Experiments in Taste #11: Vegetarian Pad Thai

This robust and satisfying dish is packed with protein, and full of perfectly balanced flavours. It is simple to make, so long as you do all the prep work before you start cooking, and it can easily be converted to a vegan recipe by omitting the eggs.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 225g flat rice noodles
• a little toasted sesame oil
• 1 red (bell) pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 red and 1 green fresh chilli, chopped.
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• same weight as garlic in root ginger, minced
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 200g firm tofu, cut into bite-size cubes
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 500g roasted peanuts, chopped
• 1/2 jar of good-quality Pad Thai sauce
• Juice of 1/2 lime

Method

• Cook the noodles by covering with boiling water and leaving to stand for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water, then lightly toss in toasted sesame oil.
• Using 1tbsp of the oil, fry the tofu in a large pan over a high heat until golden.
• Remove tofu from the heat and set aside.
• Heat the remaining oil, then stir fry the peppers and chilli until just starting to soften.
• Add the ginger and garlic, then stir fry for a further minute.
• Move the vegetables to one side of the pan, then add the eggs to the other side and scramble lightly.
• Add the tofu back in to the vegetable mixture then add in the noodles. Stir fry to combine all of the ingredients.
• Add the pad thai sauce and lime juice and stir through.
• divide into two dishes and sprinkle with the peanuts and spring onion to serve.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Stay tuned for more Experiments in Taste!