Vegan Pad Thai

This is a veganized version of this traditional street Pad Thai from RinS Cookbook on YouTube. There is a little note about the ingredients list at the end. This is worth the hassle especially when you can freeze your extra sauce (it doesn't freeze completely so make sure you have a well sealed container). This really tastes amazing, completely authentic, well as authentic as you can get once you've veganized it ;)

Pad Thai
Serves 4

Ingredients

227g Pad Thai rice noodles (dried)
Vegan scrambled eggs (optional)
1/2 cup Pad Thai sauce (recipe below)
1 block extra firm or pressed tofu
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Water
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 Tbls sweet pickle radish
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 Tbls crushed roasted peanuts
1/2 cup garlic chives or green onion
2 cups bean sprouts
1 shallot, chopped finely
Cilantro for serving
Lime wedges for serving


Method

Soak rice noodles in cold water for 45 minutes.
Chop shallots and garlic finely.
Dice or slice tofu. I baked mine first to give them a rubbery texture but you could also fry them or just add them straight in.
Remove the bottom of the garlic chives, you only want the green part.
Slice the green parts into 1 inch pieces.
Have all ingredients ready to go before starting.
Add oil on a medium heat to a wok or a large flat frying pan.
Add shallots and garlic.
Add tofu and pickled radish.
Drain your noodles and add them with a couple of tablespoons of water.
Add half of the Pad Thai Sauce and mix through then add the rest of the sauce.
Taste the noodles to make sure they are cooked if not add some more water.
Add your vegan egg if you're using it. You can scramble it before hand or you can add it to a side of the pan to cook and place the noodles over the top.
Add chilli flakes and 1 Tbls peanuts.
Add chives and bean sprouts.
Serve with cilantro, peanuts and lime wedges.

Pad Thai Sauce
(this makes around 2 cups, I freeze the extra)

Ingredients

1 cup tamarind pulp*
1.5 cup palm sugar 
1 cup vegan sugar
1 cup vegan fish sauce


Method

Add all ingredients to pan on a medium- high heat bring to a boil.
Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 10 minutes then allow to cool.

Note About Ingredients

Tamarind Pulp - You can buy this in a can but the homemade version is better and cheaper. I buy a package of tamarind paste like below and using about half the package for the above Pad Thai Sauce recipe I soak it in hot water for around 30 minutes. The ratio is around 6oz tamarind paste to 6fl oz hot water. Once the water has cooled and the paste has softened I manipulate the paste with my fingers to mix with the water.

Then I press it through a colander to remove the seeds and then again through a sieve to get just the paste. This is time consuming but worth the wait!

Vegan Fish Sauce - There are many recipes online for vegan fish sauce so if you can't buy one you can make it yourself. I was fortunate enough to still have some of this vegan fish sauce that I bought in Australia at Green Gourmet, Newtown which is amazing!! In the States 24 Vegan - Vegan Fish Sauce I've found to be pretty good (the Ocean Halo one is horrible - don't bother)

 I added a little bit of Ume Plum Vinegar which tastes like fishy salty water but not exactly fish sauce.

Palm sugar you can buy from an Asian store, it's from a different palm tree to palm oil so no endangering animals habitats :)

Sweet Pickled Radish - I had a hard time finding any recipes online that I thought were authentic because I wanted to make it myself. I bought this from an Asian store but I wasn't sure about whether or not the sugar component was vegan. I couldn't find much on whether Thailand's sugar is vegan or not. You can alternatively leave it out.

Vegan scrambled eggs - I left this part out but you could add tofu scrambled "eggs" or use Follow Your Heart Vegan Eggs.