Thai cuisine has a lot of followers world wide. I love the hawker style restaurants of South east Asia. Food is cooked fresh and quick. It is light on tummy and has a lot of vegetables in it. I love noodles and Pad Thai is one of the dishes which offers you so much flavor.
Although predominantly you can find seafood and meat in Asian cooking. Their vegan dishes are amazing too. Recent mother's day lunch at a local restaurant inspired us to recreate it at home. We had an amazing Pad Thai and vegan Tom Yum fried rice here at Richmond and instantly wanted to recreate the Thai magic at home.
Note: Pad Thai paste generally has shrimp paste in it so always check the ingredients if you want a market based paste.
Ingredients
- Pad Thai noodles
- Firm Tofu
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Green onions
- Snap peas
- Celery
- Pad Thai paste (store bought or make you own, refer steps below)
- Crushed peanuts for garnish
- Salt and pepper as per taste
- Oil
How to make vegan pad Thai paste ?
I like to make these paste as home as the store bought pad Thai pasta is not VEGAN by default. The 2 options that I found in my local supermarket had shrimp paste. Hence, I made a mix of the below ingredients to get a simple flavor that is similar to the pad Thai. I have used the red curry paste here as it already has the basic Thai flavors.
The ingredients include
- Red Thai curry paste
- Chilli oil
- Soy sauce
- Tamarind paste
Mix all these ingredients. We will use them later in the cook.
How to make Pad Thai Noodles?
Follow the instructions on the packet. I would suggest to cook for 1-2 minutes less than what is mentioned in the packet.
The noodles that I have used are flat rice noodles. However, the noodles sold as 'pad Thai rice noodles were very broad ,so I bought this variety. Please note that once they are cooked, they will get thick and broad.
The packet mentions to cook for 6-8 minutes. However, I cooked it for 5 minutes in boiling water.
Then I passed it through cold water. Transfer it to a bowl of cold water so that they do not cook any further.
We will cook them for few minutes in pan with the pad Thai paste. Hence, it should be cooked for few minutes lesser in the beginning.
How to make Pad Thai?
- Heat oil in a fry pan. Add the broccoli and tofu pieces with little salt. Let it cook for few minutes.
- Add the remaining veggies and continue to cook for few minutes.
- Add half of the sauce mix and cook for few minutes.
- Once the veggies have cooked, take the veggies out of the pan.
- Add the remaining sauce and green onions.
- Add the cooked noodles to the pan.
- Mix them slowly in the pan and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Add the veggies mix to the noodles. Garnish with bean sprouts and crushed peanuts.
Variation
You may use any veggies of your choice.
Substitution
You may substitute the sauce mix with the store bought pad Thai paste.
Storage
This can be prepared in advanced and stored in the fridge. Reheat before serving. You can also store the noodles and veggies separately and mix while reheating.
Related links
Easy vegan pad thai
Equipment
- 1 frying pan or wok if you like
- 1 saucepan for boiling noodles
Ingredients
- 150 gm rice noodles / Pad Thai noodles
- 2-3 tablespoon sesame oil or any vegetable oil
- 100 gms tofu extra firm tofu,cut in cubes
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- ½ cup carrot sliced
- 8-10 snap peas or beans
- ½ cup bean sprouts
- 2-3 stalks green onion finely chopped
- ¼ cup crushed peanuts
Pad thai sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- ½ tablespoon tamarind paste
- ½ tablespoon chilli oil
Instructions
Pad thai paste
- Mix all sauces including the Thai curry paste. Keep it aside.
Pad thai Noodles
- Cook the noodles for 1-2 minutes less than the packet timings.
- Pass it through cold water and transfer it later to a bowl of cold water so that they do not cook any further.
Vegan pad thai
- Heat oil in a fry pan. Add the broccoli and tofu pieces with little salt. Let it cook for few minutes.
- Add remaining veggies and continue to cook for few minutes over medium heat. Add half of the sauce mix and cook for few minutes.
- Take the veggies out of the pan. Add remaining sauce and green onions. Add the cooked noodles to the pan.
- Mix them slowly in the pan, let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Add the veggie mix to the noodles. Garnish with bean sprouts and crushed peanuts.
FAQs
No, it does not contain dairy at all.
Rice noodles, meat, veggies, peanuts, scrambled egg and bean sprouts. Traditionally paste also contains shrimp paste, fish paste.
Please share your inputs..