Chicken Pad Thai (Fake Out Take Out)

The other day I was looking for some food inspiration and flipped on an episode of Trisha Yearwood's show on Food Network (I forget the name of it).  I have never watched her before but she had a friend on, who according to Trisha, makes the best pad thai.  I love pad thai!  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could pull off a complex recipe like this.  After watching her friend throw a few simple ingredients in a pan, I was in.  It looked so simple. 

Off to the grocery store I went to get fish sauce (the only thing not in my pantry).  When I returned, I diligently searched for the recipe on Food Network's website and was horrified, disappointed and, quite frankly, pissed off.  The recipe was reviewed and given only 2 stars! The comments were discouraging at best.  I can't be serving up a 2 star dinner. No way.  Well, at this point, I was determined to make the pad thai, either that or dial up for take out. 
I decided to look over the ingredient list and make my own adjustments, cross my fingers and hope for the best.  And it worked! It was good.  No, it was better than good. I went back for seconds and I had the rest for lunch today. Yup, that good.

TO PRINT RECIPE CLICK HERE

Ingredients:

4 oz packaged rice noodles (I bought an 8 oz pack and used half)

2 T canola oil
2 flattened chicken breasts, sliced thinly
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 carrot, shred into strips
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
6 oz bean sprouts
8-10 chives, chopped
¼ C peanuts, chopped or crushed
3 tsp cornstarch
Sauce Ingredients:
3 T fish sauce
2 T sugar
3 T water
2 T rice vinegar
1 ½ T chili garlic sauce (found in Asian section)

Directions: 

Toss together chicken slices and cornstarch and set aside in a bowl.  Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.

Prepare noodles – Boil a large pot of water.  Add noodles.  Turn off heat.  Allow to soak 15 minutes until soft.  Rinse under cold water and set aside.

Mix together all sauce ingredients in a bowl.  Set aside.

Steam the broccoli and set aside. (See note below for quick tip)

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium/high heat.  Add chicken.  Sprinkle salt on chicken.  Stir fry until chicken is no longer pink (about 5 minutes).  Add steamed broccoli and carrot slices. Cook another 3 minutes. 

Push chicken and veggies to the side of the pan and crack the egg on the empty side.  Using a spatula, stir the egg and cook 30 seconds.  Add rinsed and drained noodles. Stir to combine.  Add sauce.  Combine well by stirring and tossing noodles with tongs. Cook 1-2 minutes.

Add bean sprouts and chives. Cook 1-2 more minutes.  Stir in peanuts.

Remove from heat and serve.

Optional: Serve with lime wedge.  Garnish with additional chives and/or peanuts .

 COOK’S TIPS:

To quickly steam broccoli: Place florets in a microwave safe bowl with 3 T water. Cover but make sure it’s vented. Cook on high 1 minute.  Drain water.

Get all ingredients ready ahead of time.  Once it gets moving, it goes quickly and you don’t want to be searching for ingredients while it’s cooking.