A Tasty Meal for Under $10!

Citymama’s $10 food challenge has been quite eye opening. I knew that I could make a delicious dinner for my family within that budget, but I was curious to see how far that would really take me. Would I be able to squeeze in more than just an entrée? Would I have to cut out the meat? I was surprised at what I found.

The dish I decided to make was pan-fried udon noodles. I made this dish a couple of weeks ago using beef, shitake mushrooms and broccoli, but of course I didn’t calculate how much it cost. I assumed it would put me over the $10 limit, so I decided to do it with tofu this time. We’re trying to eat less meat anyways. As it turns out, made with tofu, broccoli and carrots, the dish came in at $5.64, well under the $10 limit. With over $4 left over, I could squeeze in a simple salad (lettuce and cucumber sprinkled with sesame seeds) with nice a miso dressing. A balanced, tasty meal for $10!





Since I came in far under budget with the vegetarian version, I wondered how much it would cost to do it with beef. My preference is to use grass-fed beef (chuck steak), which cost $5.99/ lb at Whole Foods. The same cut of conventional beef at Safeway was $5.29 / lb. I expected the difference to be bigger. The big surprise, though, was Safeway’s price for stir-fry cut beef, over $7/ lb!!! It definitely pays to cut it yourself. Besides, they use a machine to cut the beef, rather than purposely cutting against the grain. Big no no, unless you like tough meat. Long story short—using 10 ounces of grass-fed beef still kept the price under $10 ($8.24 to be exact). Not enough left over to squeeze in the salad, but as Hubby pointed out, enough for a beer with his meal.


One way I keep costs down is to shop around. Whole Foods and Safeway are convenient for me, so that’s where I end up the most. I’ll make a trip to a big Asian supermarket (usually Fubonn or Uwajimaya) every couple of weeks or so. I could get a lot of my Asian sauces at the other two, but I rarely do. Asian products are cheaper at an Asian market. Here is an example. Mirin costs $3.58 for a 17-oz bottle at Fubonn. At Safeway and Whole Foods it’s $5.49 and $8.99 for only 10.5 ounces, respectively. I once saw Sriracha for $5.99 for a 28oz bottle at a local supermarket, but it’s only $2.58 for the same size at Fubonn. It’s smart to get to familiar with your local ethnic markets, no?

If you 're interested to see the cost breakdown, click on the file link 10dollarchallenge.doc.
You'll see the prices I paid, the amounts I used and where I got the item.

If you want more $10 meal ideas, check out Citymama’s site in the next couple of days to see the round-up.

Indonesian-style Egg Noodles

A group of us at work have started an unofficial food club. The idea is to take turns “teaching” the others about any food-related topics in which we have experience. The topics can range from stir-frying, making cheese, canning, baking, using a pressure cooker—basically anything to do with food. It’s really fun because we get hands-on “demonstrations”, but it’s still very informal and social.



I volunteered to host the first meeting and the topic was stir-frying, of course! My goal was to cover technique as well as introduce some common Asian ingredients. I provided noodles, rice, tofu and all the sauces we were going to use. The attendees brought the other ingredients and their woks, if they had one. Bringing the woks worked out perfectly because we discussed the different materials and their advantages or disadvantages. I laid out a sample of all the sauces and special ingredients and allowed everyone to taste them. The only thing that scared the group a little was the fermented shrimp paste. Most of them passed on the taste test; the smell was quite enough!

Thai fermented shrimp paste. Some call it stinky. I prefer "odoriferous". It will keep indefinitely in the fridge. You may want to store it in a Ziploc bag for extra protection.LOL It's also used in Thai curry pastes. It's also a good substitute for Indonesian fermented shrimp paste.

The meeting turned out to be a success. Everyone enjoyed tasting the different sauces and how the flavors changed or complimented other ingredients in the final result. One person said she never tasted tofu before the meeting. She’d heard so many people say they didn’t like it, but she loved it. Yay! A convert! I love when that happens.

