Ingredients
8 ounces medium rice noodles.
These should be soaked at room temperature for an hour or more depending on how soft you prefer the noodles. It may take some experimentation to determine your preference, start with warm water.
5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
2 tablespoons chopped shallots (or small red or purple onions)
1/2 cup fresh prawns, pealed and de-veined
1/4 cup fish sauce - nam pla
1/4 cup crushed palm sugar
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate mixed with 5 teaspoons water (this makes tamarind juice)
1 medium egg, beaten
1/4 cup chopped chinese chives
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely broken up.
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup tofu that has been diced (1/2" cubes), marinated in dark sweet soy - see eu dam. "Firm" tofu works best.

Method
1. Heat a little cooking oil in a wok
2. add the garlic and shallots, and briefly stir fry until they just show signs of changing colour.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the egg and the bean sprouts,
stir fry until the noodles soften (about 5 minutes).
4. As you stir-fry the noodles, periodically throw in 1-2 tablespoons of water
5. Continuing to stir with one hand, slowly "drizzle" in the beaten egg to form a fine ribbon of cooked egg (if you don't feel confident with this make an egg crepe separately, and then roll it up and slice it into quarter inch wide pieces, which you add to the mix at this point).
6. At this point, a very tasty but optional addition is a small handful of dried shrimps.
7. Add the bean sprouts and cook for no more than another 30 seconds. 8. Remove from the pan to a serving platter.

Garnish
1. Mix a tablespoon of lime juice with a tablespoon of tamarind juice and a tablespoon of fish sauce
2. use this to marinade half a cup of uncooked bean sprouts, half a cup of chopped chives, and half a cup of very coarsely ground roasted peanuts.
3. Sprinkle this mixture on the cooked pad Thai.
4. Cut several limes into segments and also slice up some cucumber into rounds then halve the rounds.
5. Put the lime and cucumber segments around the serving platter.

You may add Thai chili powder, sugar and crushed peanuts at the table.