Vegan Pad Thai with Cashews This recipe is also available in Italian
An easy and delicious vegan version of the delicious Pad Thai, made with soya chunks, cashews and a bunch of simple ingredients, all seasoned with a tasty plant based sauce.
Who doesn’t like Pad Thai?
Gorgeous seasoned noodles with a rich tamarin sauce, fresh stir fried veggies all topped with crunchy crushed cashew nuts.
If you haven’t tried it yet my friends, it is about time!
How to Make a Vegan Pad Thai
In this version I used soy chunks as the main protein. Using this ingredient in our recipes is really easy. It only needs to be rehydrate in some hot water or broth (which I prefer as it gives more flavour). Leave it in the hot broth for 15-20 minutes and it will be ready to go.
In the meantime we can roughly crumble and toast our cashews on a hot skillet and prepare our veggies.
In this version I used ready to use vegetables such as mangetout and bean sprouts. However you can use any vegetable you have or like. For example, it also works perfectly with carrots, broccoli and mushrooms.
We are also going to make a vegan egg mixture from scratch, that will fry and fluff up like a chicken egg will do. This can be substitute with any vegan egg replacement you have at hand like this one.
To make it at home you will only need:
– Chickpea Flour. You can find it easily in shop also with the names of Besan or Gram Flour.
– Corn Starch. Or flour. It adds texture to the vegan egg.
– Turmeric. For colour.
– Black Salt/Kala Namak. For the egg-y taste.
– Vegetable Oil
– Water
Weight the powders first. Add vegetable oil and mix well. Add the water a bit at a time until you have a rather runny batter.
For the sauce we are going to need only three ingredients:
– Tamarind sauce. Sweet and tart, it is a staple of Thai cuisine. It can be found very easily in any supermarket or online. If you do not want to buy it, the closest substitute that I’m sure you have available would be tomato ketchup.
– Brown Sugar. Add sweetness and caramel-ly flavour. Can be substitute with any syrup or sugar of your choice.
– Mushroom Sauce (vegan Oyster Sauce). The traditional recipe calls for fish sauce. Most vegan Oyster sauces out there are mushroom based and enriched with seaweeds. If you don’t want to buy one you can use soy or tamari sauce and some seaweed flakes.
To be combined together and ready for use.
In a large pan or wok add a little bit of vegetable oil, and fry the soya chunks drained and gently pressed to remove as much water as possible. This will require 3 to 5 minutes on medium high heat. Set aside in a bowl.
Pour another touch of vegetable oil in the hot wok, wait 10 seconds then pour the vegan egg mixture. Break the batter with a spatula as if you’re making scrambled eggs, and cook the batter until golden brown and fluffy. Set this aside as well.
We can now begin our stir fry.
In the same wok add a little bit of oil, the onions (chopped), the garlic (grated or finely chopped) and the chili pepper (chopped). Give all a little stir, then tofu sticks go in. Stir fry until the tofu pieces turn golden and crispy, then add sautéed soya chunks.
Then bean sprouts and mangetouts go in (or any other vegetable mix of your choice) and cook for 5 minutes or for how long you like.
Meanwhile we can boil our noodles in abundant hot water. Always stick to the time printed on the package as it can vary from 2 to several minutes.
Drain the noodles and add them to the veggie mixture along with the fried “egg”.
Pour over the sauce, mix well and cook together for another 5 minutes or so.
Finally sprinkle the toasted cashew nuts and serve immediately with coriander (cilantro) leaves and fresh lime wedges.
Vegan Pad Thai Recipe
Ingredients:
125 g Tofu (firm or extra firm; 1/2 cup)
100 g Flat Rice Noodles (4oz)
100 g Bean Sprouts (1 cup)
50 g Mangetout (1/2 cup)
30 g Soya Chucks (1/3 cup)
30 g Cashews (1/4 cup)
1 small Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
250 ml Water (or Vegetable Broth; 1 cup) + more to cook noodles
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Vegetable Stock Powder (omit if using vegetable broth)
1 Lime
Fresh Coriander Springs
Salt to taste
…for the sauce…
3 tbsp Mushroom Sauce (Vegan Oyster Sauce)
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
1.5 tbsp Tamarind Sauce
…for the vegan egg…
1/4 cup Water (50g)
2 tbsp Chickpea Flour (20g)
1 tbsp Corn Starch (12g)
1/2 tsp Black Salt (Kala Namak)
1/2 tsp Vegetable Oil
1 pinch Turmeric
Method:
1. Place the soya chunks into a glass bowl, add the vegetable stock powder (omit if using vegetable broth), the soy sauce and hot water (or vegetable broth). Leave to soak for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime we can roughly crumble and toast the cashew nut on a hot skillet for 30 seconds/1 minute. Set aside.
3. Press the tofu if needed for 15 minutes. Then cut into thick sticks.
4. Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients into a glass.
5. Prepare the vegan egg mixture by combining in a bowl dry ingredients first, then the vegetable oil and the water, a bit at a time until you end up with a runny batter.
6. Add some vegetable oil in a pan (1/2 tbsp), heat it for a few seconds, then pour the “egg” batter. Break the batter with a spatula as if you’re making scrambled eggs, and cook the batter until golden brown and fluffy. Set this aside as well.
7. Drain and gently press the soy chunks in order to remore the extra water. Add to a hot pan with 1/2 a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and fry the soya chunks on medium/high heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.
8. In the same wok add the remaining vegetable oil, the onions (chopped), the garlic (grated or finely chopped) and the chili pepper (chopped). Give all a little stir, then add the tofu sticks and stir fry until the tofu turns golden and crispy.
9. Add sautéed soya chunks, bean sprouts and mangetouts and cook for 5 minutes or for longer if you prefer.
10. Cook the noodles in abundant boiling water according to the package instructions.
11. Drain the noodles and add them to the veggie mixture along with the fried “egg”.
12. Pour over the sauce, mix well and cook together for another 5 minutes or so.
13. Adjust the taste with some salt to taste.
14. Finally sprinkle the toasted cashew nuts and serve immediately with coriander (cilantro) leaves and fresh lime wedges.
Did you like this recipe? Let me know with a comment in the section below 
Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the mail list to receive new posts updates straight to your inbox.
Follow and support this blog on Instagram 
, Facebook 
and Pinterest 
.
For other Thai or Asian inspired vegan recipes check out the following list:
– Thai Green Curry with Crispy Sesame Tofu
– Tofu Puffs in Asian Vegan Mushroom Sauce
– Korean Tteokbokki with Peppers
– Vegan Chinese Dumplings (Jiaozi)
– Vegan Paneer Makhani
– Sweet and Sour Pineapple Tofu with Veggies
– Cauliflower and Leek Curry
– Green Split Lentil Dahl
with love, Adriana.
2 comments
Thank you for this lovely recipe, I’ve been craving a good pad Thai since I went vegan and oh boy, this has fulfilled even more than expected!
I didn’t have vegan mushroom sauce and didn’t want to wait to buy some so I used soy sauce + vegan worchester, and it was spot on!
Also I’m in love with this egg! I’m going to use the recipe for some quick vegan egg scramble! x
Thank you Katerine for stopping by 🙂
Good call for the sauce substitution, sounds perfect!
I’m truly pleased you enjoyed the recipe and the “egg” 🙂 🙂
Take care