Pad Thai is a dish made of rice noodles (noodles made from rice flour) and peanut sauce. There are many versions, and different ways to prepare it. We have found a quick, easy, and very basic way to prepare this dish, and to keep it appropriate for Great Lent. It's a nice way to bring a different ethnic flare to your fasting choices.
A traditional dish of Pad Thai includes eggs, fish sauce, chicken, and bean sprouts. We have minimized the ingredient list to get a similar flavour with many fewer steps and to make it absolutely Lent appropriate.
We chose to use medium rice sticks noodles, which can be purchased at any Asian supermarket, or specialty store for the pasta part of this dish. These days, it is likely that major grocery chains even carry a variety of rice noodles. They are comparable to (and can be substituted for or with) vermicelli or fettuccine in thickness.
There are several different styles of rice noodles, just like there are different styles of traditional pasta. The noodles range from very thin to very wide noodles, and this is something to consider for various dishes. Using a thin rice noodle for this dish seems wrong to us because thin noodles are not substantial enough to hold the sauce. A peanut butter based sauce is thick, and you want to find a noodle with the thickness that will hold the sauce and will not get lost in a bowl with any additional ingredients. Thin rice noodles are often used in soups and stir fries. Thicker rice noodles are used in other dishes, including stir-fries and noodle dishes.
Back to the ingredients...
We have the rice noodles, which we know are a good Lenten food. The recipe calls for soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, red pepper (chile) flakes, and peanut butter. All of these are completely appropriate for Lent, and for any time of year. When seeing our pictures, you may notice that we are using the WOWButter that was explained in a previous post (see Day 19: The Breakfast Challenge for more information about WOWButter). This is just our preference, but you can use any peanut or peanut substitute butter that you like.
For this day, we decided to add shrimp to our dish to have a boost of protein in our meal. Usually, we would include a variety of fully-cooked pieces and combinations of tofu, chicken, shrimp, and beef. The shrimp by itself is a nice change for us, and really simplifies this recipe. Since we are allowed to have shellfish through Great Lent, we have found that frozen shrimp is one of the easiest to keep on hand for a quick meal. We are also aware that there are many people who don't like shrimp or tofu, and you can pick and choose what kind of protein to add to suit your tastes. You may choose to just use the noodles and sauce, which is fine, but for us, the texture is not appealing enough without something else -- even just bean sprouts or scallions make a huge difference in the texture. All or any of these things can be added or omitted to this recipe.
Please make sure that the shrimp are fully cooked before starting this recipe. That will be a key factor in how much time is spent for this recipe and it will help in food safety issues of adding raw foods to cooked foods. Cook the additions before adding to this recipe.
The steps for this dish are easy. The recipe was taken from a collection of recipes that we have amassed over the years, and the exact source is unclear. However, we know this recipe works and is simple. It is easy to make and uses rather typical ingredients, which we think make for a good weeknight dinner, especially in a hurry!
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup water
6 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tsp. chile flakes or red pepper flakes, to taste
water
rice noodles (500 g or 1 lb. (454 g) package, depending on what's available in your supermarket)
First, make the sauce. You will need the first six ingredients on the list. If you start by making the sauce, then there is some time that the sauce can sit and "gel" in the sense of combining all the flavours together nicely.
Here is how you make the sauce:
1. Put the peanut butter and some water in a pot and heat the peanut butter until it melts and becomes creamy. Use a medium to medium-high heat so not to burn anything.
3. Once the peanut butter and water are melted together and smooth, add the brown sugar and red pepper flakes, and mix it all together very well. You can use a whisk, spoon, fork, or submerging blender to mix. Use whatever is convenient for you.
4. Next, add the soy sauce and the rice vinegar to the pot.
5. Continue to heat the mixture on a medium to medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until everything is well-combined and smooth. Bring the temperature of the mixture to a high simmer -- not quite boiling, then turn the heat control to low. Keep the sauce warm while preparing your noodles.
7. Rice noodles are very easy to cook. Just boil some water, and put the dry noodles in the pan with boiling water, and allow the noodles to cook for just five to ten minutes until they are transparent in colour and soft to the bite. It is not common to have al dente rice noodles, but if you prefer that texture, then cook them for less time. We cook ours for about 8 minutes, going for a softer noodle. This is, once again, a personal preference. Sometimes, if the noodles are al dente, they stick together a lot, and that's a problem, especially with a thick sauce.
Another method to cook rice noodles, especially if you don't have a pan that fits the noodles, then put them in a bowl, and pour the boiling water over the noodles. Cover the bowl. Allow the noodles to sit in the hot water in the covered bowl for five minutes, then strain. Soaking or boiling is a good method to cook any rice noodles.
When the noodles are cooked to the doneness that you like, drain the water from the noodles.
8. While the noodles are in the colander, draining, add any previously cooked shrimp, tofu, or other protein and additions to the warm sauce. Whatever you are adding should be fully cooked. We transferred our sauce to the bigger frying pan to have enough space to mix all of the ingredients together. We chose the frying pan because the larger surface heated quickly, and gave us room to add everything we wanted to that one pan.
9. Next, once the shrimp are warm, add the hot, drained noodles to the pan. Toss or mix the noodles with the sauce and shrimp to make sure all noodles are fully coated.
10. Once all the ingredients are combined, serve and enjoy!
Lenten Prayers
Almighty Master, who created all things in wisdom, by Your providence and great goodness, you have led us to this lenten season for purification of our souls and bodies, and for control of our passions in the hope of the resurrection; You, who after forty days gave Moses the tablets of the law inscribed by Your divine hand, grant to us the strength to fight the good fight, to fast, to keep the faith, to crush under foot all evil demons, and to become victorious over sin and to celebrate Your holy Resurrection. For blessed and glorified is Your most honoured and majestic name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
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