Tofu Pad Thai

Pad Thai is a stir-fried noodle dish. This vegetarian version combines noodles and tofu so it provides a good balance of carbohydrate and protein. It also provides two of your five-a-day. I like making it with spiralized carrots but you don’t need a spiralizer – you can use a peeler or just cut the veg into thin strips.

Recipe from The Runner’s Cookbook
Photo credit: http://www.adrianlawrencephotography.com/

Serves 4

200g (7oz) rice noodles

2 tbsp light olive or rapeseed oil

200g (7oz) block firm tofu, cut into 2.5cm (1in) cubes*

1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced

1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced

2 carrots, spiralized or cut into batons

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

4 spring onions, sliced

Juice of 1 lime

50g (2oz) salted peanuts, roughly chopped

A handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Cook rice noodles according to pack instructions. Drain.

Heat half the oil in a wok or large non-stick pan over high heat and fry the tofu, turning gently, until it is golden all over. Set aside.

Heat the remaining oil. Fry the peppers and carrots for 1 minute, then add the garlic, cooked noodles, soy and sweet chilli sauce and cook for 2 minutes more. Mix in the tofu, spring onions and lime juice, and heat through.

Divide among four bowls and scatter over the peanuts and coriander.

*I prefer using marinated tofu as it has a firmer texture (it is pressed), but you can use ordinary plain tofu (not silken) and press it yourself. Place it on some folded kitchen paper on a chopping board. Cover with more layers of kitchen paper, then place a heavy object (e.g. a heavy pan) on top. Leave to press for 15 minutes – the liquid that gets released will be absorbed by the kitchen paper.