Tag: chili paste with garlic
Pad Thai with Seasoned Tofu
I made this dish after reviewing a restaurant Nine Thai in Chatham, NJ. It was a really good restaurant with a friendly staff and great food. I gave it a great review and decided to replicate their pad thai at home.
I have been eating pad thai for years now and love ordering it at restaurants. I have always thought this dish as extremely complicated and hard to make.
Since I had to replicate a dish, I decided to take this one on. After a bit of research, I realized the noodle dish is really not hard to make- it just has a lot of ingredients. Once you have them on hand- it doesn’t take that long. You can control the amount of fat and salt when you make popular take out dishes at home.
In this case, I made it super healthy with tofu, bean sprouts and garlic chives. I had most of the ingredients at home- like tamarind, fish sauce, tamari, etc. I decided not to add any meat but it will be delicious with chicken or shrimp.
If you love eating pad thai in a restaurant, definitely make this homemade version- it is delicious.
- 10 oz extra firm tofu, cut into thin strips about an inch long
- 2 teaspoons tamari
Place the tofu strips in a zip lock bag with the tamari and marinate for 2 to 3 hours.
- ½ pound rice noodles- soaked in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 2 tablespoons tamari
- 1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic
Mix the tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar and chili paste in a small bowl and keep aside,
- 3 tablespoons extra light olive oil
- 2 medium shallots, sliced thin
- 3 green onions, chopped (white parts only- save the green parts for the garnish)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup garlic chives, cut into 1 inch long segments (optional)
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 2 eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon salt
Garnish
- 1 cup chopped salted roasted peanuts
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 3 green onions, chopped (the green parts only)
- One lime cut into wedges
In a large frying pan or a wok like sauce pan heat the olive oil and add the marinated tofu. Saute on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes or till the tofu is golden brown. Add the shallots, white parts of the green onions and garlic. Saute on medium high heat for a minute. Add the garlic chives and sprouts and mix well. Move all the mixture to the side of the pan and make a well in the middle. Drop the eggs and scramble for 30 seconds and then mix with the rest of the mixture. Add the drained noodles and mix well. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tamarind mixture and mix well. Add the peanuts, cilantro and green onions. Mix well and check for seasonings. Squeeze the lime and serve.