En-Thai-Rely Awesome: Vegan Pad Thai
Pad Thai has always been guilty pleasure of mine – well that and burritos and pizza of course. In my final 16 out of 60 days of Veganism (post on this soon to come) I have made it a point to challenge myself to create some of my favorite dishes to fit the vegan diet. One plate of this dish typically has about 1,000 calories and trust me, they are not the “healthy” kind. I took it upon myself to create this classic Asian dish in a low-cal, vegan friendly way!
For those that live under a rock, Pad Thai is a stir fried rice noodle dish that is commonly served as street food in Thailand or at any Thai restaurant. It typically contains a mixture of vegetables, crushed peanuts, fish sauce, and your choice of meat or tofu.
This dish was surprisingly not difficult to “Veganise” other than the fish sauce. I mixed together low sodium soy sauce, green curry paste, gluten free peanut sauce and sesame see oil to create an incredibly addicting sauce substitute.
I would have loved to add some fried tofu cubes to this dish but alas I was out and had no energy to walk the two blocks to the grocery store. It was after sculpt….I promise I’m not that lazy. For the finishing touches, sprinkle over toasted sesame seeds and pair with some chopsticks.
Vegan Pad Thai
Serves 2
- 1/2 package of pad thai noodles
- 1/2 brussel sprouts, chopped
- 10 asparagus spears, chopped
- small head of broccoli, chopped
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup bean sprouts
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
for the sauce
- 1/4 cup green curry paste
- 1 tsp sun sesame oil
- 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp gluten free peanut sauce
- 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Method
- Add cold water to a pot then add in Pad Thai Noodles. Let sit for about 30 mins until soft.
- While waiting for the noodles, add olive oil to a large sauce pan. Add in brussel sprouts, asparagus, peanuts, and broccoli. Cover and let steam, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.
- Mix all ingredients for the sauce in a bowl then pour into the sauce pan with the vegetables. Coat all vegetables evenly then cover and let simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Once noodles are soft, add to a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain noodles then add to the sauce pan.
- Stir the noodles along with the vegetables in the sauce pan to ensure everything is coating evenly. Add salt and pepper as needed for about 5 more minutes.
- Add noodles to two separate bowls. Sprinkle sesame seeds over each serving, add bean sprouts, then serve with chopsticks!
