Mark Bittman's Pad Thai

new: April 2017
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013121-pad-thai?register=email&auth=register-email

INGREDIENTS
12 ounces fettuccine-width rice stick noodles
¼ cup peanut oil
4 tablespoons tamarind paste
½ cup fish sauce (nam pla)
½ cup honey
¼ cup rice vinegar
1 Tb red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 bunch chopped scallions
4 garlic clove, minced
4 eggs
1 small head Napa cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)
1.5 cup mung bean sprouts (+extra for garnish)
1.5 cup carrots (+extra for garnish)
1 pound peeled shrimp
1/2 pack of fried tofu
2 chicken breasts
½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 limes, quartered



PREPARATION
1. Put noodles in a large bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit until noodles are just tender; check every 5 minutes or so to make sure they do not get too soft. Drain, drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, put 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, fish sauce, honey and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer. Taste and add more tamarind paste if desired. It should be piquant, but not unpleasantly sour. Stir in red pepper flakes and set aside.

3. Put remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when oil shimmers, add scallions and garlic and cook for about a minute.

4. Add eggs to pan; once they begin to set, scramble them until just done.

5. Add cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts and continue to cook until cabbage begins to wilt. (If you have to, remove half, and cook half at a time.)

6. Remove half or all of veggie mix, and add chicken. Cook until almost cooked through.

7. Add shrimp and cook until pink and almost cooked through.

8. Add fried tofu and warm.

9. Add back in all of the veggie mix.

10. Add drained noodles to pan along with sauce. Toss everything together to coat with tamarind sauce and combine well until noodles are warmed through.

11. Serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts and garnishing with cilantro, raw bean sprouts, raw carrots, and lime wedges.