simplified pad thai

here's another good'n from america's test kitchen. what would i do without them for my easy recipes? if you like pad thai, you'll like this. if you don't like pad thai, you'll probably like this (my mom does and she doesn't normally eat pad thai). this one comes together in a jiff, despite what it may seem!

8 oz thick rice stick noodles *
1/4 C fresh lime juice
1/3 C water
3 TB fish sauce **
1 TB rice vinegar
3 TB brown sugar
4 TB vegetable oil
3/4 lb. medium (40/50) shrimp, peeled & deveined (& thawed) ***
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 larg eggs, beaten lightly
salt
6 TB chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
3 C bean sprouts, well rinsed
5 scallions, sliced thin
1 lime (for serving)

soak noodles: cover noodles with hot tap water in large bowl. soak until pliable but not fully tender ~20 minutes. drain and set aside.

make sauce: while noodles soak stir lime juice, water, fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and 2 TB oil together. set aside.

cook shrimp: pat shrimp dry. heat 1 TB oil in large skillet on high. add shrimp (in single layer) cook without stirring for 1 minute. stir shrimp until spotty brown and just pink around the edges, about 30 seconds. transfer to a clean plate, cover, set aside.

cook eggs: add 1 TB oil to skillet and saute garlic until fragrant. add eggs and 1/4 tsp salt. stir vigorously until eggs are scrambled (~30 seconds).

cook noodles & sauce: stir noodles into eggs, add fish sauce mixture, increase to high heat. cook, toss constantly until noodles are coated. add 1/4 C of peanutes, bean sprouts, all but 1/4 C of scallions and cooked shrimp. continue to cook, tossing constantly until noodles are tender, about 2 minutes.

garnish with remaining peanuts and scallions. serve with lime wedges. squeezing lime over it before you eat is a must!

* noodles should be wide like fettuccine. i've used skinnier and they just don't work. any/all asian markets have a myriad of noodle options if your grocery store doesn't.
** fish sauce is a good investment if you make asian food. it stores in the fridge practically forever. same goes for rice vinegar, but you don't have to store that in the fridge.
*** i probably use a full pound of shrimp, mostly because i'm too lazy and don't know what to do with the remaining 1/4 lb. in the bag. also, i buy the cooked, deveined shrimp because i'm also too lazy to devein them myself (disgusting). if you buy cooked, just throw them in the skillet to warm them up a bit. they'll get fully warmed through in the last step.