Every so often I find myself craving the rad na Thai chicken from Philadelphia’s Continental. I was first introduced to this warm bowl of fresh rice noodles, bean sprouts, scallions, peanuts, chicken and slightly wilted romaine by a friend who described it as “a big bowl of goodness.” And that it is. You can imagine my excitement when I came across the recipe for ra na in Aliza Green’s new cookbook, Starting with Ingredients. More exciting was discovering how easy the dish is to prepare: the sauce only has four ingredients, and once all of the ingredients are prepped, the dish takes fewer than ten minutes to complete. Here I’ve prepared the dish with shrimp but any cut of meat that can be quickly sautéed — thinly sliced chicken, pork or beef — can be easily substituted for the shrimp. Some of the ingredients, such as the fresh rice noodles, will have to be purchased at an Asian grocery store. My favorite is Hung Vuong Market at 11th and Washington. Look for the uncut fresh rice noodles that are packaged in clear plastic with red writing in the non-refrigerated section of the market. No reviews
