Pad Thai @ home

I bought a huge block of tamarind paste and was just wondering how else to use it up when I was suddenly reminded that the classic Thai dish of Pad Thai actually uses tamarind paste and nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or rather prik nam pla (Thai fish sauce with Thai chilis and lime). 

Everyone including me loves Pad Thai, an unassuming dish of fried rice noodles that is soo addictive and satisfying. This time around I will be making Pad Thai Quinoa Bowl using the new tri-coloured gluten-free quinoa I recently purchased. 

Every component has to be prepared separately and then combined into this one dish meal. Cooking quinoa is the same as cooking rice, firm tofu has to be deep fried, vegetables assortment stir-fried in soy sauce & sesame oil, pad thai dressing whisked evenly.

The key difference between this Quinoa bowl and original Pad Thai is the dressing sauce, I mixed in peanut butter instead of using ground peanuts in this dish and created a smooth silky paste that was used to dress the quinoa in. Its sweet rather than spicy, although you can taste chilis in it. Also great served cold.

Tamarind Curry Prawn

The classic Indian Tamarind Prawn Curry is like the usual way you should cook prawns in curry, its curry paste + chili powder + prawns + coconut milk and you add in tamarind paste.

The Malaysian Tamarind Prawn Curry on the other hand is sweeter and milder, more attuned to our taste buds. It also has a more complex list of ingredients including tomatoes, brinjals, onions, ginger, garlic, a hint of belacan and gula melaka. 

Here I substituted curry powder with chaat masala for variety coz curry gets boring after a while, everything is curry. I used Full Cream Evaporated Milk instead of coconut milk and this is my fave brand from Marigold, its also used at Han's Coffeehouse.

There is some prep work involved with dried belacan and gula melaka, you have to boil it in water to melt it down and keep the extra in tiny containers in the fridge, that's how the fridge gets filled up with stuff.

Pairing this meal with wholegrain bread as it contains less gluten than refined white flour. This heavier and denser bread also makes for a more substantial meal. I couldn't find the low G.I. low sugar wholemeal bread that is much closer to gluten-free.

My Sooji Recipe

Sooji is the Indian equivalent of potato although most times it is served as a dessert instead (sooji ka halwa). The way it is prepared is uniquely Indian and it took some trial and error before I came up with this savory recipe. So proud of myself, gonna share it with everyone as my gift to you.

Soak 1 packet of sooji (500gm) with 250ml chicken stock and 2 cans of tomatoes (around 800ml), Add in milk until the sooji grains cannot absorb any more liquids, then add in a little more. Roughly chop 3 large onions, removing the husk and roots before adding into the soaking mixture. At this point you can also add in chaat masala or salt & pepper if you don't like Indian spices.

Get a large pan, the paella pans or even woks are perfect for this. Stir fry the mixture until it turns into a dough. The edges need to be burnt a little, that's how you know its done. You can freeze this dough-like mixture for another time and stir fry it again to warm it up and the general rule is the more you cook it, the softer the sooji grains get.

This dough-like mixture is now ready to be shaped into palm sized balls, roll the palm sized balls in flour then deep fry until golden brown. Again, these deep fried snacks can be kept in the fridge and taken out throughout the week to be pan-fried again for meals.

One 500gm packet of sooji will give you 5 platters of food or 5 family-sized meals. To make it truly vegetarian, you can use water or vegetable stock in place of milk and chicken stock. If you are planning to go heavy on the spices, plain water is your best option.

Indian food outside is quite different from what Indians actually eat at home in their everyday meals. I have been indulging in more Indian food outside especially mutton.

Homemade Jhalmuri

This Aval Mix from Sri Krishna Sweets is what really makes the difference and its only 50 rupee a pack, that's about $1.05. It's a mix of puffed rice, fried dough and nuts pre-seasoned with all sorts of Indian spices. Eliminating half the work from making Jhaal Muri at home.

(1) Chop tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled potatoes and cilantro into little cubes. I like to add in onion.

(2) Mix in tamarind paste, mustard oil and garnish with lime.

(3) Add in 1 packet of Aval Mix or maybe just half a packet if you like more salad. 

There are other brands of Indian spiced puffed rice around for $1 or $2 if you cannot find the above brand. It sounds easy to make but some prep work is required, tamarind paste needs to be soaked in hot water first before straining, potatoes have to be boiled before mixing into the salad.

This Indian salad is fresh and spicy, the perfect pick-me-up for weekday lunches. I would recommend refrigerating the vegetables before mixing in the spiced puffed rice to make a cold salad for hot summer days. 

This dish reminds me of yusheng, only yusheng has more Chinese flavors to it. Talking about Chinese flavors in Indian food, there's this Indian Muslim place near my place. The Kambing Soup is almost like herbal mutton soup with a little mee soto seasoning thrown in and its served with toasted focacia bread. The marrow was completely melted down into the soup, excellent stuff. 

The murtabak was just freshly chopped onions and canned sardines stuffed into prata. I had to wait 10 mins for it, it was good but not exactly Indian I guess.