Pad Thai

I frequent Thai restaurants a lot. They're a really easy option to please the sometimes difficult couple composed of one vegan and one pescaterian. The fantastic May cross-country road trip taught me that when you are desperate for food in sole bit of civilization amongst wilderness, the best option is to look for the one Thai place in town. Yes, even in Twin Falls, Idaho, there is a Thai restaurant! And I love sampling the vegetarian Pad Thai (sans eggs) at every place I've stumbled upon.

Tonight (now that I have bean sprouts in my possession; neither of the two grocery stores in walking distance of my apartment had any in stock) I gave cooking Pad Thai a try. This recipe comes from The Vegan Table as part of the Eastern Glow menu in the Romantic Dinners for Two chapter. Since I am just one, I get dinner and a lunch out of it, which I suppose isn't that romantic.

It's a delicious dish but it just didn't taste like Pad Thai. I think the problem is that the recipe calls for peanut butter in the sauce so the peanut flavor overwhelms all others. It was more like rice noodle/broccoli/bean sprout/tofu in a peanut sauce rather than true Pad Thai. I'll have to look at some authentic recipes and see how I can adjust the one in Vegan Table.

A wonderful new discovery that came in very handy for this dish is cubed tofu. I saved so much time being able to quickly press the cubed tofu in a paper towel to get the moisture out and throw it on the stove rather than having to drain the water out of a thick block of tofu and then chopping it up. Thanks, Nasoya!

Peanut Buttery Stir-fry

One day I'll get myself a real nice wok. It's on my list of kitchen stuff I want my very own kitchen to have once I graduate. (Also on the list is a fancy schmancy KitchenAid stand mixer and wooden spoons and a silicone cupcake tray.) For now I can make due with stir-frying in whatever pan is available.

This recipe comes from Vegan Cooking for One by Leah Leneman. I found this book used at Powell's Books in Portland. Powell's had a really great vegan cookbook section, as well as really great everything else sections. Basically, if you are ever in the Portland vicinity, go to Powell's. It's a must. And go during happy hour. Yes, even book stores have happy hours in Portland. The city is a vegan's paradise; perhaps I'll discuss it more in a special Portland is awesome post.

The recipe called for some veggies I did not get in my latest grocery run so I chopped up some carrots, green pepper, string beans, and shiitake mushrooms and went with that mixture. The recipe also wanted rice but I have decided to refrain from buying rice at the time being so I used some pasta as the grain replacement. The veggies get stir-fried, along with some diced tofu, as the sauce cooks. Despite my general clumsiness, I did manage to cook two different things in two different pots/pans at once, quite a feat. The peanut butter sauce is very tasty, with extra creaminess from a little bit of soy milk and just enough flavor of soy sauce/lemon.

And extra plain pasta means my lunch routine will be slightly changed up tomorrow!