My Search for the Perfect Vegan Pad Thai - Recipe #1

I LOVE pad thai. It is my favourite dish at the Mon Thong by the movie theatre. I always ask for no shrimp and extra tofu (and no green onions either - yuck) but I am sure that there must be shrimp paste lurking in there anyway. Almost all my vegan recipe books have pad thai recipes. It was my goal to have a pad thai week over the Christmas break where we would eat nothing except pad thai until I found the ultimate recipe but I never ended up even making one. Finally tonight I decided to try. I was going to be lazy and use a bottle of vegan pad thai sauce that I had bought at the Asian supermarket but (1) it had expired 2 months ago and (2) there was more sugar than anything else. I decided to not be lazy, cooked a package of flat rice noodles, and went in search of my first pad thai recipe in my cookbooks.

Pad Thai #1 - Modified from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein

1 package of dried, flat rice noodles cooked according to directions then drained and rinsed in cold water. These cook fast so don't leave them for more than 5 minutes.
1/2 tbsp tamarind paste mixed with 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp ketjap manis (if you have none then add another 1/2 tbsp each of soy sauce and brown sugar)
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
1 tsp minced ginger
1 pkg firm or extra firm tofu cut into 1/2" cubes
1 cup snow peas or cabbage or peppers or carrots or a mix of them all
1 cup bean sprouts rinsed and blanched in boiling water to wash off any salmonella yuckies
1 green onion (yuck - this is entirely optional)
1/4 dry roasted peanuts

Mix the tamarind, water, soy sauce, ketchup, lime, sugar, sesame oil, and ketjap in a bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in a wok and when the oil is hot, toss in the chili flakes and ginger. Stir that around a few minutes then toss in the tofu and let the sides brown a bit. Add the veggies, toss, cover and let them steam cook themselves until they are of your desired crunchiness. If water develops in the bottom of the pan, let that evaporate before adding the tamarind liquid mixture. Mix into the veggies and bring that up to a boil. Toss in the noodles and mix it all together.

In your individual bowls, place a pile of bean sprouts. Serve the Pad Thai on top. Garnish with green onions (yuck - really, you don't have to) and the peanuts. Eat with a fork. The Thai don't use chopsticks.


My review... yummy but not the pad thai taste I am searching for. It's the right texture although it's a little too wet. I could have let the sauce cook down more. I would certainly make it again and Corey really liked it. He isn't a pad thai fanatic so his ability to compare to restaurant versions is limited.