One of the dishes we prepared was Indonesian-style egg noodles. I chose this recipe because I wanted to demonstrate how to cook noodles in a wok and introduce some common ingredients in Indonesian food, namely kecap manis and fermented shrimp paste. After the taste testing though, I was afraid to use the shrimp paste. The original recipe called for 1 tbs of the stinky stuff, but I brought it down to just ¼ tsp dissolved in water to give a total of 1 tbs. Turns out I shouldn’t have toned it down. Everyone liked the dish very much but agreed it could have used more of the shrimp paste flavor. We ended up sprinkling on fish sauce to make up for the lost umami.

I made the recipe again, this time using more shrimp paste, although not the entire 1 tbs, and it was really delicious. Kecap manis gave it sweetness as well a bit of saltiness. The shrimp paste shined! It came through to give a nice complexity and it was not fishy at all (although it was quite odoriferous when it hit the hot wok ☺). I recommend using it if you can get your hands on it. It’s available from any Asian market that sells SE Asian ingredients. If you can’t or don’t want to find it, fish sauce will compensate for some of the lost complexity, although it’s not quite the same.

Notes: The recipe calls for 1 pound fresh, thick egg noodles. They may be labeled yakisoba-style noodles. I couldn’t find any, so I used 8 oz Filipino dried egg noodles. They simply needed to be boiled for like 2 minutes, drained, rinsed in cold water and tossed with a little bit of oil to keep from sticking.

Hey manggy or Marvin, are the noodles actually called pancit canton? Or are they just trying to show these are the noodles to use for pancit canton? I'm kinda confused.

The original recipe called for topping with a fried egg, but I didn’t have any left after breakfast. How disappointing because the creamy yolk goes so well with the flavors and adds another texture. Otherwise there’s not any real protein in the dish. If you wanted, you could add tofu (which is what we did for the food club version) or chicken or shrimp.

Don’t forget the condiments, especially the fried onions! They add a wonderful textural component. I prefer to use an Asian brand, but Trader Joe’s fried onions are also fine. I don’t like the texture of French’s fried onions. They bread them or something. I also always serve noodles with lime wedges, sambal oelek and of course fish sauce (I can't help it, I'm Thai!) so that people can adjust the taste to their liking.

Indonesian-style Stir-fried Egg Noodles
From The Food and Cooking of Indonesia and the Philippines
Serves 3 or 4

• 1 pound fresh thick egg noodle (or 80z dried noodles; see note above)
  
• 2 shallots, minced
  
• 3 spring onions, minced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 to 2 tsp fermented shrimp paste (called belacan or kappi shrimp paste), dissolved in 1 tbs water
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 2 tbs kecap manis
• 4 eggs, fried over easy or over medium for serving (optional, but highly recommended)
  
• fried onions for topping
• 1 or 2 scallions, finely sliced for garnish (optional)
  

If using dried noodles, prepare them first because they can be set aside. See note above about preparation.

Combine the mined herbs together in a small bowl. They will go into the wok together.

Dissolve the shrimp paste in water, making sure to break up the clumps. Don't fret about the smell. It will taste good!

Mix the tomato paste and kecap manis together until thoroughly combined. Set aside until needed.

In a wok over medium-high heat, add about 2 tbs oil (grapeseed, peanut or a vegetable oil are best). When hot, but not smoking, add the minced herbs and stir-fry until fragrant and softened, about 20-30 seconds or so. Don't let them burn! Add the shrimp paste and stir to coat the herbs. Fry for about 30 seconds. Add the noodles then the kecap manis sauce. Turn the noodles in the sauce. Make sure they are well-coated. I found that using tongs to turn the noodles works well. Just be careful not to smush the noodles. Adjust flavor with salt or fish sauce, if needed. When the noodles are heated through, they are done! Remove to a plate and keep warm while you fry the eggs (unless you are good enough to fry the eggs while stir-frying the noodles; I am not!).

Serve on individual plates, each portion topped with a fried egg and garnished with fried onions and/or thinly sliced scallions.

Pork Shank Noodle Soup

If you need some comic relief, go see a T-ball game. We signed Sonny up for our local little league and had no idea what to expect. Let’s just say, I’ll be happy if Sonny isn’t scared of the ball by the end of the season. None of the kids can catch. Only one kid can actually throw hard enough to reach base to base. Since everyone is still learning the game at this point, the entire team is out on the field at the same time. Imagine ten 5-year-olds running for every single ball that comes out. Talk about pile-ups; it looked more like rugby than baseball. Then once they’ve wrestled the ball from their teammates, they’re usually confused about what to do with it. Once during the first game, Sonny was supposed to be running from first to second base but decided instead to chase the ball hit by his own teammate. That wasn’t as bad as the kid who hit the ball (pretty hard too) then proceeded to run to 3rd base. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life.

