International dishesNoodlesThailandabout 15 minutes
This vegetarian pad Thai gives a plate that is sweet and sour, scented with tamarind and peanuts. The difficulty is the sauce: too much and the noodles clump, too little and the plate tastes of nothing. The method builds two separate sauces, one hot tamarind and one soybean.
The noodles are tossed in the sauce first and then stir fried in two batches so they do not clump. The tofu is fried golden and the mushroom lightly fried beforehand so neither releases water in the wok.
This batch weighs about 2.3kg, at roughly 156 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak 400g Pad Thai rice noodles until soft, cut them shorter, rinse and drain. Cut 300g vegetarian fish cake into small pieces. Cut 80g garlic chives into lengths. Slice 20g leek thinly. Cut 500g tofu into cubes and fry until golden. Rinse 200g oyster mushroom, tear it into pieces, drain and fry lightly. Crush 200g roasted peanuts.
Put 50g tamarind and 250ml water in a pot, bring to a boil and turn off the heat, mash the tamarind until it breaks down and strain it for the pulp.
Make the first sauce: heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil in a pan and fry half of the leek until fragrant. Add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 3 tablespoons vegan fish sauce, 36g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 150ml cold water, 100ml tamarind pulp and 1 teaspoon vegetarian seasoning powder, bring to a boil until everything dissolves and turn off the heat.
Make the second sauce: heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil in a pan and fry the remaining leek until fragrant. Add 3 tablespoons soybean sauce, 22.5g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1 teaspoon chili powder and 100ml tamarind pulp, bring to a boil until everything dissolves and turn off the heat.
Toss 60ml of each sauce with half of the Pad Thai noodles and stir fry in two batches.
Heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil in a wok and add the noodles, tossing to coat. Add the tofu, season with 1 tablespoon vegan fish sauce, then add the mushroom and the vegetarian fish cake and stir fry over high heat for 2 minutes.
Add 300g bean sprouts and the garlic chives, toss quickly, add 3 tablespoons of sauce and mix through. Turn it onto a plate and finish with black pepper and peanuts.
Tips
The two sauces work on their own or mixed together for a different balance.
Without Pad Thai noodles, use flat dried rice noodles soaked in cold water for 15 minutes.
Vegetarian fish cake is found at vegetarian stalls and fried tofu skin works in its place.
Strain the tamarind paste thoroughly, because any seeds or fibers left behind leave grit through the noodles.
Stir fry over high heat and in two batches so the strands do not clump together.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.