Pad Thai

I've blogged before about my SIL's mom, C, who compiled some of her favourite catering recipes (she & my SIL run a catering business on top of their busy day jobs) into a cookbook she distributed to friends & family two Christmases ago. C called the cookbook "Tried & True" and one night recently I was inspired to tackle the Pad Thai recipe in it.

I've had the Pad Thai before; my SIL has made it for family dinners and it was always delicious. Also, one year my SIL & C and a few other people had a stall at Shambhala, a big giant music festival held in the area, and the Pad Thai was on their menu.

The recipe is simple and quick and it made tons - enough for several meals for me. It's also great cold! I skipped the chili flakes because I don't like spice.

C's Pad Thai

8oz flat rice noodles
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage (I used coleslaw mix, one of my favourite kitchen allies)
1 medium carrot, julienned (skip if you decide to use the coleslaw mix)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup firm tofu
1 cup of chicken, cut into strips, or an equal amount of cooked peeled shrimp
3 cups bean sprouts
1 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup peanuts

Sauce:

3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/4 cup water or chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1. Cover noodles in hot water & soak for 20 minutes. Drain well.

2. Combine sauce ingredients and set aside.

3. In a wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, tofu, and chicken (or shrimp, if using - or live on the edge & use both!). Stirfry until the chicken is done. Add cabbage & carrot. Stirfry until cabbage is tender-crisp.

4. Push veggies to the side of the pan and pour in eggs. Stir to scramble.

5. Add drained noodles and sauce. Heat until noodles are soft & warm, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add bean sprouts, green onion, and cilantro. Transfer to platter & sprinkle with peanuts. Serve!

Enjoy!

Tofu Tuesday #3: Another Stirfry

Time for another installment of Tofu Tuesday!

While searching out new and exciting tofu products, I came across this at my local overpriced grocery store last week:
Yes! Flavoured tofu snacks, complete with dipping sauce, made by someone named Pete! For $2.49, I had to give it a whirl. Out of the package, this is what I was dealing with:
Well, it certainly didn't taste as exciting as it looks, I can tell you that. I had one triangle with the dipping sauce and I can safely tell you the dipping sauce was the best thing about the snack. Luckily, I have more imagination than just biting into a hunk of tofu dipped in sauce - I made a stirfry!
Coleslaw mix is my new favourite thing because it is wicked in stirfries. The udon noodles were OK - probably better in soup. And that is the only brand of Peanut Sauce I like. Here is the finished product:
Actually, all put together this was quite good. A simple, quick, healthy meal - which meant I didn't feel as guilty about the cake I ate from yesterday's post!

Tofu Tuesdays #2: Tofu & Veggie Chow Mein

While perusing the tofu section of my local overpriced grocery store this past week in anticipation of this post, I was confronted by a selection of tofus that looked quite a bit more interesting than the regular stuff - soft, firm, etc. There was a flavoured tofu that was red in colour, but the packaging didn't say what the flavouring was. Then I spied this package of fried tofu that piqued my interest. Yes, it's higher in fat, but I thought it would be more interesting than the pedestrian tofus next to it.

I also had most of a package of fresh egg chow mein noodles left over from my last Tofu Tuesday installment, and on the back there was conveniently printed for me a chow mein recipe. Hence, this week's Tofu Tuesdays idea was born!

Fried Tofu & Veggie Chow Mein

1 package fried tofu, cubed
1/2 bag coleslaw mix (I love this stuff; it's perfectly chopped for stir fries, and it contains both green & purple cabbage, as well as carrots)
1/2 onion, sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 package fresh egg chow mein noodles
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 cup broth (I used beef, which I admit seems contrary since this is a vegetarian dish, but sue me - it's what I had on hand)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp sesame oil

1. Boil chow mein noodles until soft; drain. (The package claims all I had to do was run them under hot water. The package is a liar. Running them under hot water was inadequate, and I found that boiling the noodles for a few minutes worked much better). After draining, I cut my noodles with my kitchen shears to make them a manageable length.

2. Heat some oil wok, and when it's hot, add veggies and stir fry until tender. Add tofu. Add noodles.

3. Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl and add to the stir fry. Combine well.

The fried tofu had a chewy exterior that was a bit more pleasant than its unfried counterpart, and the flavour was mild enough to blend in well with the other ingredients in the chow mein. I'd definitely use this again (and it was cheaper, too). All in all, this was a great meal!

Bon appetit!

Tofu Tuesdays #1

Oh yeah - another series!

I was inspired to start this tofu series after writing this post about greening up the kitchen and my eating. In that post, I mentioned an article in Bon Appetit called "50 Easy Ways to Eat Green", and idea #39 was to eat more tofu. I used to eat tofu somewhat regularly in university and every so often when I was on Weight Watchers. I kind of got over it though, and haven't had any in quite some time. I haven't really missed it. My main knock against it is that it's very processed, as are many tofu products, and my focus has been to eat more unprocessed, whole foods instead of stuff that bears no resemblance to it's natural form. But, as the article states, tofu is quite green, and takes less resources to produce than your average pound of beef (which I eat rarely anyway). Replacing 1lb of beef with 1lb of tofu per month apparently saves 20,000 gallons of water annually.

Fine. I can add some tofu to my diet.

Enter Canadian Living Magazine, February 2009 issue, and a section on a Chinese New Year menu, which included this recipe for Bok Choy, Mushroom, and Tofu Soup. It looked simple and delicious, and has about 59 calories per serving. Now, this soup is supposed to be part of a larger meal, so it's not too hearty on its own. In order to make it more filling and a little more...ah...fun, shall we say, I added some fresh chow mein noodles to it - because, let's face it, noodles make everything better, right? I also made my own stock once more, as seen here, only leaving out the lemon and adding ginger and some celery tops instead.

The soup turned out really well and I used medium tofu instead of firm. Big difference! Not rubbery or chewy and its softness took in the flavour of the soup much more than firm tofu would have. I'll have to remember this little tofu tip for the future.

Bon appetit!