I’d never had Pad Thai until I decided to make it a couple of weeks ago, and now I think I’m slightly addicted to its tangy-sweet deliciousness! I’ve had it more times than I care to count this month. I still haven’t figured out how to keep my rice noodles from sticking together after soaking them, though. Any good tips?
Ingredients
- 16 oz. dried Pad Thai rice noodles (linguini-width)
- 1 cup soft tofu (or about half a block)
- 8 green onions, white parts sliced and kept separate from green
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp. grated galangal (or ginger if galangal unavailable)
- 2 heads of bok choy, roughly chopped
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1/3 cup fresh coriander/cilantro
- 1/2 cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
- Pad Thai Sauce (see recipe below)
- 3-4 Tbsp. oil for stir-frying
- lime wedges for serving, optional
PAD THAI SAUCE:
- 2 to 2.5 Tbsp tamarind paste, to taste
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 7 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
- 6 Tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar), to taste
- 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/2 tsp vegetarian oyster sauce, optional
- Dash vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, optional
Preparation:
- Put the noodles in a large bowl or pan. Bring a pot of water to a boil and pour over the noodles. Soak noodles in the hot water for 4-6 minutes, or until limp but still a bit firm (since you’ll be stir frying them and cooking them more). Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to dissolve the paste and sugar (it helps to warm the stock slightly to help the ingredients dissolve).
- Heat the oil in a large wok over medium heat. Add the white parts of the green onion (reserve the rest for serving), garlic, galangal/ginger. Stir-fry 1 minute.
- Add the bok choy, and stir-fry 2 minutes, or until bok choy has wilted.
- Add the noodles and 1/3 of the sauce. Stir-fry everything together 1-2 minutes, tossing ingredients together. Reduce the heat if needed, if the ingredients begin to stick. Keep adding sauce and stir frying until most of the sauce has been used. Before you add the last bit of sauce, crumble the tofu (like scrambled eggs) on top of the noodles, adding the coriander, peanuts, the rest of the green onions, and the rest of the Pad Thai sauce.
- Remove the wok from the heat and add the bean sprouts, folding them into the hot noodles. Taste test and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve, adding lime wedges if desired.
