Pad Thai

I got to go to Bangkok for a meeting last week and went a day early so I could explore the city a bit on my own first.  Besides visiting the temples, enjoying the view and drinks at Sky Bar, shopping at Siam Paragon, and getting massages for 270 baht ($7.50!) an hour, I also took a cooking class at the Silom Thai Cooking School.  I chose a Sunday morning class because I liked the proposed menu:  tom yum soup, green papaya salad, pad thai, massaman curry, and mango sticky rice.

The class was very well organized;  first we took a bus to a wet market to pick up the ingredients and then we walked to the classroom which had three different sections:  one for food prep, one for cooking, and one for eating.  Most of the ingredients that we used were already pre-measured for us, so there was only a minimum of chopping and stir frying but enough that we felt like we were actually cooking!  We also got a go at the enormous mortar and pestle to make the papaya salad and the massaman curry paste.

Above are the ingredients we used for pad thai.  Starting at the 10 o'clock position and going clockwise, we have fish sauce, ground chili powder, ground peanuts, pickled daikon, palm sugar, tamarind paste, young garlic cloves, tofu, bean sprouts, scallions, and an egg.  After stir frying everything together with pre-soaked rice noodles, it was plated and served with additional bean sprouts, ground peanuts, sugar, and chili powder to adjust for personal taste.

Pad thai was my first introduction to Thai food (back at the now shuttered Thai Cuisine in Ithaca, NY), and I immediately fell in love with the sweet and sour noodle dish.  I've never tried making it before though because the flavors seemed so foreign to me.  Even after becoming more familiar with fish sauce, there was still something else that eluded me, and I think that ingredient was tamarind paste.  It provides that characteristic sour taste essential to pad thai.  If you can't find it at a local Asian grocery store, the cooking school recommends using an equal volume of vinegar, but I would really recommend using tamarind paste if you can find it.  You can also substitute brown sugar for the palm sugar and cashews for the peanuts.  When I made this recipe again at home I omitted the pickled daikon and shrimp but otherwise it tastes pretty close to what I remember!

Pad Thai (adapted from the Silom Thai Cooking School)
serves 2

4 oz. dried rice noodles
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tablespoons tamarind paste or white vinegar 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
6 shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1/4 cup firm tofu, cubed
1 handful bean sprouts (reserve half for serving)
2 scallions, cut into 1" pieces
1 or 2 eggs
2 tablespoons ground roasted peanut, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground dried red chili powder (optional)
1 tablespoon pickled daikon, finely chopped (optional)
Lime slices

Soak the rice noodles in room temperature water until soft (20-30 minutes).  Drain and set aside.

Mix together the fish sauce, sugar, and tamarind paste to make the pad thai sauce.

Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, add garlic and fry until fragrant.

Add the shrimp, tofu, bean sprouts, and scallion pieces and stir until the prawns are cooked.

Crack the egg(s) straight into the wok; stir rapidly until scrambled.

Add the drained noodles and half the pad thai sauce, half the ground roasted peanuts, ground dried red chili powder, and pickled white radish, if using. Mix everything together and keep frying until the noodles become soft and translucent.  If the noodles are not fully cooked yet, add a splash of water and cook until done.  Taste and adjust for seasoning with additional pad thai sauce.

Serve with the lime slices, reserved bean sprouts, roasted ground peanuts, ground dried chili powder, and additional sugar if you like.

Next:  Tropical Pulled Pork on Griddled Banana Bread Sandwiches
Previously:  Mini Homemade Pretzel Dogs
Last Year:  Raindrop Cake
Two Years Ago:  My Mom's Taiwanese Sticky Rice
Three Years Ago:  Duchikey (or Simplified Turducken)
Six Years Ago:  Nanaimo Bars
Seven Years Ago:  Homemade Crystallized Ginger

Tofu Tikka Masala

One of the dishes I knew I was going to miss the most when I gave up meat was chicken tikka masala.  I love that tangy, spicy sauce so much that sometimes I've even asked for just the sauce without any chicken to eat with naan.  So when I saw this recipe for a tofu tikka masala on Food52 I was pretty excited to try it out, especially since I've never cooked Indian food before.

The Food52 recipe is itself adapted from the Cook's Illustrated chicken tikka masala recipe.  I love that America's Test Kitchen took this exotic dish and made it accessible to the typical American home.  All the ingredients are easily found at just about any grocery store, and you don't even need a tandoor to cook the tofu, just your broiler and a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.  I'd recommend spraying the wire racks with cooking spray beforehand so that they're easier to clean after.

I think I like the tofu version even more because I used to find the chicken kind of dry.  The tofu stays moist and is packed full of flavor from the spice rub and yogurt dip.  For these pictures, I followed the Food52 version and used half and half, but in the recipe below I changed it back to heavy cream like it says in the Cook's Illustrated version because I like my sauce a little creamier. I also left out the cilantro since I hate the herb, but if it's your thing, definitely add some as a garnish at the end.

Tofu Tikka Masala (lightly adapted from Food52)
serves 4

For the tofu:
14 oz. extra-firm tofu, drained
1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
3 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pat the tofu dry and slice into 3/4" slabs.  In large bowl, whisk together the ginger, garlic, oil, and yogurt; set aside.

Combine the coriander, cumin, salt, and cayenne in small bowl. Coat all sides of the tofu slabs with the spice mixture. Set aside while you start making the masala sauce.

For the masala:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups onion, diced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
3 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
2 teaspoons sugar
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2/3 cup heavy cream

Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until light golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
   
Add the ginger, garlic, tomato paste, and garam masala; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
   
Add the salt, sugar, and crushed tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in cream and return to simmer. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

While sauce simmers, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (about 6 inches from heating element) and turn on the broiler. Dip the tofu into the yogurt mixture (tofu should be coated with thick layer of yogurt) and arrange on an oiled wire rack set in a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Discard excess yogurt mixture. Broil tofu for 12-15 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking.
   
Cut the tofu into chunks and stir into the warm sauce (do not simmer tofu in sauce). Adjust seasoning with salt, and serve with basmati rice and/or naan.

Next:  Garlic Naan
Previously:  Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) with Tofu
Last Year:  Homemade Ginger Beer
Two Years Ago:  Rosemary Honey and Lemon Frozen Yogurt
Five Years Ago:  Homemade Dulce de Leche and Dulce de Leche Ice Cream
Six Years Ago:  Butter Mochi Cupcakes