Pad Thai Noodles with a Twist

So I still had some leftover veggie snack mix and I could tell the snow peas were starting to dry out and I needed to use it up quickly. I also had some egg-less ribbon noodles (egg noodles sans egg) and some peanut sauce from the last time I made Pad Thai for Brian and I (a while ago). So I had a Pseudo Pad Thai lunch.

Pad Thai Veggie Snack Mix

noodles

veggie snack mix

pad Thai sauce (recipe follows)

dry roasted peanuts, crushed (optional)

In a sauce pan, boil some water. Add noodles, cooking al dente (follow directions on packet). When pasta is cooked, turn off heat. Drain off most of the water, leaving some at the bottom. Add veggie snack mix. Add a spoonful or so of the sauce (to taste/consistency wanted). Stir, mixing thoroughly. Serve immediately. Garnish with crushed, dry roasted peanuts if desired.

Pad Thai Sauce

1 Tbs olive oil

1-2 cloves fresh garlic

1/4 cup peanut butter

garlic chili sauce to taste

soy sauce to taste

rice vinegar to taste

lime juice to taste

chili powder, salt, pepper, sugar to taste

In a sauce pan, heat olive oil and garlic over medium-low heat. When garlic becomes fragrant, add peanut butter and whisk thoroughly, lowering heat if needed. When the heat has melted the peanut butter a bit (not to burning point- turn down the heat if you're there), add the other ingredients, constantly whisking and tasting to find when it tastes good to you.

NOTES:

This isn't an authentic recipe at all. It's an Americanized version that I made to use up my leftovers and get a similar taste to Pad Thai.

Traditional Thai cuisine uses fish sauce, which makes it not exactly vegetarian.

I mentioned in the post that I used ribbon noodles- a more authentic noodle to use would be a rice-based, fettuccine-styled noodle found in Asian groceries.

Pad Thai wouldn't normally have the veggie snack mix, but rather sautéed onions, scrambled egg, and chives (and meat for non-vegetarians, tofu works well too).

Usually, the sauce is very thin and just barely covers the noodles. It often does not actually have peanut butter in the sauce, but rather just garnished peanuts on top for the flavor.

It's usually garnished with bean sprouts and crushed peanuts

Authentic Recipe Here