LAST EDITED ON 01-13-10 AT 00:38 AM (EST)I made this last night and thought it was quite good. I kinda-sorta followed the recipe, opting for:
peanut oil –I think it makes a difference
tamarind paste – I had to go to an Asian grocery store to get it, but I didn’t want to use ketchup. I do think that, as with the peanut oil, the details make the difference.
soy sauce – DH has fish sauce issues.
16 oz of noodles instead of 12 – I used the whole package
2 eggs instead of 3- seemed like enough, even with the extra noodles
2 cups of bean sprouts instead of 1- Again, I used the whole package.
a bottled Thai peanut satay sauce (from Trader Joe’s) instead of chopped peanuts – I had the sauce on hand and I didn’t want to buy a whole bottle of peanuts for this recipe and then have those little calorie bombs sitting around and calling to me from the cupboard with their little, seductive peanutty voices … eat me, eat me.
And I tossed in a cup or so of mushrooms because I had them and everything is better with ‘shrooms, right?
I also tossed in some frozen peas and julienned carrots for extra color (without shrimp it was bland looking) and to ramp up the veggie factor.
Problems:
1. I overdid the tamarind paste. I bought a concentrate and I think 1 teaspoon instead of 2 would have been plenty. My mistake; I should have trusted my intuition when I was measuring it out and thinking that it looked like a lot.
2. The noodles were hard to stir and mix with the sauce. After I put them in the sauté pan, they turned into a stubborn, gelatinous blob although they eventually cooked ok after I added more oil. I think I let them soak in the hot water for too long and possibly had too many of them in too small of a pan.
3. Next time I would make it with shrimp or chicken. I like tofu, but it would be better with something more, I thought.
Results:
This made a ton, about 6 generous servings. It was good, but not restaurant quality. I think I would be much happier with how it turned out if I hadn’t put so much tamarind in. Before I eat the leftovers, I may stir in a bit of ketchup or tomato paste to try to tone it down. I have to say that considering the time spent shopping, cooking, and cleaning up, in the future I will probably opt for the $7.95 deal down the street but it was fun to try.
Thanks for the recipe, Snidget. I do like a cooking adventure and that is what this was. I’m looking forward to hearing how others fared.
If anyone has any ideas for using up a whole lot of very powerful tamarind paste, I am all ears.
Edited because I forgot about the peas.