pad thai and stir fry tofu

almost every weekend I try to make something interesting I have never made before. and since I am especially partial to thai cuisine I felt like going beyond the thai curries and tried to take up a seemingly tough task to making pad thai noodles (restaurant style) and of course I decided to try making stir fry tofu as there was some tofu in the house....

well well, what can I say....the result (at least the pic) is for all to see...and I assure u and I am sure rushika will vouch for it too, that it was indeed super tasty, restaurant style pad thai noodles...and of course, let me tell you, it was surprisingly easy and quick....so now here is the recipe for all you thai food fans (even chinese food fans) to give it a shot....

Pad Thai noodles
Ingredients:

1. Pad thai Rice Noodles 
2. 2 spring onions
3. 1 medium onion chopped
4. 3 cloves of garlic
5. ginger
6. 1/4th cabbage
7. 2 eggs (optional)
8. 2 tbsp soysauce
9. 1 tbsp stirfry sauce
10. 1 tbsp chilly sauce
11. 2 tbsp vegetable broth (optional)
12. 1 tbsp vinegar
13. 1 tsp sugar
14. salt to taste
15. 2 tbsp oil
16. chopped coriander/ cilantro for garnishing
17. 1 tbsp roasted powdered peanuts (optional)

Method

• saute onion, garlic, ginger in oil. Once onions are tender, add spring onions (if you like it raw, you can save some for garnishing, else add all of them). let it cook for a min, then add chopped cabbage. To the cabbage add chilly sauce, stir fry sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. add the vegetable broth and let everything cook
• simultaneously, keep water for boiling on other stove, once water comes to boil, shut the stove and add noodles to it and cover. Noodles will cook in 10 min. (see instructions on packet for exact quantity of water)
• If you are adding eggs, in a pan scramble the eggs. and then add the scrambled eggs to the veggies and add noodles too once they are cooked and mix well.
• Add salt last, as all the sauces have some bit of salt to them, so if u add it before, u ll make it too salty.
• garnish with coriander and/or spring onions and powdered peanuts.
• ENJOY!

Stir fry tofu

Ingredients:

1. 1 packet tofu
2. 2 cloves of garlic
3. 1 tbsp chilly sauce
4. 1tbsp soy sauce
5. 1 tbsp stir fry sauce
6. 1 cup vegetable broth/water
7. 1 tsp corn starch (optional)
8. 1 tsp sugar
9. 2 tbsp cooking oil
10. salt to taste

Method:

• saute chopped garlic in cooking oil, once they turn golden, add chilly sauce, to this add tofu, soy sauce, stir fry sauce, sugar and 1cup vegetable broth.
• if you wish to add corn starch, dissolve 1 tsp corn starch in minimum water and add to the mixture.
• let the entire gravy simmer on low flame, till desired consistency is achieved. taste and then add salt as needed.

the best part is that both these recipes are really quick...the pad thai takes around 15 min and tofu less than 10 min.and can be made with everyday ingredients, as usual i substituted some ingredients with what I had at home.you can use tamarind paste instead of vinegar for pad thai, and I substituted chinese cabbage (baby bok choy) with regular cabbage. tofu with broccoli, so in the same gravy you can add instead of tofu, mushrooms, baby corn, broccoli and a make very tasty side dish along with pad thai.

you can google and have multiple sites give you the recipe (thats what I do) but if you just decide to stick by this recipe I guarantee you are going to have a very tasty authentic thai food :)

song of the day: dheere jalna from paheli...one of my all time favourites..love the lyrics...and the music