Sonny taking a practice lap. Isn't he cute with the little fists? Doesn't the weather look lovely?

Sonny running for home plate.

The downside to playing sports in the spring in Portland is having to deal with unpredictable weather. Last weekend was so warm and beautiful. People were wearing shorts and flip-flops to the game. This weekend it hailed and didn’t even break 50 F. People were dressed like they were going skiing. I made the mistake of wearing my Chuck Taylors and by the time I got home, my feet were so wet and cold, I couldn’t feel my toes.

While other people in warmer climes are pulling out their grills, I fired up my oven to braise pork shank for noodle soup. It’s a variation of a pork shank stew I ate growing up. Usually it's served with hard-boiled eggs over rice. This time I decided to nix the eggs and do it with noodles. The broth is savory-sweet with hints of anise, fennel, cinnamon and ginger. The pork shank is so tender because it’s braised with the skin on. This keeps the meat moist and when the collagen breaks down, it adds richness to the broth, much like what happens when you braise lamb shank.

Braised Pork Shank Noodle Soup
Serves 4 to 5 adults

• 2 to 3 pork shanks, with skin (about 3 pounds)
• 2 star anise
• 1 3-inch stick cinnamon
• ½ tbs toasted fennel seeds
• ½ tbs toasted coriander seeds
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 2 tbs thick soy sauce (see note)
• 6 cups water
• 1 pack chow mein noodles, usually sold in 16 oz packs (see note)
• 4 or 5 green onions, thinly sliced for garnish
• ½ bunch cilantro, chopped for garnish
• ¼ pound Chinese BBQ pork, thinly sliced (optional)
• ¼ pound fish cake, thinly sliced (optional)
• bean sprouts or sliced bok choy, blanched (optional)
• Condiments: chili garlic sauce or sambal, lime wedges, fish sauce

Note: The flavor base for the broth is thick soy sauce. As its name implies, it is thick with the consistency of molasses. It is also sweetened with molasses. Regular old Kikkoman cannot be substituted. I believe thick soy sauce also goes by the name ketchap manis.

For this dish, I recommend using the chow mein noodles. They have a better texture than ramen noodles or even rice noodles. However, if you can’t find them substitute any noodle you like. Or you could even use rice.

I've only recently discovered these noodles. I like them because they have a nice al dente texture, whereas ramen or rice noodles can get soggy. They are also great for stir-frying.

In a stockpot or large Dutch oven, warm a little oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the pork shanks and brown them well on all sides. Add the spices, ginger, and garlic and fry until fragrant. Add the water, sugar, thick soy sauce and fish sauce. Allow to come to a boil. When it comes to a boil, cover and braise either on the stovetop over low heat or in a 300 degree oven (my preferred method). Either way, it will take about 2 to 3 hours. It’s done when the meat on the shanks is fork tender and the collagen has broken down.

Normally I make this stew a day or two in advance and allow it to sit in my fridge to let the flavors meld. And it makes it so much easier to remove the fat, which will rise to the top and solidify. However, this isn’t necessary. If you plan to eat them the same day, just remove the shanks and allow them to cool slightly before removing the skin and bones and collecting the meat. If you allow the broth to sit for 15 to 30 minutes, the fat will rise to the top and you can skim some of it off. I recommend straining the broth to remove the spices.

Cook the noodles according to package instructions. For the chow mein noodles, I just boil them for 2 minutes and drain. Easy.

To plate, I put a bundle of noodles in the bowl, pile it with the garnishes then ladle the broth on top. I like just a couple of ladles of broth, while Sonny and Hubby like a lot of broth. The condiments go out on the table so everyone can season their soup the way they like.

