Shrimp Pad Thai

This rendition of Shrimp Pad Thai comes out of my love of the more saucy Indian dishes and has more sauce than your average Pad Thai, but all the flavors.

Serves: 2
 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound fresh large shrimp cleaned, deveined, and chopped roughly
• 2 small heads of bok choi roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup rough chopped snow peas
• 2 tablespoons cashew nut butter (peanut butter, any nut butter to taste. )
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Vietnamese sweet lemongrass curry
• 5 Korean pepper threads 
• Salt and pepper
• Soy sauce (GF)
• Pad Thai rice noodles (GF)

Instructions:

• Place a pot of water on stove to get it to start boiling for the noodles while you do prep. 
• Get the shrimp cleaned, deveined, and roughly chopped in a bowl and salt and pepper them
• Combine the nut butter, coconut milk, curry blend, and pepper threads in a bowl and mix until a thick liquid consistency.  Works better when nut butter is room temp.  
• Chop up veggies and place in bowl.  
• Now that prep is done.  Check water. If boiling put noodles in water and follow package directions.  For the ones I get this involves taking pot off heat for 10 min. 
• Get a pan with some coconut oil hot enough so that when you drop in the shrimp it sizzles.
• Drop in shrimp.  
• Cook on high 1-2 minutes until shrimp turn pink.  
• Add the sauce and stir quickly.  Add the veggies and turn down heat to a low medium and simmer for 3 minutes.   Add a couple tablespoons of soy to deglaze the pan a little stir quickly and remove from heat.  
• Spoon over noodles once noodles done and removed from water.  
• Enjoy. 

Note:  this could be made vegetarian by replacing the shrimp with a few more veggies.
Alternate Veggies I like and have used:

• 1/2 can sliced water chestnuts and another 1/2 can bamboo shoots
• 12 fresh snow peas
• Carrots roughly chopped, or chopped real fine as garnish 

Alternate Sauce method for a much more flavorful sauce:
Ingredients for Sauce:

• 1 cup flavored coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons cashew butter
• 2 tablespoons crushed cashews...
• 1/2 lb shrimp shells
• 1 lemongrass stalk, roughly crushed using back of knife
• 1 piece of fresh ginger about double size of thumb diced extremely fine.
• 1 teaspoon roughly to taste Cambodian lemongrass curry (savory spice shop)

Instructions for making a flavored coconut milk

• At very low heat put the coconut milk, shrimp shells (Omit if vegetarian), lemongrass and ginger in pan and let the milk warm up at just below simmer for an hour. This will put the ginger and lemongrass flavor into base sauce
• Remove lemongrass stalk and add the curry and cashew butter. At low heat mix for 10 minutes ensure the sauce is smooth. Remove sauce from pan and mix in cashew pieces.