Ohh, pad thai. You make my life complete. You and miso soup are what have gotten me through 2 and a half years of university. And now I share my super special secret recipe with you, my fellow vegan pioneers/family/friends/roommate who stalks my blog! Okay, it's not that special or secret. But it is delicious!
Totally not traditional pad thai
Feeds all my best friends (or four other very hungry people)
Les noodles:
2 boxes of soba noodles, or about a package of rice noodles
Le stir-fry
1 block firm tofu or seitan, chopped (or cut into pretty shapes if your name is bill and you're weird)
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
2 inches fresh ginger, chopped finely or grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 green thai peppers, seeded and minced (taste, I like to add more)
Optional but delicious:
Lots of baby bok choy (stems and leaves separated)
Broccoli (the head and the stem separated)
Mushrooms (for the mushroom-inclined)
Green onions
Sprouts
Cilantro is yummy
Any other veggie you find delicious. Just don't throw something totally weird like avocado or tomato in there. Avocado pad thai? Not so much.
Le sauce
1/4 c soy sauce/Braggs (or to taste, if you have super salty soy sauce)
Juice of one lime (or two if you omit the rice vinegar)
2 tsp rice vinegar (or another lime, whatever. see if I care)
1/3 cup peanut butter
1-2 tbsp sugar or maple syrup
1/4 c hot water or coconut milk
Method:
Make the noodles. If you're using soba, rinse them in cold water once you've drained them. I never coordinate this dish very well, so I usually toss my noodles with a bit of oil afterwards to prevent them sticking together in a big gooey mess.
In a big wok, sauté tofu/seitan in oil until browned on all sides. This may take a while, especially with tofu, so make sure your pan is quite hot, and don't be afraid to leave the tofu there for a bit and go leave me a comment or something. Then when you come back and flip it it should be nicely browned, depending on the length of the comment. Anyway, then add the onions and shrooms. Sauté those for 6 or 7 minutes or until the onions are translucent (by the way, I can never see through my onions, so whatever, that's such a lie. but you know what I mean. and I probably don't chop mine fine enough anyway.) now you can add the carrots, bell pepper, ginger, garlic, chopped stems of bok choy, chopped broccoli stems, and hot peppers. Sauté those for a bit. Depends on how soft you like your carrot, really. After a few minutes (5-ish?), add the broccoli and bok choy leaves, if using. Cover up your pan and steam them a bit. You can add some water so the rest of the stuff doesn't burn. I don't usually do this because I never use broccoli, so I just add the bok choy leaves and stir 'em around a bit until they're wilted. But you should steam the broccoli. And broccoli's good in here, I just don't use it because I never use it in time when I buy it and it always goes horribly horribly bad.
All right, while all that shit's going on and you have a minute, make the yummy sauce. Just stir everything together in a bowl! Feel free to mess with it to your liking; I never measure anything so the measurements are all very approximate!
Once the broccoli is tender, throw in the sauce, sprouts, and cilantro and green onions and stir it a bunch to incorporate the sauce. Put the stir-fry on top of the noodles and consume! Garnish with roasted peanuts, lime slices, and cilantro leaves. If you have leftovers, combine the sauce and the noodles before tupperware-ing it; otherwise the noodles will be weird, and really, putting them in separate containers makes too many dishes.
The end to this epic post (by the way, sorry for how extraordinarily verbose that recipe was): my vegan pioneer tip for making hot chocolate! I just discovered this tonight, when I was considering what spices and stuff to throw in to my hot chocolatey deliciousness. I put in the usual sugar, cayenne, cinnamon, but then I saw allspice, and thought that would be yummy, so I threw that in there. But that's not the really great part; I spied my little bottle of almond extract and I couldn't resist! Oh... so heavenly. Why didn't I think of that before? It's the perfect addition to hot chocolate!
Well, I've got an 8:30 class tomorrow, whoopee! Goodnight, kids; I leave you with this incredibly attractive picture taken by my imminently lovable roommate:
Well, I've got an 8:30 class tomorrow, whoopee! Goodnight, kids; I leave you with this incredibly attractive picture taken by my imminently lovable roommate:
6 comments:
Are those ground peanuts in the photo? They're not in the recipe.
That made me hungry! So glad we can keep track of each other (ish) vis a vis bloggities.
I love Pad Thai - so good. I also like your addition of the maple syrup and coconut milk. Can you believe I've never cooked with coconut milk? Next time I want some pad thai, I will have to try out your version. Yum!
Anon, yes, those are ground roasted peanuts. I mentioned them at the end of the recipe, when I mentioned what the garnish should be, but I guess I should include that in the recipe!
Jennifer, cook with coconut milk! It's pretty much one of my favourite things in the world. If it weren't basically pure fat, I'd eat it right out of the can!
that's some glorious look'n pad thai! thanks for stopping by happyveganface, too! your comments are too sweet! i'm totally giving your recipe a try - it looks too yummy not to! thanks! :)
ugh I hate coconut milk! :P
thanks for the comments sweets :/ Maybe you should try out some cupcakes and tell me how they came out - I'm about to post another thing- guess what? A FAILURE. I really suck this week...and last week. *sigh* but your food looks beautiful ^_^
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