Vegan Pad Thai

I have been a vegetarian for about 6 months now and have loved it. I never really enjoyed meat and now I find myself eating much more fruits and vegetables. I have read many books and watched many documentaries on becoming a vegan and I look forward to becoming one one day, so a vegan cookbook was the first thing that came to my head when deciding what kind of book to choose for this project. I chose Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz because I have heard many great things about this book and the recipes that it withholds. Before reading this book, I had an idea of what it would be like to be a vegan, but I thought that all they ate were fruits and vegetables. Now I have read and learned many recipes that look delicious and consist of many healthy ingredients, but are still no where near boring. For my first meal to prepare from the cookbook, I chose the Everyday Pad Thai. To begin, I gathered my Ingredients:

Vegatable oil

Tofu

Salt

For the Sauce:

Tomato Paste

Soy Sauce

Brown sugar

Fresh Lime Juice

Siracha

Mellow White Miso

Water

For Everything Else:

Broccoli

Garlic

Scallions

Fresh Cilantro

Pad Thai Noodles

Roasted Peanuts

The first thing that I was to do is to cut the Tofu into "cubes" and cook them so I referred to page 17 where Isa talks about "vegan butchery" and explains with pictures and descriptions how to cut tofu and tempeh into the shapes that she states in her recipes. She explained that to cut tofu into cubes you must first turn it on its side and cut it length wise. Then you turn it flat and cut it into quarters in both directions and then you have perfect, equally sized cubes. (P. 17)

In the notes section of the recipe, it said "I make this all in one pan. While the tofu browns, I prep everything else. You might save a little time by using two pans, but this method has served me well." (P. 179) After reading this I decided that since I was in no hurry, I would go with her method and only use one pan for everything. At first I though that would be weird because you would be mixing different elements of the recipe, but it worked out since you combine everything in the end anyways and I would highly recommend doing this. It makes for a much easier clean up afterwards.

Once I had made the tofu and prepped all of my ingredients, I put the tofu to the side and heated up my veggies, noodles, and sauce on the stove. After that was done, I put everything into my skillet, mixed it all up and let it soak up the flavors of the sauce for a minute before i put it on a plate and topped it with some roasted peanuts. I loved how this turned out and so did my family. I would most definitely make this again and recommend to anyone, vegan or not. 

This can be a very controversial topic, but I would like to know what your opinion is on veganism.


Moskowitz, Isa Chandra. Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildy Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.