Chicken Pad Thai

Tonight’s meal comes from the Flat Belly Diet cookbook. I make a lot of recipes out of this and the original book, as I really have never had something I did not like. I love Pad Thai, but it can be high in oil. This one is not and just divine tasting. They say the lime wedges are optional; I do not think so. Also, if true to the diet itself, as I found out at the last minute that Jim had eaten all the peanuts, I used dry roasted sunflower kernels. Technically I should have doubled the sunflower seeds. I did not. To tell the truth, I thought the Sunflower seeds were better than the peanuts would have been.


4 oz. flat rice noodles

4T ketchup

1 T fish sauce

1 t sugar

1 T peanut oil, divided

1 egg, beaten

12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves cut in 1 ½ long strips

2 cloves garlic

3 scallions cut in 1” pieces

1 c bean sprouts

½ cup peanuts (or the sunflower seeds I mentioned)

Lime wedges

This is a stir fry. With any Chinese meal, read ahead and chop and assemble all ingredients before starting. First I put on a kettle of water for the noodles. I salted the water.

Next I mixed the ketchup, fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl. I then broke an egg and beat it in another small bowl. Plus I got out a small plate to put the finished omelet on. Next I cut the chicken breast crosswise in slices and cut each one in 1/3 slices to give the long strips. I then cut the scallions and minced the garlic.

Add the noodles to the boiling water. Mine cooked for 8 minutes and I drained. Next heat the wok with ½ the oil. Toss in the egg and cook like an omelet. Put the omelet on the small plate and cut in strips. Add the remaining oil to the wok and add the chicken strips. Cook about 4-5 minutes and add the garlic. Stir a couple of times and then add in the cooked noodles. Cook about a minute and add in the ketchup mixture. Toss for a minute and add in the scallions and the egg slices. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the bean sprouts and in my case the sunflower seeds.
The recipe serves 4 or in our house, Jim and me; there is none left. Sitting down to dinner Jim said, “Aside from the worm looking things (bean sprouts), what else is in it?” Lord help me!

We had a 2008 Fairvalley Chardonnay from South Africa which complemented the dinner. We ate with chop sticks. Fun evening.