Drunken Noodles

Drunken noodles (aka pad kee mao) seemed like all the rage a few years back. Funny thing is the first time I can remember having this dish is at a Thai restaurant. Mom never made it at home. People never believe me when I tell them this. They think that just because I grew up in a Thai household, I’ve eaten every Thai dish ever invented. So not true. But just because I didn’t grow up eating pad kee mao doesn’t mean I don’t love it. It also happens to be Hubby’s favorite rice noodle preparation so I’ve learned to make it.


Normally, I encourage people to make substitutions or change a dish according to their taste, but for this dish, I feel there are a couple essentials that just should not be left out. The first is the Thai basil. Traditionally holy basil is used, but Thai sweet basil will work fine. Both have distinctive flavors that are sometimes interchanged but cannot be replicated with the basil you’d use to make pesto. The second is to use the proper type of soy sauce. Ya’ll know that all soy sauces are not created equal! I found the best combination is black soy sauce (preferably Thai, but Chinese will work okay) and mushroom soy sauce. Other than that, you can play around with the vegetables and meat. I’ve seen bell peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, baby corn and even tomatoes. For the meat, just about anything will do, but my favorites are chicken and pork.

I recommend using Thai black soy sauce but this Chinese version is similar enough. Both use molasses to give a slight sweetness.

Drunken Noodles
Feeds 4 to 6

• 2 tbs black soy sauce
• 4 tbs mushroom soy sauce or light soy sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• fresh Thai chilies, to taste, cut lengthwise
• 1 cup packed Thai basil leaves (holy basil is best, but Thai sweet will work)
• 2 to 3 chicken breasts, roughly minced (pork, turkey or cubed tofu also okay to use)
• ½ large onion, sliced into wedges
• 1 to 2 cups Chinese long beans, sliced into 2” sticks
• fish sauce, to taste
• 1 package fresh rice noodles (sold in 2- pound packages), strands separated

Start by making the sauce. I always recommend making more than you’ll need. Try doing 1.5x to a double portion just in case you want more flavor. Mix the soy sauces and brown sugar in a bowl until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Set aside until needed.

Before you start stir-frying, make sure you’ve got everything prepared. The noodles may take the longest because separating the strands can be tedious and difficult to separate. It’s a little easier if they are not straight out of the fridge. Keep in mind that every single strand doesn’t have to be separated, but try to the have no more than two strands stuck together.

In a very hot wok over high heat, add about 2 tbs peanut oil or vegetable oil. Add the chilies, garlic and stir-fry for about 20 seconds. Add the onion wedges and long beans and continue to stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add the meat and cook until just done. Add a couple squirts of fish sauce and remove everything quickly to a bowl. Set aside until needed.

To the hot wok, add about 1 or 2 tbs more oil, and when it’s hot add most of the basil then the separated noodles on top. Stir-fry until the noodles begin to soften, maybe 3 or 4 minutes. Give the noodles a few seconds between turns to allow them to take on some color. Let’s hope your wok is well seasoned, otherwise you’ll have a big mess of rice noodle stuck and burnt at the bottom. Add back in the meat and veggies and give it a few good stirs to mix. Add in about half to 2/3 of the sauce and stir-fry to mix it well. Taste the noodles and add more sauce as needed. Throw in the remainder of the basil and give it a quick turn, then you’re done. Serve immediately with fish sauce on the side to allow diners to adjust the taste to their liking.

Easy Rice Noodle Stir-fry: Pad Se-ew

I added some tips (in bold) to make this recipe easier to follow. Let me know if it helps.
_______________________________________________________________

Happy New Year!

I know. I know. I’m late. I had every intention of posting sooner with my food-related favs of 2007 and resolutions for 2008, but that boat came and went and it seems a little untimely to do it now.

Instead I’ll tell you about one of my fav noodle dishes when I was a kid. It’s called pad se ew. This is the noodle dish mom made most often, probably because it’s so easy. Unlike pad Thai, the list of ingredients is relatively short. It’s also one of those dishes that gives you some flexibility with the ingredients. Mom always used Chinese broccoli, which doesn’t look or really taste like regular broccoli. It looks more like collard greens but tastes more like kale. If you can't get Chinese broccoli, kale, broccoli, broccolini or even asparagus will do. For the protein, you could use chicken, pork or tofu. I prefer to use fresh rice noodles (also called chow fun noodles), but you could always soak the dry rice noodles (like for pad Thai).



