Rubystreak, I have a vegetarian pad thai recipe from an oldish “Women’s Weekly” cookbook. I haven’t made this recipe, but others I’ve made from the book have been very good, and the “Women’s Weekly” recipes have a reputation for being reliable. So here’s the recipe.
I’ve rewritten the recipe in my own words so as not to contravene copyright.
375g dried rice noodles
250g firm tofu
60ml peanut oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of sambal olek (make sure you look for the ones without shrimp paste)
2 stalks lemon grass thinly sliced
2 medium carrots thinly sliced
2 large zucchini thinly sliced
3 eggs beaten
135g finely chopped palm sugar
60ml light soy sauce
180 ml mild chilli sauce
2 cups of bean sprouts
2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander (cilantro I think for the US)
1/2 cup unsalted, roasted peanuts finely chopped
Put the noodles in a bowl and cover with hot water until just tender and drain. Cube the tofu (2cm).
Heat half the oil in a wok and cook the tofu a bit at a time until it is browned, and then drain.
Heat the rest of the oil in the wok and cook the garlic, ginger, sambal olek and lemon grass. Then add the carrot and zucchini and cook until just tender. Add the egg and cook until just set.
Combine the sugar and sauces and stir into the egg/vegetable mix and bring to the boil. Add the tofu, sprouts, coriander peanuts and noodles and stir fry until hot.
I’m sure you could use other vegetables such as snow peas and Asian greens.
I also have a book on vegetarian Thai food which has much the same ingredients, but suggests the addition of 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice or tamarind liquid (for the sour part) and 1 tablespoon of Chinese black bean sauce (for the salty part).
It also suggests you squeeze a little of the lime juice over the noodles just before you serve them.
This book (“Real Vegetarian Thai” by Nance McDermott) suggests using a combination of vegetable stock (made with carrots, celery onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, shiitake mushrooms and a little soy sauce), and soy sauce as a substitute for fish sauce, adding black bean sauce to this mix when you need a really salty, fermented hit.
If you scroll down to the comments section of this blog there’s actually a couple of suggestions for fish sauce substitutes.
And there’s a recipe of making a vegetarian fish sauce here. I’ve not tried either of them, so they’re offered only out of interest.
