If you opened my Seamless before the covid catastrophe, you'd find over 80 percent of my orders were one same repeating thing - Pad thai. Pad thai is my forever no.1 comfort food and of course, I had to recreate it with vegan options and healthier noodle alternatives!
I've tried making pad thai with many different types of noodles - rice noodles, konjac noodles, and even kelp noodles! I can safely say I love all the variations, I mean with the creamy savory peanut butter-based sauce and all the flavors from fresh veggies it's actually hard to mess up this recipe. Obviously, if you go with konjac or kelp noodles you'd get a much lighter meal and fewer carbs, which sometimes I prefer especially if I had been eating a bit too rich.
This recipe here, though, is made with two types of rice noodles! Regular rice noodles and brown rice noodles for that fun colors. I also made sure that the rest of the ingredients in the pad thai have enough nutrients, you have the crispy tofu, mushrooms, zucchini noodles, carrot noodles, and purple cabbage, and generously coated in the creamy peanut sauce.
Here are more Asian inspired meals I bet you'd love! Chili Oil Chow Mein, Chinese Braised Tofu Balls, Rice Wrapper Dumplings, and Sweet and Sour Pineapple Tofu. And be sure to find me on Instagram @veganbunnychef where I'm more active.
INGREDIENTS:
1 serving rice noodles
2 large zucchini
1 large carrot
1/4 purple cabbage
1 pack 6 ounce baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 pack extra firm tofu
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 scallion, chopped
2 tablespoon tamari/soy sauce
1 tablespoon coconut amino
Oil for cooking
Lime slices for serving
Peanut Sauce -
2 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon tamari/soy sauce
1 tablespoon coconut amino
1/4 cup coconut milk of choice
TO MAKE:
- Cook rice noodles according to package instructions, then rinse under cold water, this is to prevent sticking;
- Drain the tofu, wrap it in some paper towel and gently squeeze out the water, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes; (or cut it out in star shapes!)
- In a large non-stick frying pan, heat a large drizzle of oil, pan fry all the tofu pieces till all sides are golden crispy, transfer into a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb excess oil;
- Prep the vegetable noodles, cut the carrot with a julienne peeler, spiralize the zucchini, and thinly slice the purple cabbage, you can use a mandoline slicer to help;
- In the same non-stick frying pan, heat another drizzle of oil, add minced garlic and the white parts of the sliced scallion, sauté till fragrant for about 2 minutes;
- Add the mushrooms, cook till the moisture is let out, add the tamari sauce and coconut amino, then add the fried tofu cubes, stir to coat well;
- Add the carrot noodles, cook for 3 minutes, then add zucchini noodles and continue to stir, after all the vegetables are cooked soft add rice noodles to the pan;
- Meanwhile in a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the peanut sauce, pour the sauce in the pan, stir to coat all noodles with the sauce;
- Finally, add the sliced purple cabbage, cook for another minute or two till cabbage noodles are softened (they cook quickly! especially if you sliced them thinly), turn off the heat immediately;
- Serve with a drizzle of fresh lime juice and sprinkle with the green parts of the scallion. Enjoy!