Pad Thai
1 pound rice noodles (wide ones)
1 pound extra firm tofu, pressed
canola oil, as needed
1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons sambal olek chili paste
(or 2 tablespoons ketchup + 2 teaspoons paprika)
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
8 green onions, chopped into 1" pieces
4 cups bean sprouts
3/4 cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
lime wedges, to serve
1. Cover the noodles with warm water in a large bowl and allow them to soak for 30 minutes. They should be flexible and soft, but not soft enough to be mashed with your fingers. Drain them and put them aside.
2. For tofu, you can thinly slice into bite sized pieces and bake on a lightly oiled pan at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes on each side, or cube the tofu and fry in about 1/2 cup oil in a very hot wok. Fry the tofu until lightly browned. Remove from the oil and drain.
3. Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and sambal olek in a bowl. Stir until well blended. The sugar won't dissolve completely, but that's okay. Heat several tablespoons oil in a medium hot wok and add the noodles coating them with the oil.
4. Add the soy sauce mixture and garlic into the wok and bring to a boil while gently folding the noodles. Lower the heat a bit and keep the liquid boiling while frequently folding the noodles. Try not to break the noodles.
5. When almost all the liquid has been absorbed, add the tofu and green onions and cook for about 2 minutes longer, until the tofu is warm and the onions are bright green. Serve the Pad Thai with a heavy garnish of bean sprouts and peanuts with lime wedges on the side.
Enjoy!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This was really, really yummy (aside from the fact that I apparently still don't know how to cook tofu - but I took it out afterwards and it was yummy). I used the reduced proportions of sugar and vinegar that people recommended, and also added broccoli and carrots. :)
Yum! Thanks for the great recipe. :)
oh man, I've been itching to make a pad thai for aaaages as it is one of my parents' favourite thai dishes, but we couldn't find the right size/shape noodles, other than in crazily expensive packets at the supermarket . Buuut we finally found some at the asian tofu shop, and I made this for dinner last night.
It was amazingly good. I had high expectations, and was pretty well blown away. I used 1/2 cup soy, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup vinegar , 1/4 cup water and used the tomato sauce/paprika method. I also threw in some finely chopped carrot, capsicum, brocolli and mushrooms, to up the vege content.
In the end, we probably had a bit too much sauce for the volume of noodles/veges cooked, but I don't know whether I'll cut it down next time or not, because having it really thick and saucy was really nice!
Anyway, rant over, this is good, make it tonight!!
This was really good! On the suggestion of others, I chose to cut the vinegar a bit and put in only 1/3 Cup, but it was still too vinegary for my taste - next time I'll use 1/8 - 1/4 Cup. I also didn't have peanuts, so used the peanut butter that was mentioned, and wow! It really added to the flavor. And, lastly, I cut the sugar in half (I'm wary about putting too much sugar in my dinners!) and used raw sugar. I served this with these Lettuce Wraps: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=13346.45 It made for a wonderful meal as I thought the flavors of the two dishes really went well together. And, they looked really pretty on the plate together!
Oh yeah, and I didn't use Tofu for either recipe. I baked some seitan and put it in the wraps though.
this was pretty good... i followed the recipe but had a package of only 12 oz noodles... bean sprouts, peanuts, and lime should be labeled optional... i will make the recipe w/o them next time but overall a good recipe :)
It was awesome,thats about all I can say! Only thing I changed was putting a 1\2 C rice vinegar instead of the 3\4 C. Loved it. THANK YOU!!! ;)b
Very yummy! Loved the simplicity, too. Some days I'm organized enough to plan meals before I leave the house. But, on days when I'm not, it's nice to have this great, tasty recipe that really requires little planning. I used 1/4 cup of seasoned rice vinegar and as a result, cut back on the sugar. I also added about a 1/2 t red pepper flakes and 1 1/2 T chunky peanut butter. I also added the garlic to the soy sauce mixture - letting the flavors mingle while the tofu cooked and the rice noodles soaked. At the end, I added cilantro. Must say, I was bummed to find that I only had rice vermicelli noodles in my cupboard. Looking forward to trying the recipe again with wide rice noodles.
BF really enjoyed the recipe, too.
I LOVE this recipe!! :) I used 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup distilled vinegar and the ketchup no paprika. I added 1 tbs. of peanut butter and chopped cashews instead of peanuts. I used to buy Tofu Pad Thai at our Stop and Shop by Ethnic Gourmet and they discountinued this. I was SO upset at first...not anymore, this is better and FAR less expensive. THANK YOU!
This is good, but to make it more authentic I would recommend these changes:
-- substitute palm sugar for the regular sugar. This is what is used in authentic pad thai. It can be found in most asian groceries; you can also sub brown sugar.
-- Add the bean sprouts when you add the tofu and green onions- they should be cooked slightly.
-- To make it really authentic, use vegan fish sauce instead of soy sauce. You can make it by soaking seaweed in water, then reducing it with some black soy sauce and a ton of salt.
This was great and super easy! I have made this twice already and making it again tonight. Last two times, I followed the recipe exactly. Tonight I am planning on adding a medley of frozen veggies. Thanks for the recipe!
This was amazing!! I never thought I'd be able to make Pad Thai at home, like I get at a restaurant.. and now I can! It's so inexpensive and easy too! I pretty much just followed the instructions - using ketchup/paprika, baking the tofu. Oh I threw in the bean sprouts and mixed them in a couple minutes before I served, as I prefer them cooked a bit. It was so good - this is definitely a keeper!
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