Pad Thai

Day one of vegetarian living is here.  My coworkers tempted me greatly this afternoon by going to N9NE Steakhouse here in Chicago.  I stayed strong though and ordered a pretty good veggie burger.  For dinner tonight we're attempting Pad Thai for the first time.

I've had a long love of Thai food.  My dad traveled to Thailand when I was in elementary school and when he got back all he could talk about was how great the food was. We promptly found an awesome Thai restaurant in Orlando (Siam Orchid - Sadly, I believe it's now closed), and that was it. They had an amazing watermelon slushy which I will attempt to recreate this summer and you could sit on the floor - it was the coolest place ever!

My husband subscribes to the Gospel according to Alton Brown with regard to all things culinary, so this is an adaptation of Alton's recipe which you can find here.

Pad Thai

• 6 oz Tamarind juice + lemon and lime juice to taste
• 2 T fish sauce (I used 1.5 T fish sauce and .5 T soy sauce)
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 T rice vinegar
• 4 oz rice stick noodles
• 6 oz Marinated Tofu, recipe follows
• 1 to 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 c chopped scallions, divided*
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 t pickled tamarind leaves (stems removed) + salt to taste
• 1 T dried shrimp
• 3 oz bean sprouts, divided
• 1/2 c roasted salted peanuts, chopped, divided
• Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar, and rice vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside. Cut the tofu into 1/2-inch wide strips, similar to French fries.

Boil the tamarind, lemon, and lime juice together to reduce to a syrup-like consistency.

Place a wok over high heat. Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Heat until it shimmers, then add the tofu. Cook the tofu until golden brown, moving constantly, for no longer than 1 minute. Remove the tofu from the pan to a small bowl and set aside.

If necessary, add some more vegetable oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Add 2/3 of the scallions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble. Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, tamarind leaves, shrimp, and 2/3 each of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total. Garnish with the remaining scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with the ground chile peppers and lime wedges.

Marinated Tofu

6 ounces extra-firm tofu, not silken

1 1/2 cups soy sauce

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

Wrap the tofu firmly in a tea towel. Place the wrapped tofu into an 8-inch cake pan. Top with another cake pan and weigh down with a 5-pound weight. (Bags of dried beans or grains work well.) Place in refrigerator and press for 12 to 15 hours. - We completely forgot about this step and only pressed the tofu for about an hour, I think the tofu would get crispier if we pressed it for the entire time.

Place pressed tofu in a 2-cup container. Combine soy sauce and five-spice powder and pour over tofu. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning once. Remove the tofu from the marinade and use immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days.

This Pad Thai was very good. However, I will eliminate the dried shrimp when I make it in the future.  I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but that was a little too much for me. We couldn't find the tamarind paste that Alton prescribes but I think the substitution of tamarind juice plus lemon and lime juice worked pretty well. I also think that pressing the tofu overnight would really help to make it crispy. Marinating the tofu yourself is the way to go though, we had used a Chinese Five Spice flavored tofu for another recipe and it did not hold a candle to this!

P.S. I love Hipstamtic for the iPhone! It makes my pictures look so much better!

*Have you seen the trick for regrowing green onions? All you have to do is cut about a half inch above the white part of your used green onions, place it in water, put it in the windowsill and within a week or so you have new green onions. It's truly miraculous! I learned about it on Pinterest, to  which I'm addicted.