Kids in the Kitchen: Pad Thai

The Wisconsin test kitchen is comprised of some serious take out food junkies. The people at the Japanese restaurant know us by name; and the Chinese food delivery people were concerned about us when we hadn't placed an order in at least two weeks. Yikes.

We've been trying to cook more at home, and rely less on take out. We were craving some Thai food this past week, and thought we'd try making our own Pad Thai. The results were pretty great.

Cool Dads Pad Thai

 

½ lb. of dry fettuccine noodles

¼ cup orange juice

¼ cup peanut butter (natural)

2½ tbs. teriyaki sauce

2 tbs. rice vinegar

2 tbs. brown sugar (either light or dark is fine)

½ tsp hot chili sauce (more if you want it spicy)

2 wedges of lime

1 tsp oil

¼ cup sweet onions, sliced

1 clove of garlic minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

chopped peanuts (for topping)

fresh bean sprouts (for topping) 

 

                                                       

1. Put on pot of boiling water for pasta. Cook the fettuccine to al dente.

2. While the pasta is cooking, whisk together orange juice, peanut butter, teriyaki, rice vinegar, sugar, chili sauce and lime wedges.

3. Heat oil in skillet over med-high, once hot add the onion, pepper and garlic. Stir fry, until onion is cooked, but still has a little firmness, not mushy, then add the noodles and stir fry for 2 minutes.

 

4. Pour the sauce over noodles, and stir to coat, continue folding and mixing the pasta over heat for about a minute.

 

5. Serve with a splash of teriyaki sauce, wedges of lime, chopped peanuts and bean sprouts.

 

 

 

Notes from the test kitchen

 

-As much as we wanted this to be a child friendly dish, it just wasn't. Sawyer's exact words to us were, "I prefer my noodles plain!" But for adults, this is a winner.

-We like A LOT of spice in our food, so we doubled the amount of chili sauce the recipe called for.

-This recipe would easily be enhanced with some shrimp or chicken, and other vegetables like mushrooms, celery or julienned carrots. But it's awesome just the way it is.

-Substituting rice noodles instead of fettuccine would make for a more authentic dish.

 

We were big fans of this easy Pad Thai recipe, and can't wait to make it again. What are some of your favorite ethnic dishes to make at home?

 

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew