Pad Thai

Pad Thai, but make it allergy friendly. It's actually vegan and gluten free if you don't use eggs or meat as the protein because I took the fish sauce out of it!!

While pad see ew is my favorite Thai dish, Pad Thai is more common I feel like and a close second. I mean, of course I love it- it's noodles!! It's always been harder for me to eat at restaurants though since there's usually fish sauce and peanuts all up in it and I have so many unfortunate food allergies!! I started making my own version of the dish at home a while ago and it's def not authentic but it's as close as I can get - still v good in my opinion. :)

What you need:

• 1/2 lb rice noodles (enough for 2)
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup matchstick carrots
• 1/4 cup roughly copped shallot
• 4-5 scallion stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar or mirin
• 4 tbsp Tamarind paste
• 3 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp palm sugar, tightly packed (or light brown sugar)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• Optional: 1-2 eggs
• Cilantro for topping
• Fresh lime wedges for topping

What to do:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the rice noodles according to package instructions.
2. Fry 4 of the minced garlic cloves in vegetable oil until golden brown and crispy. Be careful not to burn them, the transition happens fast. Set them aside on a paper towel until the end.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or large deep skillet and add the carrots, shallot, and two minced garlic cloves. Let simmer for a few minutes until translucent. Don't let the garlic burn! If you're going to add chicken or shrimp I would cook in the wok/skillet here until done.
4. While the veggies are simmering, make the pad thai sauce in a bowl or jar by combining the soy sauce, vinegar, tamarind, water, and sugar.
5. Add the cooked noodles, rest of the scallions and bean sprouts to the wok with the veggies (and optional protein choice) and then quickly mix them with the pad thai sauce. If you're doing egg, clear a spot for the eggs and quickly scramble/cook them in the wok before mixing them fully into the noodles.
6. Top with the crispy fried garlic, cilantro and fresh lime juice.