Pad Thai

From Make It Tonight: Vegetarian Stir-Fries, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 2002.

I must make more Asian-based meals because I need to master the ingredients that I am still not overly familiar with.

For the Pad Thai, which was probably not truly authentic, I first cut 150g tempeh into bite-sized pieces and fried them in the wok until they were brown. They were put aside.

In the same wok I now fried a thin omelette of 2 beaten eggs. When it was done I rolled it up and put it aside.

Next a thinly sliced onion and two chopped garlic cloves went into the wok which I turned to a low heat to let them cook slowly while I went on with some other preparation.

I poured boiling water over 300g fresh rice noodles and let them rest for a minute or two before draining them and teasing apart the noodles. I washed a cup of bean sprouts. I broke half a cup of peanuts into small pieces in a mortar and pestle. I measured out the sauces: a tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of light soy sauce, a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce and a tablespoon of tomato sauce.

The onions were now done so the heat was turned up and I added all the ingredients, though only half of the peanuts. They were stir-fried until they were heated through. When they were served the remainder of the peanuts were sprinkled over and some coriander added.

I was pleased with the result. For my taste it seemed to have close to the right flavour mix.

The recipe came from one of those small 64-page books you often find at newsagents. It has a great variety of quick stir-fries from a range of cuisines and coming from The Australian Women’s Weekly the recipes are usually ones that work well.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