Vegetable and Tofu Pad Thai

Thai food is a real treat for me.  I really enjoy going to thai food restaurants and I never knew why until I made this meal.  I finally figured out what it was.  The chili sauce-Sriracha.  Oh. Em. Gee.  This is another meal out of the Everyday Food magazine - Light issue.  This meal, per serving, is 473 calories....which I'm sure is largely in part to the noodles.

Like I've been saying, Steve has been requesting to add in meals with little to no meat to our every day dinners.  I happily obliged.  I saw this recipe and immediately knew I was going to try it, but I had to run it by Steve first.  Surprisingly, he was really cool about it and agreed to give it a shot.  I made sure my Chicken Minestrone Soup was readily available as a Plan B in case this recipe tanked and became a failure.  Luckily, I was able to put my soup in the fridge and we enjoyed this meal while we watched the NY Giants and San Francisco 49ers play some good football.  BTW, I HATE NY.  I DO NOT like Eli Manning.  Why?  I don't know...I think I've carried a strong dislike for him ever since he beat us (the Cowboys) in a playoff game a few years back.  Ever since then I've wished nothing but rotten luck on their team.  I know that's bad...but a girl can't help it.  You mess with the Boys, you mess with me.

Anyway, this was a surprisingly satisfying meal and I really recommend this for anyone wanting to try tofu for the first time.  It was a learning experience for me and I think I did an OK job with it...I mean, it's really hard to mess up soybeans, right?

I used egg noodles because I couldn't find rice noodles at Walmart (what IS it about that store?!  They never have the things I need..I guess I need to start going to Central Market or something for my unusually food items)
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
1 tbsp chili sauce such as Sriracha (I may use a little less next time for Steve's sake)
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 package (14 ounces) firm tofu, drained, thinly sliced, and patted dry
2 medium carrots (I ran out of carrots, so I used zucchini) peeled and shredded
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
coarse salt
2 tbsp roasted chopped salted peanuts
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Soak noodles (or cook the egg noodles like I did if you don't have rice noodles) to package indications, drain.  In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, soy sauce, chili sauce, and brown sugar.

In large non stick skillet, heat 1/2 tsp oil over medium-high heat, tilting to coat pan.  Add eggs, swirl to coat pan and cook until just set, about 1 minute.  Transfer eggs to cutting board, loosely rolling and cut crosswise into thin strips.  Add tofu in a single layer and cook until golden brown on both sides about 7 minutes, flipping half way through.  Transfer to cutting board.

Add in 1 1/2 tsp oil, carrots (or in my case, zucchini), garlic and scallions-white to skillet and cook until softened about 5 minutes.  Add lime juice mixture and bring to a simmer.  Add noodles and cook, stirring frequently 1 minute.  Add eggs and tofu and gently toss to combine.  Season to taste with salt. Top with peanuts, cilantro, and scallion greens.

Here's all my veggies ready to go :)

 Mmmm tofu...

 The eggs all chopped up

 The tofu cookin'.  I didn't do a great job slicing it up.

 The veggies cooking

 Yummy!  All ready to eat!

 We ate this with the Naan from Friday night

The chili sauce really made this dish flavorful and I am contemplating buying some fish sauce because I hear it really adds another level to the flavor.  Definitely try this if you're feeling adventurous in the kitchen!

Happy cooking!