The perfect midweek meal, takes 25mins to do and tastes amazing. You can even make more than you need and have it again the next day, who would want more yummy tasty food!

Ingredients

• Tamarind paste
• Shrimp paste
• 2 banana Shallots
• Ginger paste
• palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• Dark soy
• Glass noodles
• Chives
• Coriander
• Spring onion
• Cashew nuts
• Egg
• Peeled raw prawns
• Sriracha hot sauce

Method

First thing we need to do is get them glass noodles and buy them in a bowl of hot water to soak and become soft and pliable.

So to make the sauce this is all going to be coated in. Slice the shallots finely and then fry off in a frying pan with butter and oil. When they start to colour add 2 teaspoons of tamarind paste, 2 teaspoons of shrimp paste, 1 teaspoon of ginger paste and 3 teaspoons of sugar. Mix all this together for a minute or too then add 2 tablespoons of the dark soy sauce. This should now start to form a viscous sauce, take off the heat and set aside ready to use shortly.

Next mix up the eggs in a jug, get a wok and put on the heat with no oil in, put in the cashews and toast until coloured, take out and chop.

For this next bit you have to have your herbs chopped and ready as well as the eggs, prawns and noodles. In the bottom fill with a centimetre of oil then heat until starting to smoke. Now you have to be fast for this next bit so have your spatula ready, tip the egg in, and stir vigorously breaking it up them toss in the prawns, give them a minute and combine the noodles, chopped herbs and sauce in the pan, moving it all around fast so it doesn’t catch and burn. As soon as the prawns have coloured a nice pink take off the heat and you are ready to serve.

Chop the spring onion and get your chopped nuts, fill a bowl full of the noodle mix and top with these. I then like to put a slathering of Sriracha all over the top.

That is my Pad Thai, enjoy and don’t get to much all over your face!

S.C.