Prep your ingredients:

1. Gather and measure out all of your ingredients. Toast the peanuts. Peel and de-vein the shrimp. Chop/mince the garlic, green onions, and shallot. Once you start cooking, you'll be adding the ingredients quickly and doing a lot of stirring, so it is much easier if you have everything right in front of you ahead of time.
2. If you are using dried rice noodles- Soak the dry noodles in lukewarm water while you prepare your other ingredients. Getting the right texture of the noodles is sometimes tricky. You want them to soften a bit so that they're flexible, yet not soggy/mushy. It's better to undersoak them than to wait too long and they get too mushy. (If you are using fresh/refrigerated noodles, you do not need to do anything to them.)

Cooking:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet of Wok over medium/high heat. Add garlic and shallot, cooking until lightly browned.
2. Drain the noodles and add them to the skillet, stirring quickly to prevent sticking. (If you used fresh noodles, you can add them straight out of the package.)
3. Add tamarind paste (or white vinegar, if substituting), sugar, fish sauce, and chili oil, and lime juice, stirring constantly. There should not be a lot of liquid in the pan. If there is a lot of liquid, raise the heat and cook until mostly evaporated.
4. Push noodles to one side of the pan. Crack the egg into the other side and scramble it. When egg is almost completely cooked, fold the egg into the noodles. The noodles should be soft/chewy at this point. If not, add a little bit of water and continue cooking until the noodles are cooked.
5. Stir in the shrimp, continue cooking and stirring until the shrimp is pink and firm, about 5 minutes.
6. Season with pepper, to taste. Add peanuts, bean sprouts and green onions.
7. Serve hot. It is typical to have sugar, chili oil, vinegar, and fish sauce available at the table to allow guests to adjust their portion to their personal taste.