This is actually pretty close. Pad kaprow is a very simple recipe. Normally there would be oil involved.

Ingredients:

  • One jalapeno, minced
  • Three garlic scapes, minced
  • Three green onions, minced
  • Two dates, minced
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Bragg's liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
  • Six white button mushrooms, sliced
  • Small box of shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • One red bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 cup basil leaves, chopped
  • 2 cups green beans, coarsely chopped
  • 1 1/2 boxes extra firm tofu

Slice the tofu and bake it in an air fryer for 25 minutes at 400 degrees, coated with balsamic vinegar and a good sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Meanwhile, combine jalapeno, garlic and onions and simmer in a tablespoon or two of water in a wok or large pot over medium heat for one minute or until fragrant. Wait until the water is starting to spit before adding tha jalapenos etc.

Meanwhile, combine dates, rice vinegar, aminos and another tablespoon of water.

When the jalapeno mixture is fragrant add add the date, vinegar, animo and water mixture. Stir and simmer another minute.

Add the mushrooms, stir and simmer for three minutes.

Add the green beans, basil leaves, chopped tofu and another three tablespoons of water and simmer until it brings out the color in the green beans, stirring occasionally.

Serve over rice, or rice noodles.

MORE
10/23 '23 4 Comments
this sounds pretty fricking good.
"Phat kaphrao, also spelled pad krapow, pad kaprao, or pad gaprao"

Apparently the "r" is migratory?
I developed a sensitivity to all members of the capsicum family in the last 6 or 7 months and pad kaprow was one of my favorite quick meals to prepare before it became an issue. Experimenting I've also found I wanted/needed green beans in there. I'll have to try dates. I usually also have fish sauce in the mix and black pepper/szechuan pepper corn to cover for the absence of hot pepper now. Interesting aside -- a thai chef I follow on youtube says that the correct leafy green is actually NOT basil at all, but tulsi ("holy basil") if you can get it. I've always wanted to try that variation but haven't found a source for fresh tulsi.
Yes, holy basil is definitely more correct. I think it’s still considered a variety of basil but I’m not a Thai chef.
 

Ingredients

In the pan

2 14 oz bricks extra firm tofu, chopped into 1/2" cubes or so

8 white button mushrooms, quartered

1 medium tomato, cut in eighths

Dressing

2 carrots, peeled and chopped in chunks

1 stalk celery, chopped in chunks

1/4 cup almonds

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chopped cilantro and basil

1 cup water, or so

1 tablespoon curry powder or paprika


Place the tofu, mushrooms and tomato in a broiling pan. Don't use pyrex. It'll go BOOM. Maybe not the first time, but eventually. Ask me how I know.

Start preheating the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.

Puree the dressing in a food processor or vitamix blender. I use the smoothie setting on the vitamix.

Pour the dressing evenly over the contents of the pan, taking care not to spill over the edges. You might wind up setting some dressing aside for salad purposes.

Shake a little more curry powder or paprika on top.

Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, then broil on high for 20 minutes, or until the tops of the tofu have a bit of yummy black char. Be prepared to placate your smoke detector.

MORE
4/6 '21 4 Comments
YOU ARE MY HERO WHO GOES BOOM
Has no one actually instantiated the million-dollar invention of a voice-deactivated smoke detector? Too much liability? "I'M JUST COOKING!"
Brilliant idea! Although the regulatory hurdles might be ... hurdles.
Curry powder and paprika ... have very different flavor profiles.
 

I know, I know. Banh mi literally means "bread" in Vietnamese. But we mostly steer clear of bread as a staple food, and we love banh mi. So I came up with this.

I've read that in Vietnam banh mi sandwiches are stuffed with all kinds of things. Even ice cream. Whereas I'm sure the usual filling, served as a salad, has a name of its own. But I don't know it, so.

Whatever, this is delicious.

Ingredients

  • 2 heads lettuce, chopped
  • 3-4 stalks of green onion, chopped
  • A chopped garlic scape (green stalk) or two, if you have 'em
  • 1 sliced carrot
  • 1 14 oz box firm tofu, cubed
  • Sliced mushrooms
  • Fistful of arugula
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • Fresh basil, if you've got it
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 6 tablespoons rice vinegar (it matters)
  • 2 tablespoons Bragg's liquid aminos (or a smaller amount of soy sauce)
  • 1 date, chopped (to balance the acid; or use hoisin sauce and ditch the Bragg's)
  • A generous shake of paprika
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Toss in some sesame seeds

Combine and serve.

Rice vinegar seems to be the real "I am eating Vietnamese food" taste signal here, along with the cilantro.

Feel free to sub in actual onions, actual garlic, jalapenos, etc. according to your digestive capabilities.

The above would also be bangin' on actual baguette I'm sure, particularly with a little mayo. Also I haven't tried cucumber yet, which is definitely canonical.

    MORE
    3/14 '21 11 Comments
    Also, YES CUCUMBER. Always cucumber.
    For some reason my beloved local produce store only has gigantic English cucumbers, but this dish might be the use for that.
    Rice vinegar is MAGIC, not just for Vietnamese recipes. It's so yummy.
    Thanks, Tom. This was EXACTLY what I wanted to eat today!

    I happened to have cucumber, so in it went.

    Used 2/3 regular rice vinegar and 1/3 seasoned (sweetened) rice vinegar; I have a choking trigger sometimes if things are too acidic, so I was being cautious. It's not actually dangerous, but my epiglottis SLAMS shut if something is too vinegary.

