Pad Thai
1 pound rice noodles (wide ones)
1 pound extra firm tofu, pressed
canola oil, as needed
1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons sambal olek chili paste
(or 2 tablespoons ketchup + 2 teaspoons paprika)
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
8 green onions, chopped into 1" pieces
4 cups bean sprouts
3/4 cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
lime wedges, to serve
1. Cover the noodles with warm water in a large bowl and allow them to soak for 30 minutes. They should be flexible and soft, but not soft enough to be mashed with your fingers. Drain them and put them aside.
2. For tofu, you can thinly slice into bite sized pieces and bake on a lightly oiled pan at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes on each side, or cube the tofu and fry in about 1/2 cup oil in a very hot wok. Fry the tofu until lightly browned. Remove from the oil and drain.
3. Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and sambal olek in a bowl. Stir until well blended. The sugar won't dissolve completely, but that's okay. Heat several tablespoons oil in a medium hot wok and add the noodles coating them with the oil.
4. Add the soy sauce mixture and garlic into the wok and bring to a boil while gently folding the noodles. Lower the heat a bit and keep the liquid boiling while frequently folding the noodles. Try not to break the noodles.
5. When almost all the liquid has been absorbed, add the tofu and green onions and cook for about 2 minutes longer, until the tofu is warm and the onions are bright green. Serve the Pad Thai with a heavy garnish of bean sprouts and peanuts with lime wedges on the side.
Enjoy!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I really liked this, but P did not..more leftovers for me! I pretty much followed the recipe (used almost 3/4 cup sugar and vinegar), but didn't have any peanuts. I didn't realize how long the noodles would take to soften, so I ended up boiling them a couple minutes, but it worked out fine. I also needed to add a little bit more Braggs to have enough sauce, and added some broccoli and grated carrots. Definitely made a lot!
It was really tasty, not expensive, and easy to make. I ate 1/3 of it, and it filled a big bowl. It was actually too much noodles. This overfeeds 3 people, so plan on serving this to 4 people, or having left overs.
In my recipe box, and I'll be definitely making this again. Thank you!
This was pretty good. I gave it 5 stars because I think it would have been tops if I didn't screw it up. The chili paste I used had fish sauce in it and for some reason I didn't read the label before buying it. I will make it again next week with a new chili paste and see how it was meant to taste.
This was wonderful. I can't say enough. Some reviews said it had too much vinegar so I used 1/2 c. but otherwise I followed the recipe and it was delicious. I found some sweet chili sauce at the local Thai market and found that made an excellent topping.
Wow! This was really good! I had left over rice noodles and was trying to find something to do with them, and this was perfect. I also added match-stick carrots and chopped brocolli.
I made this tonight for the folks and all agreed it was a keeper! Really enjoyed it.
Just a few things, I noticed a bunch of people talking about the vinegar-- just by chance I only had white wine vinegar- which might help bc plain white vinegar can be a bit strong.... but also, i only had enough for 1/2 a cup, then used another 1/4 of just plain water. It seemed to work out really well-- so maybe those of you who found it a bit offense, try a different type of white vinegar. Besides, white vinegar is really just good for one thing, cleaning. :) Also, my mom can't do spicy foods (which I love) so I did the ketchup and paprika method then sprinkled a bit of chili oil over the noodles on individual plates- The ketchup did sound a bit strange but turned out great!! I used cabbage and mushrooms, too. ;)b
Yum yum yum!! This is WONDERFUL!!
ohh my goodness. *burps* delicious. i halved the recipe to make enough for two meals for me, and it pains me that i am too full to eat another bowl. i used light sesame oil, ketchup+paprika, probably twice as much garlic, 3 tbsp of light rice vinegar, 4 tbsp of brown sugar, reduced sodium soy sauce, walnuts instead of peanuts, and omitted the bean sprouts and tofu (didn't have any :-\). also, i only soaked the noodles for 20 minutes but the water was reasonably hot. yay! <33 thank youuu. the only thing that would have made it better would be more spice (cayenne pepper next time?).
...also, when I made the sauce I didn't measure much at all. I just put more of the tamari, vinegar and sugar than the other ingredients, and kept tasting it until it was to my satisfaction. You can easily change it up if you like different flavours/strengths.
HOLY CRAP. This was SO good! :)
I tweaked it slightly - halved it (still made lots for 2 people), added broccoli and shredded carrots. I also found the sauce was a bit too salty with the amounts given, even though I used tamari; I hear Pad Thai varies according to family recipes etc. and the ones I like best have a kind of sweet red-brown sauce, slightly spicy, so I decided to add ketchup even though I'd already added chili sauce (garlic chili sauce, since I don't have chili paste - it's similar enough) The ketchup made it PERFECT. It was almost exactly like stuff I've had in restaurants. Not too sweet, but lots of flavour. The lime juice on top made all the flavours come out deliciously and ground peanuts on top were yummy.
The only thing I'd do differently is make sure all my 'additions' (veggies etc) were chopped well in advance, since I cooked down the sauce before I was ready to add anything and had to make more to keep it all moist. To save some time I also boiled my kettle and soaked the rice noodles in the hot water from that, and they were ready to go within 10 minutes. I am impressed! Will be making this alot :)
We sextupled the recipe to feed 20-25 people. There was a line out of the kitchen for seconds. People's minds were blown. A direct quote from a text message I received: "That pad thai was so good I never want to eat again because nothing will compare."
That about sums it up.
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