Soak the noodles in room temperature (not cold) water for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Times will vary based on brand and water temperature. Check for doneness by lifting the noodles with your fingers – they should be completely mushy, have no resistance to gravity and no longer hold their old shape. If you’re in a hurry, you can use warm water and it will shorten the soaking time, but be careful not to over-soak it (see more tips for soaking spaghetti in the blog post above).
6 ounces dried rice noodles
Remove the seeds from the chili peppers by cutting them into small pieces with scissors and allowing the seeds to escape. You don’t need to remove every last seed, whatever comes out is fine. Grind the chillies in a coffee grinder until you obtain a fine powder. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, you can chop and soak the chiles in room temperature water until they rehydrate (about 30 minutes), then pound them in a mortar and pound into a paste.
0.3 ounce dried chili peppers
In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic into a paste, then add the shallots and ground chilies and pound into a rough paste.
2 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
Combine the tamarind paste with the fish sauce and ⅓ cup (80 ml) water and stir to combine.
3 tablespoons Thai tamarind paste, 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce, ⅓ cup water
Before turning on the stove, have a cup of water handy. Heat a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the oil and chilli paste and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
2 tablespoons of neutral oil
Add the palm sugar and cook until completely dissolved, about 30 seconds. Then add the tamarind sauce mixture and bring to a boil.
1.6 ounces palm sugar, about 3 1/2 tablespoons packed (or lesser brown sugar)
Add the shrimp (if using) and cook in the sauce for 1 minute, turning halfway through, until cooked through. Turn off the heat and remove the prawns, leaving all the sauce.
10-12 medium sized shrimp
Once the noodles are cooked, add the bean sprouts, chives, cooked shrimp, and most of the crab (if using), leaving some crab for garnish. Turn off the heat and mix everything until the bean sprouts have wilted.
1 ½ cups bean sprouts, plus extra for serving, 4 stalks of chives, 3.5 ounces crabmeat
Plate the tagliatelle, garnish with more crab (if using), more bean sprouts, cucumber and a separate lime wedge.
2 small cucumbers, Lime wedges to serve
