Modified Pad Thai: Left Over Veggie Style!!! – Dr. Plastic Picker
 

Modified Pad Thai: Left Over Veggie Style!!!

| Posted in A to Z: Dr. Plastic Picker's Less Plastic More Plants Cookbook for Kids!

Dinner 11/29/2020. Modified Pad Thai in our cast iron skillet.

November 30, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I really like Retireby40’s recipes. I had seen this recipe and watched his video a few months ago. Click here to read his recipe or watch him cook in the original https://retireby40.org/sahd-cooking-pad-thai/. If you want “authenic” pad thai, cook it Joe’s way. What I loved about this blogpost was when he explained “Pad Thai requires quite a few specialty ingredients. It might be hard to cook a 100% authentic Pad Thai. But Pad Thai is an adopted dish anyway so I think it’s perfectly fine to use local ingredients.” And with that blessing from the financial blogger who is authenitically Thai-American, your pediatrician felt at liberty to experiment. I’ve now made Modified Pad Thai three times, and yesterday it turned out really well. The kids were very happy.

This recipe has saved us from getting Thai take-out, which usually costs at least $40 and comes in styrofoam containers. Very few of the Thai restaurants area actually owned by Thai-Americans. I sometimes feel like folks are just putting too much sugar in restaurant meals. I was able to control the sugar quite a bit. It’s not the most cost effective to buy Asian food at Target, but it’s just a beginning. Later on I’m going to have my mom pick up the flat rice noodles when she goes shopping, and she has tamarind paste she is going to give me. Mr. Plastic Picker picked up the following at Target Mission Valley for us yesterday.

Easy to find at Target.

Pad Thai Sauce (Or Start with Premade Sauce)

  • 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar (can add less)
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1/4 cup water

Come to think of it, I really didn’t follow Retireby40’s instructions. I more watched his video and read his blog for inspiration and also to refer to the Pad Thai Sauce recipe. Yesterday when I made Pad Thai, I used the back of Annie Chun’s Pad Thai Rice Noodle box. I just saved the box and used the recipe, and separate noodles and sauce we bought which is much cheaper.

MODIFIED PAD THAI WITH LEFT OVERS!!!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 package of 16oz A Taste of Thai Rice Noodles
  • 8oz of some protein (we used 1/2 left over premade Costco shrimp and 1/2 turkey breast from Turkey Day). To go vegan you can use tofu.
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1.5 teaspoon of minced garlic (we already have it minced)
  • 1/4 cup of Pad Thai Sauce (either store bought or made with Retireby40’s recipe above)
  • 2 tablespoon of crushed peanuts (I didn’t have peanuts and used crushed cashews!!!)
  • Left over veggies (I cut into noodle like sizes 1/2 zuchinni, 1/2 red pepper, a handful of kale from the garden). This is what I had in the fridge that needed to be used up. Typically bean sprouts are good, but I usually don’t have those on hand.

Directions

  • A Taste of Thai Noodles are kind of too chewy for us if I followed the package instructions. I put on a pot of water at low heat, and then after the water got semi warm – but in the desired amount of noodles. It never boiled, but I waited for it to become sufficiently soft to be able to stir fry. About 10 minutes. The soaking it in hot water did not work for me.
  • Heat cast iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil (I had mine infused with Rosemary).
  • Tossed in the 8oz of protein with the minced garlic. My protein was already cooked so it was more just reheating it.
  • Threw in the left over vegetables and cooked for a few minutes. Since my noodles were still doing their thing, I turned off the skillet with the veggies.
  • After the rice noodles are at their desired texture (just a bit firm so that they can cook a bit more), drain. Then put into the stir fry.
  • Put in the Pad Thai Sauce and just a sprinkle of brown sugar. Stir fry everything together!!!
  • I ommitted the egg because this is a left-over veggie recipe.

Voila!!! Sounds so simple and this is more meant for the novice cook like me who wants to get a bit of the Pad Thai fix with using easy ingredients in the fridge. The proof that this worked is the happy tween and teen yesterday. My kids are particularly picky. They were very happy yesterday and I know I got some red peppers, kale and zuchinni in them.

Everyone is plant-based in our house. Even our bunnies. I realized yesterday that the bunnies can eat banana peels in moderation. They thought they were okay, Didn’t love them. Picky bunnies.
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