The main flavoring ingredient in this stir-fry is a mushroom flavored soy sauce. It has a smoother taste than regular soy sauce and I think that why it’s also referred to as light soy sauce (not to be confused with Chinese light soy sauce, which doesn't contain mushroom). It's actually thin soy sauce co-fermented with mushrooms. Mom always called it Healthy Boy, which is actually the brand she used. In fact, I don't know if there is another brand?? Unfortunately, I don’t think many grocery stores stock it, so you’ll need to visit your local Asian grocer. Or you could pay a little more and buy it online. BTW, this mushroom soy sauce is a great substitution for regular soy sauce in many stir-fries. Try it in fried rice and you’ll see.

Mushroom soy sauce is not as harsh as regular soy sauce in the same way that kosher salt is not as harsh as regular iodized salt.

Pad Se-ew with Broccoli and Tofu
Serves 4

• 2 tsp regular soy sauce
• 3 tbs mushroom flavored soy sauce (also referred to as light soy sauce)
• 2 tsp sugar (I prefer brown, but white is fine)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ block tofu, cubed (or the protein of your choice)
• 1 to 2 eggs, lightly beaten (depending on how much you like eggs)
• 1 to 2 cups broccoli florets (or one bunch washed and well-dried kale or Chinese broccoli)
• 1 to 1 1/2 pound fresh, wide rice noodles (also called chow fun), strands separated (or about 8 oz dried wide rice sticks, soaked in boiling water until semi-soft, drained well and lightly oiled to prevent sticking*)
  

Make the sauce by mixing the soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce and sugar together. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside, but remember to stir it before using. [BTW, I always recommend making a double portion of the sauce mix. Everyone has a different preference for salt. You may feel like you want to use more sauce and it's annoying to rush around throwing more sauce together when you're stir-frying. You can spike the leftover sauce with some chili garlic sauce or sambal and use as a condiment.]

In a hot wok over high heat, add about 1 or 2 tbs oil (don’t use olive oil; it sucks for stir-frying). When it’s smoking, add the broccoli and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want it to be tender-crisp (more crisp than tender because you’ll cook it further later). Remove it from the wok and set it aside.

Add 2 more tablespoons oil to the wok. When hot, add the tofu (or meat). Stir-fry, stirring only occasionally, until the tofu begins to brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and continue for 30 seconds. Slowly drizzle the egg down the sides of the wok and cook until they are just set. Add the noodles and pre-cooked broccoli and stir-fry for a minute or two, until the noodles begin to soften. Add half to 2/3 of the sauce mix and stir-fry to coat the noodles. Taste the noodles and add more sauce mix if necessary. It's done when the noodles are cooked through. Serve immediately.

Don’t forget to serve with accompaniments, such as roughly ground chili pepper and wedge of lime. My favorite is a vinegar chili sauce, which you've probably seen at noodle houses. A quick version of the sauce can be made by combining 1 tbs fish sauce, 1 tbs rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar and fresh or jarred jalapeno peppers to taste. If you have extra sauce, try spiking it with chili garlic sauce or sambal and serving as a condiment.

*You may want to read the post I did, which compared the fresh rice noodles to the rice sticks. Here is the link.

Food Fit for a Power Ranger

This evening at dinner Sonny said, “This is so yummy, I bet even Power Rangers would eat it!” If you knew how obsessed my son is with Power Rangers, you’d understand what a huge compliment that was. But don’t get the wrong idea, he wasn’t talking about mac n’ cheese or pizza (which we’ll have tomorrow night). He was talking about yakisoba stir-fry.

This is such a versatile dish because you can basically use just about any meat or vegetable you like. The sauce is slightly sweet due to the hoisin, but that’s balanced by the black soy sauce (which is very salty) and chili bean paste. (don’t worry, this is not at all spicy). To further balance the hoisin, I recommend a strong veggie like mustard greens, bok choy, asparagus or even broccoli. For the meat, I used chicken, but you could just as well substitute pork, beef or tofu.

This recipe easily serves 6 (8 if it’s part of a multi-course meal).

