favorite pad thai recipe?
Posted by secondbase on Apr 27, 2007 · Member since Dec 2005 · 5540 posts
i just tried the brooklyn pad thai from VWAV and thought it was pretty good. i made a few additions to it which made it even better (added snow peas and broccoli and carrots and red pepper, and added a nice heaping scoop of peanut butter to the sauce). i was just wondering if what your tried and true favorite pad thai recipe is
Mdvegan,
Where do you get or purchase: "vegan oyster sauce"?
It's only a small amount you use....so how would the recipe be if I skipped it? I'd love to make this recipe tonight while my cousins are still here visiting. (They are very Non-Vegan, from NJ originally but now live in Charlotte... too bad for them if they want to eat meat in my house, it's just not going to happen)! ;D
Wow, I thought I was the only one who added peanut butter to pad thai! In my opinion it is a must-have addition. Yum.
Dave, I asked this question some time ago and somebody recommended Healthy Boy brand mushroom soysauce...at that time they didn't have it but lately it has turned up in our local Asian grocery. Excellent flavour and a good exchange for OS but not as thick.
I was at a Thai restaurant the other day that had all their "Vegetarian Entrees" clearly labeled in one section on their menu. So I was like, "Hey, Jackpot! That food hardly ever uses dairy or ghee (like Indian food usually does), so if it's vegetarian, it's probably vegan too!" So I got all happy and started perusing the dishes and most of them listed something along the lines of "veggies, veggies, veggies, coconut, curry, peppers, in coconut oyster sauce base." I knew better than to assume that ANY of my local exotic fooderies would actually have REAL vegetarian oyster sauce, so at that point I just got huffy... I'm pretty sure it's not ONLY vegans who consider oysters animals, SOMEONE ought to point that out. That made me iffy about the sauce in my curry; it was a little thin to be pure coconut, I'm POSITIVE it had chicken broth in the base. If oysters aren't animals, then why would innocent water that a dead chicken happened to be floating around in be objectionable? It's just water, after all... hmm... need to contact that place and ask them WTF I just ate.
Mdvegan,
Where do you get or purchase: "vegan oyster sauce"?
It's only a small amount you use....so how would the recipe be if I skipped it? I'd love to make this recipe tonight while my cousins are still here visiting. (They are very Non-Vegan, from NJ originally but now live in Charlotte... too bad for them if they want to eat meat in my house, it's just not going to happen)! ;D
i get mine at a health food store in china town. i'm sure if you googled 'vegetarian oyster sauce' you would find a place to purchase it online.
Hey Mdvegan,
I did make your recipe the other night. It came out good (not great), but I think I still need to "tweak" it to get the sauce just right. I make Pad Thai all the time, but I usually buy a vegan mix and then add my tofu, veggies, etc. I was kind of in a rush b/c I had my omni-cousins from out of town here and there were too many "cooks in the kitchen" while I was playing around with the sauce. I think my cousin actually added sugar or something to the sauce when I stepped into another room to change the tunes. She kept saying I need to add sugar (she's not only an omni, but a know-it-all as well). I'll try to make it again and just keep playing with the sauce until I get it right. Thanks for posting it! :)
I have to say that I'm partial to my own recipe, which is under "Thai" in the recipe file. I like a balance of vinegar, sugar, and sambal olek in mine, but that's just me. This recipe is as close as I can get to the best Pad Thai I've ever had (from a great restaurant in Toronto). The key is to not over soak the noodles and to cook them slowly in the liquid so that they soak up all the good flavors. I also recommend using a "good" wok.