Vegan Pad Thai

Vegan Pad Thai

This recipe is always a hit at family gatherings and potlucks and I've been asked many times to share my recipe, so here it is.

I love it because it's simple and pretty quick and very easy to make. And it's also really versatile, so you can change it to suit your own preferences.

Here's how I made the one for a recent potluck at work:

The Noodles

I guess you could use any noodles you like for this dish, like a linguine or fettuccine wheat noodle or especially any rice noodle but for best results, I stick with this type of rice noodle from a brand called A Taste of Thai. They're amazing and hold their texture so well.

A Taste of Thai Rice Noodles

How to Prepare
You don't need to boil water for these noodles. You actually just soak them in very hot tap water for 3 minutes, drain well and then add to a medium-hot skillet with sesame oil.

Vegan Pad Thai Recipe

• 1/2 cup veggie broth
• 3 onions, cut in half and slice each half
• 4 carrots, cut in half or quarters lengthwise, then chopped in 1" lengths
• 1 red pepper, cut into large chunks
• 1 lb asparagus, chopped in 1" lengths
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp black sesame seeds

Sauté the veggies and stir frequently until you can just begin to pierce the carrots with a fork (like when you know they will be done in 2 minutes) then add:

• 1 package of bean sprouts

Remove veggies from skillet once they're somewhat tender but not too soft. Then add:

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 package of A Taste of Thai rice noodles (prepared as described above). Let cook for a minute then stir, turning noodles and let cook another minute or so, then repeat one or two more times.

Add:

• 1/2 cup tamari (or soy sauce; I use tamari because it's gluten-free)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• pinch of red pepper flakes

Add the veggies back to skillet and stir everything together. Ready to eat! Serve with roasted peanuts and cilantro.

Pad Thai in Skillet

Versatility

You can use pretty much any vegetable in this dish. I nearly always make it with the above plus peas, green beans and spinach or kale, but you can use mushrooms, green peppers, broccoli or cauliflower too.

You can experiment with the sauce too; change the amounts to suit your taste and amount of sauce you like. Sometimes I use Sriracha sauce instead of hot pepper flakes. I have to be careful of the amount of heat I use because it causes rosacea flare-ups. Booo.

Sometimes I add 1 or 2 tbsp of peanut butter to the sauce.

You can serve it with roasted almonds or cashews instead of the peanuts.

If you want to make a healthier version, try using tahini instead of the sesame oil (and dry-fry your noodles) and use a low-sodium tamari or soy sauce. You can also skip the honey if you're avoiding adding sugars to you diet; I'm sure it would still be fantastic, and I'm sure I will find out soon enough. Or, if you just want to make it vegan, use coconut sugar or date sugar instead of the honey.

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n

The fajitas were the best thing I ate all year...until this. This beats the hell out of anything I've eaten this year. Or last year. Or maybe every year. I've seen recipes for "cauliflower mock chicken wings" as they circulate around the internet, and have been curious to try them, and I guess this recipe is pretty much the same thing.

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n

Cauliflower replaces chicken in this recipe and it does a pretty darn good job of it. It's amazing! It's served with rice, green beans and red peppers and we topped it with more of the General Tso sauce, sesame seeds and raw cashews. A bit high in sodium, but not all that unhealthy. The cauliflower is baked, not fried, so there is no oil at all in the recipe. You just wash, dry and bread bite-sized cauliflower florets then bake them. Then add the sauce.

Cauliflower Discected

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n recipe here

Like Chicken, But Better

The roasted breaded cauliflower gets re-baked in the General Tso sauce and the result is very similar to boneless chicken wings. It doesn't have a chicken flavor, but the sauce provides the flavors you're looking for and the cauliflower has a great texture. When you bite into one of them it's very much the same as having boneless chicken. You know when you bite into a chicken wing and you sometimes get a mouthful of chicken fat? Some might enjoy it, but I used to spit it out and pretend it never happened while trying to continue to enjoy my meal. Well, with the cauliflower, you never get a bite like that! You can sink your teeth in and know there is no fat, vein, gristle, bone or cartilage to impede your chewing pleasure. S'all good, and that's a quality about eating veg that I really appreciate. So, when I say this is better than eating real chicken wings, or real chicken balls, I mean that wholeheartedly! They taste as good, they have a better texture and there is no mental "I'm eating an animal" barrier preventing me from 100% enjoyment.

General Tso’s Vegan Chik’n on Basmati Rice

General Tso Sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced
1" ginger, minced
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp sriracha

Until Next Time

I'm not even kidding, both times we've had these I've eaten until stuffed and still kept going. Ugh! But, they're so good! Missy, who was here for dinner, agreed they would be good with any sauce you would serve on chicken: barbeque, orange or lemon sauce, sweet & sour, teriyaki, honey garlic, etc. We don't rate our meals anymore, because these are pretty much all favorites, but Missy gave it a 9. I say 10, personally.

We made a double batch and froze the other half for another meal. Hmmm....Lemon Chicken, maybe?

Sushi

Laura made us some veggie rolls yesterday and they were fantastic, as usual.

Veggie Sushi

Mmmmm, Sushi

Laura made me two different sushi rolls. The one shown on the square plate has avocado, mango, green onion and cucumber. The one on the round plate below has mushrooms, green onions and cucumbers.

Veggie Sushi

I love sushi so much. After she makes the rolls, I always throw the rest of the rice and leftover veggies into a couple of bowls and have sushi bowls because they're just as delicious, but not as pretty. I've never rolled sushi, but Laura does a great job of it.

Laura rolling sushi

Sushi wrap in progress

Sushi Prep

So, when you don't use raw fish in your sushi, it automatically becomes vegan. We did used to use cream cheese in our sushi back in the vegetarian days, but I honestly don't miss it (especially after the reaction I had to dairy last night when I decided a cheat day was in order and got a hot chocolate from Tim's...nope).

In the pic below, Laura has all the veggies chopped or sliced and the mushrooms cooked on one plate and the sushi rice all prepared on the other.  Just past that is a sushi mat with a sheet of Nori and a layer of rice spread over it.

Prepared veggies and cooked sushi rice

In this pic, taken another night, the sushi ingredients are mango, cucumber, avocado, flat-leafed parsley and basil.

Sushi ingredients

Nori (Seaweed)

Laura doesn't like Nori. Nori is seaweed and gives the sushi rolls kind of a fishy flavor, which I love. It's briny and delish. She makes her own rolls using rice wraps, which are just clear sheets with little or no flavor. No flavor is better than bad flavor, right? If you don't like it, eat something you do like.

Sushi rice on a sheet of Nori

Pickled Ginger

Laura combines soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic powder for a dip and serves them with wasabi paste as well. The ginger (shown above the plates in the pic below) is for palate cleansing. We finally found some pickled ginger that doesn't contain aspartame. In fact, it's not sweetened at all, which was fine. I still have never found out why most ginger is sweetened with aspartame. 

Sushi that Laura made for me