Pad Thai--Stir-fried Thai Noodles

Pad Thai is one of the Thailand's best noodle dishes served throughout the country in the fancy restaurants or by street vendors. You can eat this dish at any time of the day and is especially very popular at the night market . Pad Thai is one of my favorite meals too, but sometimes when I order this dish in a Thai restaurant in America, I am disappointed for a few reasons: it is usually too oily, too sweet or too salty. I have been reading more about this wonderful dish, and the conclusion is usually that the flavorful sauce sets it apart from other stir-fried dishes. There is an old saying, "There is a different pad thai for every cook in Thailand". This explains the different tastes in different restaurants. Therefore, I created my own pad thai to share with you.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup pad thai sauce*
8 to 10 oz rice noodles (preferably fresh noodles)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup dried shrimp (soaked in water)
1/2 cup tofu cut in cubes
1 chicken breast sliced
2 eggs, beaten
2 shallots thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno thinly sliced
1/2 cup sweet onion thinly sliced
1/4 cup green onion (optional)
1/4 cup chopped chives in 1 inch lengths
1 cup bean sprouts
Garnish
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped chives cut in 1 inch lengths
1/4 cup ground roasted peanuts

Directions:
Heat oil in large wok. Add tofu. Sauté until crispy. Add shallot and garlic. Stir briefly. Add meat and shrimp and continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes. Move the meat mixture off to the side of the wok. Add a beaten egg. Let the egg cook undisturbed for a few seconds and mix the egg mixture to the meat mixture. At this point, you might need to add a little more oil. Then quickly add onion, rice noodles, the pad thai sauce, and continue cooking until the rice noodles have almost absorbed all of the sauce. Move back the meat mixture and add bean sprouts and chives into the wok and mix them well.. Turn off the heat and serve.
This recipe should serve 4 people

Pad thai sauce
2 cups tamarind concentrate (nuoc me chua)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
Mix all the ingredients until the sugar dissolves. It should keep a few weeks in the refrigerator. You might want to switch a little bit for your own taste by adding more or less sugar, but only you can find the right proportion for this sauce. It should be balanced between sweetness and saltiness.