It's my second Thai Food post in this month, Iam enjoying cooking Thai Food and i really love it's unique flavourfull taste. This Noodles amazes by its taste and its topping's. As the original version call for shrimp / chicken, for vegetarians, it can be substituted with Tofu / Paneer(Cottage Cheese). I also tried it with egg's and loved it. To Prepare this Pad Thai, first you got to have some bean sprouts - so prepare the sprouts before in hand. Then You need to have Pad Thai Sauce, its just easy to make. and Rice Noodles is another main ingredient. I luckily happened to find Rice Noodles - Rice Vermicelli at Nut's & Spice's store.
Ingredients for Pad Thai Sauce: (Vegetarian Pad Thai Sauce)
1. Tamarind - small lemon size soaked in 1 cup warm water / Tamarind Paste - 2 tbsp diluted in a cup of water.
2. Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp
3. Chilli Powder / Cayenne Pepper Powdere / Red Chilli Sauce - 2 tbsp's
4. Palm Sugar /Brown Sugar - 2 tsp's
5. Worcestershire sauce - 1 tbsp
6. Salt - 1/2 tbsp
Let the Tamarind get soaked in a cup of warm water for 5 minutes. Then squeeze the pulp out.
Now mix all the other ingredients along with Tamarind water and heat them in a pan. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and start thickening. Remove it from the pan to a cup and let it cool.
Depending on the thickness, you get about 5 - 6 tbsp's of sauce with the above ingredients.
The sauce will be very spicy, tangy, sweety, but when you add this to noodles, it will all mingle up and give you a nice taste.
How to Prepare Tofu Pad Thai:
Bean Sprouts - 1 cup
Roasted Peanuts - 1 cup
Lemon Grass - 1/4 cup (chopped) - Spring Onions cal also be used.
Chilli Flakes - 2 tbsp's
Lemon Wedges - 4
Tofu - 50 gms
Shallots / Small Onion's - 5
Garlic - 4
Rice Noodles - 75 gms ( i used Rice Vermicelli)
Oil - 2 tbsp's
Pad Thai Sauce - 2 tbsp's
Salt to Taste.
Get Ready First: (as its cooking time is less, first get ready with ingredients)
Soak the Rice Noodles in warm water for about 5 minutes and Drain them. Leave them aside for 5 minutes after drained.
Though the noodles was little crisp after soaking and draining, when i started to cook along with sauce, it became soft.
1. Wash the Bean Sprouts and keep aside.
2. Roast the Peanuts(without skin) and cut them into small pieces. I just crushed them in my Mixie using pulse button.
3. Grind 5 Dry Red chilli's into flakes in your mixie.
4. If your Tofu is freezed, put it in warm water for 5 minutes and slice them into cubes.
5. Mince the shallots or finely chop them.
6. Chop the Garlic Finely.
7. Prepare the Pad Thai Sauce.
Starting to Cook:
1. Heat Oil in a Wok / Pan. Add the Garlic and Shallots and bit of salt and fry till they turn translucent.
2. Now add the Tofu Cubes and fry them, till the edges get browned.
3. Now add the soaked and drained rice noodles to the Wok / Pan and stir well. (let the flame be slow)
4. Add the Pad thai sauce and stir well along with the noodles. add a little bit of salt (as the sauce has salt already) and mix well.
5. Now add the Lemon Grass, Bean Sprouts, Chopped Peanuts.
6. Stir well and remove from flame.
Now Serve it with some chilli flakes, chopped peanuts and lemon wedges on side.
We loved it so much. The peanuts and sprouts gave a crunchy taste to the spicy noodles.
I found this one serving of pad thai costing 170rs. in a restaurant nearby our home. In stores Rice Noodles costs around 35rs. and iam sure the other all ingredients are easily available in home. also its easy to make.