Vegetarian Pad Thai
Pad Thai has got to be one of the Worlds most popular street food dishes – it’s so quick and tasty!
Ingredients
- 100 g fresh shiitake mushrooms sliced (about 3 cups sliced)
- 200 g dried rice-stick noodles about 1cm thick
- 2 tablespoons oil e.g. peanut, sunflower, olive
- 1 stalk lemongrass tough outer leaves removed, finely chopped
- 2 medium-sized kaffir lime leaves tough central stem removed, very finely shredded
- 2-3 spring onions white and green part, cut into 2cm lengths
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 2 large handfuls mung bean sprouts
- 1 large red chilli chopped
- 3-4 free-range eggs whisked with a good pinch of salt
Pad Thai sauce
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce GF if required, soy sauce for Vegetarian or Vegan
- 3 ½ tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
To serve
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts or cashew nuts roughly chopped
- 1-2 handfuls mung beansprouts
- chilli finely chopped, optional
- ¼ cup coriander/cilantro chopped
- 1 lime cut into 4 wedges
Instructions
- Place noodles in a large heat-proof bowl or a pot and pour over boiling water to cover. Stir briskly with a fork to stop noodles from sticking together. Leave to soak for about 10 minutes or until noodles are just soft and pliable – be careful not to overcook noodles (or they risk being gluggy when you stir-fry them). Drain and rinse under cold water to help prevent noodles sticking together.
- Mix all sauce ingredients together and set aside.
- Heat oil in a wok or your largest non-stick fry pan on medium-high heat. Fry mushrooms for 1-2 minutes, then add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, white part of spring onions and garlic and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes. Add drained noodles, green part of spring onions, beansprouts and sauce. Stir-fry, tossing all together, for about 3 minutes until hot-through.
- Push noodles to one side of the pan and add whisked eggs to other side of the pan. Scramble eggs around a bit, then leave for a couple of minutes to set as an omelette. Once they have set as an omelette, roughly chop them up in the pan with a wooden spoon and then toss through the noodles. Turn off the heat.
- To serve, divide noodles between plates and top with peanuts or cashew nuts, more beansprouts, chilli and coriander. Serve with a lime wedge to squeeze over just before eating.
Notes
This version of Pad Thai is vegetarian with shiitake mushrooms, however you can easily add prawns or chicken if you like – just stir-fry raw prawns and/or thin strips of chicken breast or thigh first and set aside, before making the rest of the dish, then add back to the noodles at the end. If you want a vegan version, just omit the egg omelette part (or you could add some tofu instead).
If you can’t get fresh shiitake mushrooms, you can use dried and pre-sliced shiitake mushrooms which are readily available in the International section of supermarkets – soak about 30g dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling water for about 10 minutes to soften, then drain well before cooking.