FLEXIBLE PAD THAI

What I love about Pad Thai is how many different ways there are to create it. You can go vegetarian and use tofu and egg in the place of chicken. One can fry up chicken or pork and add it to a Pad Thai overflowing with crushed peanuts and sprinkled with fried shallots. This dish can even be transformed to suit a strict vegan. It seems like whatever spin one puts on Pad Thai, they can’t go wrong with this iconic dish.

Personally, I like a little chicken for protein and a whole lot of vegetables. Whilst I am a fan of fried shallots, I use fresh green shallots as they are healthier. The recipe below is just a base recipe that I use. Get imaginative and create your very own Pad Thai! 

INGREDIENTS

Pad Thai 

• 100g flat rice-stick noodles 
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 450g chicken breast fillets, cut into even thin strips OR around 350g firm block tofu, chopped into even cubes
• 1 broccoli head, cut into even sized florets and stalk chopped
• 2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 1 medium red capsicum, seeds & membrane removed and thinly sliced 
• 1 large bunch of buy choy or 3-4 smaller bunches, base removed and roughly chopped 
• 3 green shallots / onions, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
• a handful of fresh coriander leaves, to serve

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
• the juice of 1 medium lime 
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce (if vegetarian or vegan omit)

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the rice noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until the noodles are tender but not mushy. Drain well with cold water and set aside. 

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisking well to combine. Add a few tablespoons of water to thin out the consistency (I add 4-5 tablespoons of water). Set aside. 

3. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and toast the peanuts for 3-4 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Remove from the heat and set aside to garnish later. 

4. Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a large wok or deep frying pan over high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook, stirring frequently, for 5-6 minutes or until chicken is white or lightly golden in colour and no pink flesh remains. Remove chicken from the stove and keep warm.

If cooking with tofu, make sure you blot the tofu cubes with paper towel gently to remove any excess moisture before frying. Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a large wok or deep frying pan over medium heat and cook, stirring carefully for a few minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the stove and blot again with paper towel if oily. Set aside and keep warm. 

5. Add the remainder of the sesame oil (1 teaspoon) to the wok and then add the broccoli, carrot, capsicum and buk choy, stirring to combine. Cook, covered, for 5-6 minutes or until the vegetables are tender but not mushy. Add 3/4 of the chopped green shallots/onions, cooked noodles, chicken or tofu and sauce to the wok/pan and stir until all ingredients are well combined. Remove from the stove and place in a large serving bowl. 

Serve warm with the remaining green shallots/onions and toasted peanuts sprinkled on top as well as the coriander leaves, if you wish.  

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / maximum 30 minutes 

x Emily 

NO-NUT PRAWN PAD THAI

I often find myself craving Thai takeaway, so learning to make a healthy, low-fat pad thai is super essential to me (and my waistline). I have made various pad thai’s in the past, however they have been quite high in fat and enormous in portion size. Here is my version of pad thai that contains no nuts and no sugar. Some of you may stop reading here, as this recipe is clearly not going to be for an authentic pad thai dish. For those of you still with me, bless you for staying. The hard cold truth is that sugar and nuts contain a great deal of fat and well, to state the obvious, sugar. And with this comes a great deal of extra calories. Without them in this dish more rice noodles are available per serving as well as more vegetables, more prawns (or tofu if going for a vegetarian option) and a tastier dressing/sauce.

Ingredients

• 100g rice stick noodles
• 3 free range eggs (177g), beaten
• 2 teaspoons rice bran oil / sesame oil 
• 250g prawns, peeled, deveined, tails on or off
• 1 small red capsicum (155g), thinly sliced
• 200g buk choy, base removed and roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon Mirin seasoning 
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 50g bean sprouts
• 1 green shallot (3g), finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped (10g)
• 1 lime (50g), cut into wedges 

Cooking 

1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and add noodles. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the noodles are tender but not mushy. Remove from the stove and drain well under cold running water. 

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 teaspoon oil in a wok or large, deep frying pan over medium heat and swirl to coat. Pour the eggs into the wok/pan and leave to set for 2-3 minutes. Once set, remove from heat and place on a plate. When cool enough, cut the omelette into small pieces. 

3. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a wok or large, deep frying pan over medium heat (it is a great idea to use the same wok/pan that you cooked the egg in, as it will have traces of oil left in it) and swirl to coat. Add the prawns, capsicum and buk choy. Cook, stirring often, for 4 minutes or until the prawns are pearly pink in colour and cooked through. Add the garlic to the pan and stir-fry for 1 minute. 

4. Put the egg pieces back into the wok/pan as well as the cooked noodles, fish sauce, mirin seasoning and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Stir gently to combine with tongs. 

5. Remove from the heat and divide the noodles, prawns and vegetables into 2 bowls. Serve warm with half of the bean sprouts, shallots, coriander and lime wedges on top of each bowl. Squeeze lime juice onto the noodles for a citrus dressing / sauce. 

Serves / 2 

Total Preparation time / 15-20 minutes (extra if you are peeled & deveining the prawns yourself)

Total Cooking time / 15 minutes 

Total Calories / approx. 434 per serve 

x Emily 

SIX VEGETABLE & CASHEW PAD THAI

What I love about Pad Thai is how many different ways there are to create it. You can go vegetarian and use tofu, egg and capsicum. One can fry up chicken or pork and add it to a Pad Thai overflowing with crushed peanuts and sprinkled with palm sugar. This dish can even be transformed to suit a strict vegan. It seems like whatever spin one puts on Pad Thai, they can’t go wrong with this iconic dish.

Personally, I like a little chicken for protein and a whole lot of vegetables, hence the name of the recipe. Not being a big fan of peanuts, I decided roughly chopped cashews would suit better as a topping. Get imaginative and create your very own Pad Thai! 

INGREDIENTS

Pad Thai 

• 400g chicken breast fillets, cut into even 4cm pieces
• 200g bean sprouts
• 2 cups red cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 broccoli head, cut into even sized florets
• 2 green onions, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 200g flat rice-stick noodles 
• 2 tablespoons fried shallots
• a scant handful of unsalted cashews, roughly chopped 

Sauce

• 1/8 cup gluten-free sweet chilli sauce
• 1/8 cup gluten-free soy sauce or tamari
• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add rice noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until noodles are tender but not mushy. Drain well with cold water and set aside. 

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisking well to combine. Set aside. 

3. Heat the garlic & 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a large wok over medium heat. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring frequently, for 5-6 minutes or until chicken is white in colour and no pink flesh remains. Remove chicken from heat and keep warm. 

4. Add the rest of the sesame oil (1 teaspoon) to the wok and pour in carrot pieces and broccoli florets. Cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes or until vegetables are slightly tender. Add the cabbage, bean sprouts and green onions and cook for a further 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the cooked noodles and the sauce to the wok, stirring until well combined. Remove from heat and place in a large serving bowl. 

Serve warm with fried shallots and cashew pieces sprinkled on top if you wish. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 20 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 30 minutes 

x E

PAD THAI

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at cooking Pad Thai since I started eating takeaway Thai food (only allowed once every 3-4 weeks at my childhood home). Over the past 2 years I’ve cooked various pad thai dishes, some greasier than others, some much tastier than others. The recipe below is my latest attempt at pad thai and the recipe that I find to be the healthiest and the most flavourful. If you do not have an intolerance to gluten, by all means use regular oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce (instead of tamari sauce).

INGREDIENTS

• 200g cooked and peeled prawns
• 500g chicken mince
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm fresh ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into even florets
• 200g green beans, trimmed and washed
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 375g rice stick noodles
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free sweet chilli sauce 
• 1 tablespoon tamari sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice 
• 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted peanuts, crumbled, to serve 
• a handful of fresh coriander leaves, to serve 

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add rice noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until noodles are tender but not soggy. Remove from heat and drain twice with cold water. 

2. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat and swirl to coat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add chicken mince and stir constantly, cooking until coloured through. Add eggs and stir-fry until set. Add broccoli and beans and continue to stir for 4 minutes. Add prawns and toss to combine. 

3. When green vegetables are cooked through and almost tender, add the drained noodles to the wok with the oyster and sweet chilli sauce. Stir-fry until combined, then remove from heat. 

4. Place the stir-fry in a large serving bowl, adding tamari sauce and lime juice. Toss well to combine, then serve with coriander leaves and roasted peanuts, if desired. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes 

x E