes it my go-to. So you can imagine how two months without Pad Thai was not going to happen… and that’s where this recipe comes in. Now I will say, there was some new additions to my grocery order to include ingredients I didn’t have.

Other than that, this recipe was super easy, and super delicious. I actually tried another one that was not as great before my wonderful best friend sent me this one. I kind of took it and made it my own with some ingredient variations, and made it gluten free too! The only difference I would make is that we could only find vermicelli rice noodles, but I probably would have liked thicker ones. You can find the original recipe here otherwise keep on reading, and you can try out some of the things I did different - happy cooking!

Ingredients

Peanut Sauce

• 1/4 cup water

• 3 tbsp rice vinegar

• 3 tbsp peanut butter

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp lime juice

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

Pad Thai

• 1/2 lb (225 g) raw medium shrimp, peeled

• 2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce

• 1/2 lb (225 g) wide rice noodles

• 6 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts separated)

• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

• 1 tsp (5 ml) sriracha (or as much as you like really)

• 1 tbsp (30 ml) vegetable oil

• 1 tbsp (30 ml) sesame seed oil

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 1 carrot, thinly sliced into matchsticks

• 2 peppers, thinly sliced into matchsticks

• Himalayan pink salt to taste

• Unsalted peanuts chopped (optional)

• Lime wedges (optional)

• Cilantro chopped (optional)

Preparation

Peanut Sauce

1. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Set aside. (it will smell VERY peanut butter-y, I swear it’s ok)

Pad Thai

1. In another bowl, combine the shrimp with the soy sauce. Refrigerate.

2. In a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat, add the peppers and carrot and cook until almost soft. Set aside.

3. In the same pan the veggies were cooked in, add both the oil and soften the white parts of the onions, the garlic and ginger with the sriracha.

4. Place the noodles in a large bowl of boiling water, the noodles should be very al dente, and make sure to separate them as they are cooking (ours only took 1 minute because they were vermicelli, but follow the instructions given with the specific noodles you get). Rinse and drain. Set aside.

5. To the pan add the shrimp, and cook until almost pink (approximately 3 minutes)

6. Scramble the egg until they are almost fully cooked - this can be done in a separate pan or in the same one as the shrimp pushing the rest of the ingredients to the side (we did ours in the same one and found it did not scramble as well)

7. Add the eggs to the shrimp mixture. Add the noodles, and the peanut sauce, stirring until the shrimp are cooked through and the sauce coats the noodles. Adjust the seasoning as needed (we put more soy sauce and some salt). Add more water, if needed (we didn’t).

8. Sprinkle with the green parts of the onions. Serve with peanuts, lime wedges and cilantro, if desired and add more sriracha to your level of spicy.

9. ENJOY!!!!

Bonus: with the leftovers I like to mix things up and make it into a Pad Thai bowl by adding avocado and putting a fried egg on top!

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think!