Asian Cuisine

Have I mentioned that from time to time at work I teach cooking classes? Well I do! And I'm meant to be doing some Asian cooking (using premade sauces, thank goodness--I can make a soufle that doesn't fall, but don't ask me to make a curry sauce from scratch!)

I was tasked with making Pad Thai. I love Pad Thai, so I was pleased with this assignment. That said, I'd never made it before, even with a lovely tamarind, lime, and fish sauce based Pad Thai sauce already prepared. So I decided to practice at home. I'm glad I did.

I seasoned a wok for the first time. (It's just like seasoning any other pan.) Then I went about cooking the mushrooms, peppers, and noodles. I did the veggies in the wok, while boiling the rice noodles in a regular pot. Then I dumped the drained, cooked noodles into the wok with the Pad Thai sauce and the veggies. I served it with fresh bean sprouts, cilantro, roasted peanuts, a bit of fresh grated ginger, lime zest, and a wedge of lime. Yum!

I forgot to take a photo of the finished product, but here's a photo of a dish prepared almost the way, but with Thai peanut sauce and hot sauce instead of pad Thai sauce and some snow pea pods instead of the ginger and lime wedge.