Brooklyn Pad Thai

My husbands favorite dish is a spin off of Isa Chaundras Brooklyn Pad Thai recipe. It's a spicy more flavorful version of traditional pad thai. This meal isn't really kid friendly because it's got some heat to it, but it's one of those meals that is great for 2 people to make together, and my husband I love to spend some time together in the kitchen cookin it up and have even waited to have a late dinner after the kids are sleeping just to make this dish together. When I do make this dish while the kids are awake, I'll normally keep with the asian theme, and do egg rolls and fried brown rice for them. Which I buy the egg roll wrappers pre-made and fill them with sauteed broccoli slaw and crumbled tofu that I seasoned with soy sauce then fry them in peanut oil. The brown rice is simply instant brown rice cooked, then I scramble two eggs, add the rice then sprinkle with ginger and garlic powder and season with soy sauce. Easy Peasy.

If you have never had tofu, or you have before and it was gross and spongey with some odd texture, do not worry because I do not make my tofu that way and my way makes even the most skeptics eaters love it.
Since I can hardly make it to Whole Foods anymore, ugh 45 minute drive, I have had to adapt it a bit for different ingredients that are readily available in good ole Lemoore.

Recipe:

1 lb rice noodles, but I usually use a box of linguine noodles and they turn out great
peanut oil
1 lb tofu, drained and pressed, cut small (check out photo)
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T finely minced lemongrass (we never use this)
2 C bean sprouts
8 scallion, sliced into 1-inch lengths
2 small dried red chiles, crumbled ( I buy a small bag of this in the hispanic food section)
1/2 chopped roasted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges for their beauty. oh yea, and flavor.

for the sauce:

6 T tamari (sold right next to the soy sauce in savemart)
6 T sugar (we use splenda)
2 T tomato paste
2 T hot sauce/asian hot chile sauce (sriracha!)
1/4 C rice wine vinegar (we used seasoned rice vinegar)
3 T tamarind concentrate (we use lime juice instead)



ok so first you need to press the tofu. Since tofu is held in water, it needs to be pressed out so it cooks evenly and doesn't crumble. What I do is take the tofu out of the package, wrap it in 4 sheets of paper towel and then in a hand towel and place under something heavy, I use my toaster oven. Let it sit there for at least 20 minutes, but up to an hour.


After that is done, start your water for your noodles and get them boiling.
Dice your onion, scallions and cilantro and have it sitting by.
Next slice your tofu in half, then in 1/4 inch slices and then cut an X on each to make little diamonds, check out photo

Next coat a pan with peanut oil and toss in the tofu and fry till golden brown, remove tofu and put in your garlic let brown for a minute and then add your red onions. Saute till soft, then add the tofu back in with the cilantro and scallions. Turn to low. In a bowl, mix your ingredients for the sauce then add them to the pan and stir to mix and cover the tofu and onions. Cover and keep on low if your noodles aren't done yet. If your noodles are done, then drain the noodles and put back in the pot. Add the tofu mix to the pot and then add the sprouts and peanuts on top and mix all together and serve! I'm a rebel and add extra sriracha to mine, I love spicy food and I rarely ever get heartburn while pregnant but I still popped a few tums just in case! And I totally devoured my food before I remembered to take a picture of the finished product, but trust me it's amazing!

finished tofu

tamari!

garlic and onions