On a home-made Pad Thai

I'm a bit sick of the usual Pad Thai recipe. It's not that it isn't tasty. It is. However, it's always nice trying something new. So here are a few things I threw in:
3-4 minced coriander stems and leaves (directly from the planter on my window - I always use little amounts of coriander, and it's a waste buying lots of it in the supermarket and throwing most of it away - it's much better to grow these things yourself).
3 minced lemon-grass stems (that leave a wonderful aroma on your fingertips) from that same planter.
0.5 cup chopped garlic.
a few chopped shallots (you can also use one half of a small onion).
A little sweet chilli sauce.
3 tbsp. nam-pla (thai fish sauce) for saltiness.
1 tbsp. sugar.
4 tbsp. tamarind sauce.
5 tbsp. lime juice.
0.5 cup crushed peanuts.
1 small chilli pepper, thinly sliced.
0.5 big red pepper shreds.
300 g. chinese sprout.
A few mushrooms cut in quarters.
50-100 g. sliced chicken breast (or pork, or beef).
1 can of coconut milk (at least 60%).
1 pack of thai rice noodles (300-330 g.).
0.5 cup canola oil.

The most important thing when stir frying, cooking oriental food, or cooking in general, is keeping things tidy. Especially when stir-frying, when everything has to happen so fast, you should have all the ingredients handy, and ready to use. You can't start slicing something when you already have something inside the wok.

By the way, a wok isn't really necessary. Especially in a home kitchen, where the flame usually isn't high enough to take advantage of the wok's shape. However, in most cases, the wok is larger than the usual frying pan we have at home, thus allowing us to prepare the dish at once, not have to prepare it twice just because we chose to use a small pan.

Soak the noodles in hot water for about 15 minutes, and then soak them in the coconut milk.

Heat the wok, add half of the oil, and fry the onion and garlic. Then add the peppers and the noodles, and stir fry for about 2-3 minutes. Take the content of the wok out to a large bowl.

Add the rest of the oil to the wok, and stir fry the vegetables, lemon-grass, sprout, coriander and chicken. After one minute, start adding the sugar and the "liquids" - nam pla, tamarind, lime juice and the sweet chilli sauce (it's also possible to marinate the chicken in the sweet chilli sauce, to add a nice glaze to it). Stir fry everything until the chicken is done.

Then add the noodles from the bowl to the wok, and stir fry for another couple of minutes, until everything is ready and hot.
Add the peanuts and serve in deep personal bowls.

It's a refreshing (thanks to the lemon-grass and lime), creamy (thanks to the coconut milk) and light (you can also try using cream, but what's thai about that?) dish.
Most important, it's very easy to make.

Bon apetite!