What Can Be Said About Pad Thai?.... Other Than YUM

This past week, Gilbert's been a little bit under the weather.  We think the culprit is gluten.  Ohh the dreaded gluten intolerance.

In November, Gilbert saw his doctor and told him of some of the symtoms he's been having.  His doctor, with the preciseness you would expect in this kind of situation, said, "Hmm.... well it sounds like you might have a food allergy.... I would guess that it was Lactose or Gluten.... but there really aren't any good tests to prove 100% which one it is."  So, in order to figure out which one Gilbert suffered from, if any, we had to run a test.  

We had to go one week without lactose, then one week without gluten and then one week without both (if the symtoms weren't better after the first or second weeks).  Well, we saw NO difference in the week of no lactose...... so we went on to gluten.  This was a huge challenge for Gilbert, he loves food and to be denied many of the things he loves was incredibly difficult.  We decided that it would be best to stick to foods that naturally weren't supposed to have gluten in them.  We made a lot of Asian dishes (and then we realized that soy sauce and hosin sauce had gluten.... but moving on).  After this week, Gilbert felt loads better, and we thought, must have been the gluten.  Well, after finally looking at all of the things we were using to cook with, we realized that we hadn't actually gone totally gluten free.... but he had felt better.  

Anyway, after that incredibly long tangent, we've decided that we're going to try and go another week gluten free to see if it will help Gilbert feel better again.  Which means, we're whipping out some of the recipes that I used the last time we tried it.  Pad Thai was the first!  (I'm not going to lie I couldn't have been more excited about it!)

Pad Thai

Capturing the taste of Pad Thai is hard because, according to Cooks Illustrated, it's difficult to get Tamarind Paste in the states.  But they've come up with a delicious alternative.  This recipe is for two people.

Do you have a favorite gluten-free dinner?

Ingredients:
Sauce:
3 tbs Lime Juice
3 tbs Water
2 1/2 tbs Dark Brown Sugar
2 tbs Fish Sauce
1 1/2 tbs Vegetable Oil
2 tsp rice vinegar
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Noodles, Shrimp and Garnish:
4 oz Rice Noodles
2 tbs Vegetable Oil
6 oz medium Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt
1 small Shallot, minced
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 large Egg, lightly beaten
1 cup Bean Sprouts
2 tbs Unsalted Dry-Roasted Peanuts, chopped, plus extra for garnish
2 scallions, green parts only, sliced thin
2 tbs fresh Cilantro Leaves

Directions:
1) For the Sauce: Whisk all ingredients together in bowl and set aside.

2) For the Noodles, Shrimp and Garnish: Bring 4 qrts water to boil in large pot.  Remove boiling water from heat, add rice noodles, and let stand, stirring occasionally  until noodles are just tender, about 10 minutes.  Drain noodles and set aside.

3) Heat 1 tbs oil in skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Add shrimp and pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are opaque, 2-3 minutes; transfer shrimp to plate.

4) Add remaining 1 tbs oil, shallot, garlic and pinch of salt to skillet.  Return to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Stir in egg and cook, stirring constantly, until scrambled and barely moist, about 20 seconds.

5) Add drained rice noodles and toss to combine.  Add sauce, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are evenly coated, about 1 minute.

6) Add cooked shrimp, bean sprouts, peanuts and half of scallions and continue to cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are tender, about 2 minutes.  Transfer noodles to serving platter, sprinkle with remaining scallions, cilantro and extra peanuts.  We also like to include lime wedges on the side.