It’s Tuesday afternoon, you’re thinking about what to make for dinner, and you’re stuck. You want something a little different from the usual, something fresh yet satisfying, and something that you can prep and cook in a half hour or so. For the answer, look no further than rice noodle stir-fries.

If you’ve eaten at Thai restaurants, you’ve probably gotten a taste of these wonderful dishes—a mound of slightly transparent noodles tossed with chicken, shrimp, or tofu, vegetables like green beans or bean sprouts, and salty, tangy, and spicy condiments like fish sauce, vinegar, and chiles. The most famous rice noodle stir-fry of all time has to be pad thai, but there are countless others. Once you try one of the recipes in this article, you’ll discover that the method is dead simple. You don’t need a super high-powered wok burner; you don’t even need a wok. And even though Thai noodle dishes in restaurants often include hard-to-find ingredients like bamboo shoots or Thai basil, you won’t need them for these recipes. Your local supermarket should have everything you need.

Four steps for simple stir-fry

A basic Asian pantry for fast noodle stir-fries

You don’t need to stock up on exotic ingredients to make these dishes. With the noodles and a few condiments in your pantry, you’re halfway there.

Rice noodles:这里的食谱需要宽阔的米粉，通常标有泰式垫面或米棒，它们类似于扁面条或普滕丁。它们有各种大小的包装；如果您没有比例尺，请仔细划分包装以获取所需的金额。认为4盎司的宽面条在煮熟时产生约2杯，足以容纳两个人。

Fish sauce:好的鱼露应该是茶的颜色，并具有略带淡淡的味道。冷藏，它保存了几个月；当它变黑或结晶时，丢弃它。

Rice vinegar:Use unseasoned rice vinegar, which has a sharp, clean taste. It keeps indefinitely.

Hoisin sauce:This dark, thick, sweet sauce consists of soy beans, salt, sugar, and flour. At room temperature, it lasts forever.

Soy sauce:I like Chinese soy sauce for these dishes, but you can use your own favorite. Soy sauce lasts indefinitely in the refrigerator.

Chile-garlic sauce:These vary in strength, so you may want to adjust the amount accordingly.

Ingredients for the rice noodle stir-fries are available in most supermarkets, but if you want to buy wide rice (pad thai) noodles, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chile garlic sauce (search for chili garlic sauce), and rice vinegar online, visitEthnicgrocer.com