Pad Thai ala Alex (WIP!)

Preparation:

You need an egg - you can optionally beat it beforehand or make a scrambled egg having just cracked it later.

Undersoak the Rice noodles first in hot water - don't let them get puffy. take them out of the water before this happens.. 

Mix together a teaspoon of fish sauce and a teaspoon of tamarind in a cup and then fill it with water, mix in a teaspoon of high quality (palm, cane..) sugar. You should end up with a liquid that looks like a weak tea - use this to keep cooking/steaming the noodles while constantly stiring

Starting with a bit of peanut oil, stir-fry the dried shrimp, (garlic/fine onion/white part of chive/white part of spring onion) and white pepper until going lightly brown

Add the soaked rice stick noodles. (handful per person) add some pad thai sauce or ketchup at this point and stirfy vigourously for 3-5 minutes adding the 'weak tea' mixture to the high-heat wok. 

optionaly : add a table spoon of sriracha sauce too !

Add spring onions/shallots at this point and stirfry for a further minute. (2 green stems of shallots per person - cut into inch-long lengths)

Taste and optionaly add more water/fish sauce/pepper/etc.

Now you have a decision to make:

Either: Move the mixture out of the centre of the wok for the egg - this needs to be scrambled and a little stringy. 1 egg per person, or 2 eggs per person. depends on the size of the egg!

Or: having beaten the egg in a separate container .. slowly dribble this into the noodles while constantly stiring - this makes the egg very stringy!

Once the egg is cooked mix it all together with a generous serving of bean sprouts (if you have them) and add salted radish or deep fried garlic.

Optional garnishings : Raw Peanuts, Dried Chilli Powder and Lime (to be served along side).