Vegetarian Pad Thai

Aunty Dotty's Note:

A lighter, vego version of pad thai. Also gluten free. From Darlene Schmidt at About.com.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 225 g rice noodles
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 200 g baby bok choy , chopped into bite size pieces
• 2 spring onions , sliced
• 1 handful fresh coriander , chopped
• ¼ cup peanuts (ground or chopped)
• 4 garlic cloves , minced

SAUCE

• ½ tablespoon tamarind paste
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 -2 teaspoon chili sauce (to taste)
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar or 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and remove from heat. Soak noodles in the water for 6-10 mins, drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Place all sauce ingredients in saucepan and bring to gentle boil. Stir well until dissolved and thickened. Remove from heat and taste, should be balanced spicy, sweet and sour. Adjust with sugar if needed.
3. Beat eggs and quickly scramble in a skillet, set aside.
4. Add 3 tbsp oil to wok heated over med-high heat, and add garlic and bok choy. Stir fry 2-3 minutes.
5. Add another tbsp oil and push ingredients aside to add the drained noodles and 1/3 of the sauce. Stir fry all together for 1 min using a frying, tossing motion with two utensils (like tossing a salad ).
6. Add more sauce and continue tossing and frying in the same way for couple more mins until noodles soften and become sticky. May need to reduce heat to medium if they start to stick and burn.
7. Taste test as you go to see whether you need to use all the sauce or not.
8. Add the sprouts and egg and fry another minute. Noodles are ready when soft but still chewy.
9. To serve, sprinkle with spring onion, coriander and nuts. Serve immediately with wedges of lemon or lime and Thai chili sauce on the side.