Pad thai is nearly always a crowd-pleaser. It’s the sort of food that’s good, even when it’s bad. I mean, everyone loves a noodle-based stir-fry. Also, all the gluten-free people can get on board, because, rice noodles. Today’s pad thai recipe is the riff I’ve been making lately – combining a Thai heart and a California spirit. Hot water is traditionally used to soften the rice noodles. I boost that water with lots of turmeric and the noodles drink it up until they glow a hot yellow. Also, this typically ends up being a one-dish meal for us, and I can’t help but add a significant green component. Enter broccolini.
The Pad Thai Set Up
Like any other stir fry, you want to have all your ingredients prepped, and your noodles soaked before you fire up the burner. Once you start cooking, things go down fast. For this recipe I have you cook the broccolini first, remove it from the pan, and then proceed with the recipe. One pan meal.
The other wild card here is in relation to the bean sprouts. Sometimes, none of the stores within walking distance of my house have them, or they are sad looking. I substitute dice celery, which I actually love – lots of crunch and flavor! Hope you enjoy!
Variations
A number of you have left tweak and variations in the comments that I wanted to highlight. Shanti noted, “I used normal broccoli and also threw in peppers and carrots I had lying around for extra crunch.” Similarly, Christine says, “we used regular broccoli instead of broccolini – next time I will use even more. I also used both celery AND sprouts to up the veggie content.” Jen is a cook after my own heart (using what she had on hand) saying, “Made this with what I had – broccoli, cashews for peanuts, no green onion or bean sprouts/celery – and brown rice noodles. Still delicious!”
For you turmeric lovers, you can also browse these turmeric recipes. This pad thai recipe is one of my favorite ways to incorporate the super spice, but you’ll find lots of other ideas as well. Enjoy!
