Vegan Pad Thai

Being able to make plans on the fly and doing  a quick vacation in Thailand was one of the best luxuries that came with living in India. I miss that the most ever since I moved back to the US. Not to mention even more so because of COVID, as I miss traveling in general.

My most favorite part of traveling to Asian countries is obviously the food. Pad Thai is my go-to Thai dish. I will ponder over the menu forever (because everything sounds delicious and interesting), but rarely am I able to let go of a chance to eat another dish of pad Thai and will end up settling for it. the great thing about pad Thai is I can easily ask them to customize it and not have any dried fish or fish oil added to it.

This recipe is a vegan version Of pad Thai that I absolutely love making for a quick weekday dinner as it is one of the easiest, tastiest, fastest recipes to make! Literally takes 15 to 20 minutes on the Clock to make vegan pad Thai from scratch for the whole family 😀

The recipe below makes about two to three servings

you will need:

6-8 oz Pad Thai noodles

2 tbsp oil – light sesame or any neutral oil

1 medium white onion – sliced

3-4 cloves of garlic – crushed

2 cups beansprouts

150g firm tofu, cut into Small rectangles

1 tsp tamarind concentrate or 2 tbsp tamarind puree

3 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp light soya sauce

1-2 tbsp sriracha sauce

A handful of garlic chives – cut into long pieces

1/2 cup chopped/crushed roasted peanuts

Asian ground chilli powder/ Red chilli powder/ chilli flakes/ Mexican chili lime seasoning (optional)

To serve:

Lime wedges

Cilantro

Procedure:

• Follow the instructions on the noodle packet and cook the noodles. most of the Thai style rice noodles will need to be soaked in boiling water for about 8 to 10 minutes and then drained
• in a pan Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add the garlic and onion to it. saute and cook covered for a couple of minutes
• mix together the sugar, soy sauce, sriracha sauce and the tamarind concentrate and set aside
• To the sauteed onion and garlic, add almost all of the bean sprouts (save just a little for garnishing), the tofu pieces and the noodles. top it with the sauce mixture and mix everything together well
• once everything is mixed add almost all of the crushed peanuts and the garlic chives (just save some for garnishing)
• cook for just a few seconds and transfer to a serving bowl
• top with the bean sprouts crushed peanuts and garlic chives that you reserved – this will help add the extra crunch and freshness
• sprinkle some ground chili powder on top
• serve with lime wedges and cilantro
• I did not use any salt in this recipe because all of the sauces have enough salt, plus I used salted roasted peanuts to make my crushed peanuts but feel free to add more salt as needed

Serve hot. Pad Thai is one of those dishes that has to be made fresh and does not taste good re-heated. the sprouts, peanuts and chives lose their texture and flavor if they are over heated.

Any Thai meal is incomplete without some Iced tea.

If you wish to make pad Thai with eggs and or meat, Follow the steps below:

• after sautéing the onion and garlic, move it to the side of the pan And crack open An egg on the hot pan And scramble it. Once cooked, mix it with the onion
• Follow the procedure this point onwards just as above
• if you want to add meat instead of the tofu you can use half a pound of thin sliced chicken cut into small pieces or cleaned deveined shrimp
• Sauté it on the hot pan by moving the onion (and egg) to the side flipping it and cooking it from both sides once cooked follow the rest of the process as mentioned above
• The sauces in The recipe are enough to season the meat so marination or  pre-seasoning the meat is not required
• You can also add fish sauce (instead of soy sauce) and oyster sauce, if you’re making a non-vegan Pad Thai.

Since  we’re talking about all the delicious food which I miss from vacationing in Thailand I cannot help but think about the delicious milk buns which you get there!! Do check out my recipe for these Japanese style milk buns – you will not regret it 😊