We like to keep carrots and cabbage in the fridge because they take a long time to go bad; if stored well these can keep for many months! Because of this recipe, we always keep the other ingredients (soy curls, thai noodles, and nut butter) stocked in my pantry. During the before times, when we had guests over or have run out of food ideas we always had a back up meal already planned. We also loved feeding this to guests because it makes a lot and is fairly cheap. Plus, white people are often excited that it is not the usual ‘American’ fare. Now, we are happy this is a low effort meal that makes our bodies feel good that we can pull together if we aren’t feeling like putting in much effort.
A note on tamarind. We like to buy jarred tamarind paste and keep it in our fridge, as it is a great acid to add to many meals. If you can't find packaged tamarind paste, however, no worries -- dried tamarind pulp is available at many Asian and Latin American grocery stores, and you can use the pulp to make your own paste. Soak the brick of pulp in hot water until it's cool enough to touch, then break it down with your hands to incorporate the water and release the flavor. Run the thick paste through a sieve to strain out the pods, and keep in the fridge or freezer. You can simmer the resulting liquid until it is a thicker paste, but that is a question of personal preference.
Serves: 4
Time: 1 hr
Ingredients
2 large carrots (3/4 lb)
1 lb cabbage (4 cups, packed)
1 package pad thai noodles
5 tbsp neutral oil for frying vegetables and soy curls, divided
1/4 cup toasted peanuts or almonds, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
for the soy curls:
4 oz soy curls
1 bouillon cube or 1 tsp Better than Bouillon paste
1 1/2 cups hot water
for the sauce:
1/4 cup peanut or almond butter
1 tsp lime zest
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp tamarind
3 tbsp soy tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
2 tbsp water
Slice carrots into 2 inch long julienne and chop cabbage. Dissolve bouillon in hot water and soak the soy curls for 10-15 minutes. They will re-hydrate and should soak up all of the water that you put in. Heat 2 tbsp of neutral oil to medium heat in a pan. Add the veggies and fry until the carrots are starting to brown and the cabbage is starting to crisp. This takes about 10-15 min.
In the meantime put a pot of well salted water on to boil. The water should taste about as salty as sea water so that the noodles soak in the water and are perfectly salted when done. Don’t worry if these feels like a lot of salt; you will be draining the water. Once boiling, add the noodles into the water and cook until soft (check noodle package for instructions). Once you drain them, remember to rinse with lots of cool water to prevent clumping. Remove the veggies from the frying pan and set aside. Heat the veggie pan with 3 tbsp of oil and fry the soy curls until brown and crispy, about 15 minutes.
Whisk together nut butter, lime juice and zest, sesame oil, sriracha, tamarind, tamari, and water. If your nut butter is clumpy, we recommend stirring the lime juice into the nut butter first to work out the clumps before adding the rest of the ingredients. Also if your almond butter is very thick you may want to add some water to make the sauce thinner. This isn’t necessary, but makes stirring easier.
Toast the nuts in a dry pan until slightly darker in color. Chop the almonds or peanuts and cilantro. Toss the veggies, soy curls, and noodles with the sauce and serve warm, garnished with cilantro and toasted nuts. Enjoy!