Pad Thai Hodge Podge...

Art and I both travel for work and when she is out of town for a few days, the kitchen becomes much more of a place for experimentation, trial and error, and improvisation. With her most recent trip on the horizon, I began to ponder what I should whip up for an edible adventure. I had a bunch of hodge podge veggies in the fridge at the week’s end, and I had a craving for something different. I settled on trying something I had done before and loved, but wanted to put a twist on it. It’s a stir fry indeed, but I don't know how else to describe it. I use a fabulous pre-made Pad Thai sauce from Wegman’s, and simply stir fry up some tofu and tons of veggies. I absolutely love this meal.

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Ingredients:

1 lb      extra-firm tofu (Wegman’s Organic)  

1          large onion, cut to preference

2          small bell peppers

3          cloves of garlic, minced

4          carrots, diced

2-3 C    tubers or any root veggie, diced

1          plantain, diced

3-4       ribs of kale, leaves torn

1 C      snow peas

1          7 oz. Pad Thai sauce (Tasty Bite)

1 T       Virgin, unrefined coconut oil (Spectrum)

Olive oil

Instructions – Cube up tofu, press and dry on paper towels. Meanwhile, cook onion with medium heat until translucent, add garlic and continue for another minute. Remove mixture from pan. Place tofu in same pan and let cubes brown on each side. Remove tofu from pan.

With tofu and onion mixture aside, add carrots and root veggie with olive oil as needed. In a separate small pan, add coconut oil to medium heat and add plantain. Let it go on medium for a while, turning pieces until golden brown. 

Back in main pan, once carrots and roots veggies are tender, add back the tofu and onion mixture. Then proceed to add all remaining ingredients: peas, plantain, pepper, kale, and sauce. Cover on med-low heat, stirring occasionally. This won’t need much time, I just like to allow all the veggies to get steamed and simmer a bit in the sauce.

Serve immediately over soba noodles.

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This is a fantastic way to use up leftover veggies in the fridge and incorporate so many different flavors, textures, and diversity in one dish. While there’s really nothing that’s “Pad Thai” about this meal besides the sauce, that sauce is a super easy and delicious addition to bring everything together. 

Enjoy!