Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodle. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare other ingredients. Note that you will be frying the noodles later, so you don’t want to over soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but still firm and a little crunchy. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combing the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. Note: this may seem like a lot of sugar, but you need it to balance out the sourness of the tamarind.
3. Place chicken slices in a small bowl. Pour marinade over the chicken. Stir well and set aside. Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp of oil plus garlic and chili if using. Stir fry until fragrant.
4.  Add chicken (with marinade) and stir fry for 1 minute. When wok/pan becomes dry, add a little chicken stock (1-2 Tbsp at a time), enough to keep the chicken frying nicely. continue stir frying in this way until the chicken is cooked (5-8 minutes).
5. Add the noodles and Pad Thai sauce. Using two spatulas, immediately stir frying noodles. Use a gentle “lift and turn” method, like tossing a salad, to prevent noodles from breaking. Stir fry in this way 1-2 minutes. You can always add more oil if your wok becomes too dry (don’t use chicken broth as it will make noodles soggy).
6.  Add pepper and continue tossing until noodles are cooked. They should no longer be hard or crunchy but a little chewy/sticky.
7. Place in serving dish and top with fresh cilantro, green onion, and chopped nuts. Serve with fresh lime wedges to squeeze over top.