Yakisoba Stir-fry with Chicken and Mustard Greens

• 3 tbs hoisin sauce
• 2 tbs black soy sauce (regular soy sauce is fine too)
• 1 tbs Chinese chili bean paste (or chili garlic sauce will do fine)
• ½ tbs brown sugar
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 1 tbs minced or grated ginger
• 1 bunch mustard greens, roughly chopped
• 1 ½ to 2 chicken breast, sliced for stir-fry
• 2 bunches green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 1 (32 0z) package of yakisoba noodles

Start by separating the noodles. They come compressed together and it can be hard to separate them when they are cold. You could dunk them into boiling water for about 10 or 20 seconds, but that’s too much work for me. I’m also afraid they will get too soft and become soggy when I stir-fry them. What I normally end up doing is putting them into my stockpot and filling that with lukewarm water and carefully trying to separate the noodles with my hands. Every strand doesn’t have to be separated, but they should be loose. Drain them and keep them in a colander until ready to use. They come lightly coated with oil so they shouldn’t clump together and stick.

Make the sauce mix by combining the hoisin, soy sauce, chili bean paste, brown sugar and sesame oil. Mix well to dissolve the sugar and set aside until it’s needed.

Heat a wok over high heat. When it’s very, very hot add a splash of oil (about 2 tbs). Add the garlic and ginger and fry for about 10 seconds. Add the chicken and then the mustard greens. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, until the chicken is almost done. Add the drained noodles and stir-fry until everything is well mixed, about 1 minute. Add the sauce mix and continue to stir-fry until the noodles are coated with the sauce, about a minute or two more. Turn off the heat and throw in the green onions. Toss a couple more times and you’re done! Serve immediately. Even though this is well seasoned, I always serve noodles with fish sauce, lime wedges and sambal oelek on the side just in case anyone wants to a little extra seasoning.






We scored this costume at the local Goodwill. Nevermind the costume is for the black ranger and the mask belongs to the green ranger. What can you ask for for $6.99?? He'll probably wear the Darth Vader mask we picked up at the same time anyways. Don't you just love the poses?

Who Doesn't Love Pad Thai?

Actually, I know one person who doesn’t love it, and he’s married to my mom. He’s never tasted it, but he’s sure he doesn’t like it. In fact, he doesn’t like ANY Asian food. What a waste.

Everyone else I know who’s tried Pad Thai loves it. It’s not hard to make, despite the seemingly long list of ingredients. The version I make is simplified. I omit the dried shrimp, bean sprouts and preserved turnip. I also use vacuum packed fresh noodles, which gives me one less thing to get ready. They just need to be quickly separated when they come out of the plastic.

Simplifed Pad Thai:

• 1 lbs vacuum packed thin rice noodles
• ¼ lbs raw shrimp, deveined
• ½ block firm tofu
• 4 tbs tamarind puree (explained below)
• 2 ½ tbs fish sauce
• 2 tbs packed brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 eggs
• 5 scallions, sliced thinly on diagonal
• 1 cup bean sprouts (optional)
• 1-2 tbs dried shrimp, pounded (optional)
• 2 tbs preserved turnips, thinly sliced (optional)
• ¼ tsp chilli powder
• 3 tbs chopped dry roasted, unsalted peanuts
• 1 handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped for garnish
• lime wedges for garnish

For the tamarind puree, use about 2-3oz from a block of tamarind, which can be purchased at your local Thai-Viet store. To soften it, put it into 1/3 to ½ cup of boiling water. Using a fork, work it until you get a slurry, then put it through a strainer to remove the pits and skins. It should be relatively thick. Store the big block in the fridge; it will keep for months in a Ziplock bag.

Combine the strained tamarind with the fish sauce and packed brown sugar (I always make more in case I have to adjust the seasonings). In a hot wok with about 2 tbs oil, fry the tofu for about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and chilli powder and sautee for another 1 minute. Remove both (the shrimp won’t be done). If you need to, add another 1 tbs oil to the wok and fry the garlic and eggs, scrambling them until barely set. Add the noodles, scallions, tamarind mixture. Stir fry for about 2 minutes, then return the shrimp and tofu back to the wok. If using, add bean sprouts, dried shrimp and preserved turnips at this point. Stir fry until the noodles are tender. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve garnished with the chopped peanuts, cilantro and lime wedges.