Vegetarian Pad Thai - tangy spicy thai fix

Pad Thai was the first Thai dish that I ever tried. While my memory is vague about it's exact taste, I do remember it was spicy and pretty novel, unlike anything I had ever tried. It spurred us on to a lot of quick meals that we called pad Thai inspired where we just tossed some spaghetti or angel hair in a bit of oil and garlic and pepper and then added some crushed peanuts to it. I think I have achieved a bit more finesse with this recipe over the years.

Every restaurant has its own flavor as far as pad Thai goes. Some make it more tangy with a hint of sweet, while some places make it really sweet. I like an equal balance between the tangy element, the sweetness and the spice or pepper. Pad Thai is street food in Thailand, and they say its sold almost everywhere by the roadside - sort of like vada pav in Maharashtra.

It is very easy to make this at home, without the egg and fish sauce laden stuff that you would get in a restaurant. I once saw a Bobby Flay throwdown episode where a lady showed how its actually made in Thailand. The trick is to have only a little bit, like a serving size in the wok at a time. There is a huge pot of premade sauce and they just ladle the sauce in for each serving as they make it. Well, I certainly do not see myself tossing individual servings in a wok, but I implemented the excellent idea of having the sauce made in a different saucepan and ladling it into your wok gradually. You will need the flat rice noodle which is readily available in the grocery store.

There is no limit to the veggies you can use here - the more the merrier! Typical favourites are onions, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, broccoli, broccoli(get it?), bean sprouts, bell peppers, zucchini etc. Tofu is of course most welcome. Basil and Lime give a fresh taste. But the tang here comes from the tamarind. You can easily get tamarind paste in any Indian grocery store. You can of course also use dry tamarind. Using basil really elevates this to another level.

I used the veggies that I had on hand, but you have carte blanche here. I could only take photos the next day, so this is just leftovers.

Ingredients -

200g rice stix or flat rice noodle

one onion sliced

3-4 scallions chopped

3-4 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp grated ginger root

1 packet mushroom sliced

1 zucchini sliced

1/2 cup bean sprouts

1 cup julienned carrot or carrot matchsticks

1 cup steamed broccoli florets

3-4 baby corn sliced

1 pack tofu

1 cup tightly packed basil leaves

Lime wedges

cilantro for garnish

peanut powder for garnish

For the Sauce -

1-2 Tbsp tamarind paste or

tamarind extract from fresh tamarind

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup rice vinegar

2 Tbsp peanut butter

1-2 Tbsp sugar or brown sugar or honey

1 tsp dried chili flakes

1 tsp white pepper

salt to taste

dash of sesame oil

Method -

1) Boil the rice noodles according to package instructions and wash with cold water and drain. These cook pretty fast so keep an eye on them. Gauge the quantity by the number of people you have.

2) Wash, clean and chop the vegetables as given. You can chop or slice them per your preference.

3) Was and drain the tofu. Squeeze out as much water as you can. Chop in thick long slices the way you cut the vegetables. Sprinkle some pepper on it and set aside.

4) Mix all the sauce things in a sauce pan. If you are using dry tamarind, you will need to soak it before hand, and then squeeze the juice out. You can also nuke it for a minute in some water and then squeeze the pulp. Another method I use now is that I take the ball of tamarind and a cup of water in a pot until it softens and it all becomes tamarind juice, and then i just spoon the tamarind rind out of it.

5) Start with the tamarind you got above, and add all the other sauce ingredients. You may have to vary this depending on the quantity of your noodles.

6) Boil the sauce until everything is a smooth mixture and reduces a bit.

7) Meanwhile, heat vegetable/peanut/canola etc. oil in a wok or saute pan. Add the tofu and let it brown on one side. Season the other side and toss over. Do not toss too much or you might end up with a scramble. The tofu will reduce in size as it lets out water. Season with a bit of salt once the tofu browns.

8) Start adding vegetables now. Add mushrooms and saute until reduced. Add peppers, zucchini, sprouts, baby corn etc. Saute 2 mins between each new vegetable. We want them tender crisp so do not saute too much. Add julienned carrots and broccoli at the end so that they retain color.

9) Ladle a little sauce into the veggies and add the noodles. Add half torn basil.

10) Toss gently to mix. Now add the sauce slowly until the noodles get enough sauce to your taste. Save some for adding later. Cover and steam for 2 minutes.

11) Taste and add more seasonings as needed or add more sauce. It will take you some time to develop your own taste combination of the sweet, spicy and sour elements. You will automatically adjust the sauce accordingly.

12) Add the rest of the basil, torn roughly. Serve hot with a sprinkle of peanut powder for crunch and a lime edge.

This is a very easy recipe that is a must try. There is no more need to go to a Thai restaurant for your pad Thai fix. There are a lot of spices and fresh flavors in this dish, and its a kid and crowd pleaser.

