There’s nothing better than a good bowl of noodles. It’s both comforting and wholesome, especially during winters; making it a great binge food. It’s definite that I’m going to have an itch to prepare noodle bowls more frequently than usual. So let’s get cooking one noodle at at a time. 🙂
Pad Thai is a stir-fried rice noodle dish prepared with tamarind sauce being the main ingredient and balanced out with palm sugar, hence making it a mildly flavored dish.
I’ve prepared Pad Thai in two ways. The detailed recipe below has mung bean sprouts and spring onions, thereby keeping it basic and simple with a prominent tamarind flavor. I’ve also used jaggery as a substitute in place of palm sugar. The other one has a tad more sesame oil, garlic, red onions, sautéed cottage cheese and mushrooms. Feel free to add in your favorite veggies and giving your dish a personal touch.
Here’s what you’ll need:-
Vegetarian Pad Thai at Home
Ingredients
- Flat rice noodles – 1 packet (I’ve used Real Thai)
- 1 cup mung bean sprouts (steps ahead)
- Spring onions roughly chopped (separate the greens for later)
- 1/4 cup tamarind paste (steps ahead)
- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 1 tbsp jaggery
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Crushed peanuts
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- Salt to taste
Directions
To prepare the sauce – Add soya sauce, jaggery, lime juice and tamarind paste to a bowl, salt to taste and mix well.
For the Noodles – Soak the noodles in room temperature water for 10-15 minutes or as per instructions on the packet. The goal is to soften them up, leaving them slightly undone.
1. Take a shallow stainless-steel pan. Heat sesame oil on a medium-low flame. Add spring onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Keep the greens aside for garnish.
2. Add the sauce and stir.
3. Next, add in the noodles and give it a good mix. The noodles will soak in all the sauce as they’re a bit undone. Cover for 2 minutes. Add a little water if it feels dry.
4. Add in the sprouts, crushed peanuts and spring onion greens. Toss well.
5. Serve hot.
- To make mung bean sprouts – Soak green mung dal (mung beans) overnight. Pass it through a sieve and cover it. Keep aside in a dark place or cover it with a dark-colored cloth preferably black.
- Run the sprouts under clean water at least twice a day. This way they remain moist and keeps the foul smell away.
- They will take longer to sprout in cold temperature as compared to humid areas.
To make fresh tamarind paste – Soak fresh tamarind in hot water for a minimum of 20 minutes and pass it through a sieve. Feel free to buy tamarind paste from the supermarket.
Happy cooking 🙂