So are you off to get those rice noodles yet?

General Tso's Tofu - chinese takeout treat

General Tso's is a pretty popular item on the chinese takeout menu. Called by different names such as General Tao etc., it is doubtful if there was ever any such general in the chinese army. But this General is pretty favoured by one and all when they order their favourite takeout. We had a weekly lunch thing at one of the places I worked where we always ordered chinese food, and general tso's chicken was always my favourite. I later found a few places that had General Tso's tofu on the menu. Some joints were obliging enough to substitute tofu for meat in the sauce by special request.
I had no idea of the nostalgia the thought of this would evoke, while I was down with a cold for a week, unable to taste anything, in a land far away without access to my usual speed dial for Chinese Express or City Lights. A little bit of standard browsing via google revealed a few recipes for the sauce. Interestingly enough, I found hardly any food blogs that had posted this recipe. At least, none of my usual 'favourites' of vegan/vegetarian blogs seemed to feature this. I particularly liked the recipe for the general Tso sauce by Tyler Florence given on the Food Network website. Not that I used it verbatim, but I took it as a broad guideline.

I wanted this to taste like American Takeout Chinese, and not like 'Indian Chinese'. Surprisingly enough, to my delight, I found that I did get the taste and flavour I wanted. I have often wondered what makes these two adaptations of Chinese cuisine so different, since most of the sauce ingredients are the same. I think its the particular soy sauce and also the dash of sesame oil that makes all the difference. I spent the big bucks on a small bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce, but it was worth it. I would really have preferred to use Braggs Liquid Aminos, because I have come to love its flavour much more than any ordinary soy sauce. But finding a bottle of Braggs here is as impossible as seeing orange groves on the South Pole. The recipe follows without further ado.

Ingredients:
1 Package Extra Firm Tofu
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup finely chopped scallions
2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp fresh chopped garlic
1 cup soy sauce for sauce
3-4 Tbsp soy sauce
Sambal olek to taste
2 Tbsp + 1/2 cup Rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup honey
Cornstarch as needed for coating
2 Tbsp cornstarch for slurry
Oil for frying
Black/white pepper to taste

Method:
1) Wash, drain and cube the tofu in pieces of desired size, and arrange in a large zip lock bag or a shallow dish
2) Sprinkle soy sauce, sambal olek/chilli paste or sriracha sauce, grated ginger and white pepper
3) Toss lightly so that all the tofu is coated with the marinade and refrigerate for an hour or more
4) Add some corn starch to the marinated tofu a little at a time, and keep tossing lightly until all the tofu is lightly coated. This will act as a binder and also give a crispy cover to the tofu when we fry it. Alternately, the marinated tofu can be spread around on a sheet pan and baked in an oven for 15-20 mins at 400F, turning once. Since I was going for the 'takeout' effect, I decided to go all out and fry mine.
5) Heat some vegetable oil, roughly a cup, in a wok and fry the tofu in small batches. Drain on some paper towels. You should not need a lot of oil, and the remaining oil can be used while making the sauce. ( This is a step where you need to guard your tofu. Half of it will disappear as samples. The best thing is to get some more tofu than the recipe demands).
6)Wash and clean broccoli and tear into florets, or you can use frozen florets. Heat water in a saucepan and steam the broccoli for 3-4 minutes until just tender and shock it in cold water. This will help in preserving the colour. Set this aside.

For the sauce -
7) In a bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients such as soy sauce, vinegar, honey ( or sugar), 1 tsp sesame oil, sambal olek, white pepper and grated ginger.
8) Now we can utilize the remaining oil in the wok. Add half the scallions and the garlic to the hot oil and fry for a minute without letting it burn. Add the sauce mixture.
9)Add three cups water. I made a Lot of sauce, but if you want less, you can adjust the soy/vinegar accordingly. I found that this vinegar was a bit much so I will reduce it next time. The soy sauce also had enough salt so that I did not need to add Any salt seperately.
10) Bring the sauce to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare a slurry with 2 spoons of cornstarch and some water. Add this gradually to the sauce and let it thicken. The sauce is done when it develops a glaze. Taste and adjust any seasonings per taste.
11) Add the fried tofu and broccoli to the sauce just before serving or vice versa. Garnish with the remaining scallions. Serve this with hot steamed white rice or any other rice of choice.
This is by no means a 'healthy' recipe, since it is high in sodium and oil. The only solace is that it has a lower calorie count than what you would get in a restaurant, and I know what ingredients, esp what kind of oil went into it. And hey, vegetable/sunflower oil is better than cheesy or creamy sauces anytime, right? ;). As mentioned above, this can be modified to be slightly more figure friendly by baking the tofu and using a low sodium soy sauce.
It certainly hit the spot for me, and more chinese takeout style recipes are coming up soon.