    Oh! And I didn't have any garlic scapes, so I buzzed a small clove of garlic with the date, vinegar, and Bragg's in a food processor. Chopped everything tiny and made a nice blended dressing.
    I’m jazzed about this.
    This sounds deeeeeelish.
    A) This sounds ridiculously good.
    B) I miss Vietnamese food and OMG why do I not just make it?
    C) Fistful of Arugula is the name of my next album. :)
     
    • Three roma tomatoes
    • Two carrots, peeled
    • Two green onion stalks
    • Two stalks of celery
    • 6 small mushrooms of varying kinds
    • 6 ounces tomato paste
    • Goodly shake of MatoZest
    • Goodly shake of italian seasoning 
    • 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast

    Chop everything. Chuck everything in a vitamix or good blender. Add enough water to get the blender to cooperate. Blend until it looks right — no huge bits but still texture, mostly from the carrots.

    Simmer and serve over zucchini noodles.

    The carrots lend it a meat sauce texture.

    MORE
    3/9 '20 7 Comments
    I read the first two lines of your post and my brain instinticly sang FIIIIIIIVE GOLDEN RINGSSSSS!

    Sure, your recipe doesn't scan, but my brain don't care nope nosiree
    FIIIIVVVEE GOLDEN RINGSSSSS
    (Ba-dum-bum-bum!) is forever in my head in Miss Piggy's voice.
    Mine too. This year during the holidays, Vince was singing "Five. GOLDEN! Rings." in the voice of Mario Cantone doing an impression of Bette Davis. I can almost side-step that ear worm.
    Four pounds of back bacon, three French toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer!
    I-in a tree.
    Five gollldenn toooooques!
    Happy to see you didn't add nutria. (Which honestly was my first thought when I saw the title.)
     
    • 2 cups white flour
    • ½ cup whole wheat flour
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • ½ teaspoon baking powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ⅔ can coconut milk
    • Italian seasoning to taste
    • ¼ cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I just crush a handful of pre-shelled walnuts in my fist as I’m dropping them in)
    • Enough almond milk

    Mix the dry ingredients. Add the coconut milk, then enough almond milk to get to a slightly sticky but rollable consistency. Roll out with a rolling pin, not too thin, keep it maybe half an inch even. If there's leftover dough, you can roll it out again who am I kidding you ate it.

    Use a small glass as a biscuit cutter, who has biscuit cutters?

    Bake for 12 minutes at 350. Awesome as-is or with your spreadable fat of choice.

    This recipe happens to be vegan. I would have put in an egg if I'd had one. Glad I didn't, I think they are perfect as-is.

    They are on the salty side, but these are biscuits. Biscuits are not health food. They are snowy-day warm belly food.

    MORE
    1/7 '17 2 Comments
    Sounds delicious!
    Sounds yummy to me too!
     

    My current no-knead recipe, boiled down to even less effort than the official New York Times version, which includes some unnecessary steps on baking day IMHO:

    3 1/2 cups white flour
    1/2 cup whole wheat flour
    1/2 cup rolled oats
    1 tablespoon sugar
    1/2 teaspoon salt (*)
    1/2 teaspoon active dry bread yeast (I use Red Star from the supermarket)
    2 cups water, and a splash more

    Mix the dry ingredients. Add the water. With a fork just combine it well; don't knead; this takes less than a minute. It should be a little too wet to knead.

    Cover the bowl and allow to sit for 18-24 hours.

    Shove an empty pyrex casserole pan (or similar) in the oven, with the lid on, and preheat to 450 degrees.

    Remove pan carefully. Toss a little corn meal in the bottom. Take the dough out of the pan; it'll be sticky but manageable. Fold it over on itself (*). Drop it in the pan.

    Shove your sticky hands back in your oven mitts and stick the pan in the oven for 30 minutes with the lid on.

    Remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes. (**)

    Remove and allow to cool a few minutes before devouring.

    I was a latecomer to the no-knead party but I think I've got this down.

    (*) Salt is a leavening agent and does add a little air to the bread which is nice when there's whole wheat in there. This was a key improvement for me.

    (**) This step is optional. The results are a little prettier, but it does take a whole second, and I did say this was zero-effort bread.

    (***) If you bake it in an uncovered loaf pan, you'll get a very hard crust. You can cover a loaf pan with aluminum foil if you haven't got a nice pyrex with a lid. The latter is worth finding because you get a very pretty peasant loaf.

    MORE
    12/19 '16 17 Comments
    By "Pyrex casserole pan," do you mean one of the round ones? What size?
    Mine is round, yes, but not hemispherical. I'm sure that yields cute results too.
    LOL--yes. Cylindrical, but squat.
    I mean a thing with a lid that can go in the oven. 4 quarts is a good size.
    Photo? I'm having a hard time envisioning the shape of the final cooked loaf. A picture is worth a thousand words, dontcha know.*

    Also, I love bread and you have inspired me to make some damn bread. BREAD!


    *SEE WHAT I DID THERE HOLY CRAP

    It is months later and I would just like to say that I rarely RARELY find myself funny, but that "SEE WHAT I DID THERE" made me laugh my ass off. BECAUSE BREAD! Get it? Bread? The "picture is worth 1000 words" guys? HOLY SHIT I'm HIIIIIILARIOUS.

    I'll see myself out.
    Picture added.
    Thanks! Imma make this bread tomorrow (which is to say: today. Yay!)
    Attempting. With no wheat flour. And "old fashioned" oats. And going to have to improvise a baking dish. I'll let ya know.
    I have no idea how that will turn out without wheat but am curious to hear!
    Ahhh, I thought you were literally using NO WHEAT flour, as in something gluten-free. White flour should be fine.
    Aluminium foil over a regular loaf pan will do in a pinch.
    YUUUUMMMM. Maybe we should have a bread baking party.
    I am tempted to try to make that bread.
    Soooo easy
     

    I whipped up a Thai pizza tonight.

    Ingredients:

    1 large pizza dough ball. (Walk into a pizzeria and ask for a "dough ball." They will sell you one for around $3. Offer void at major national chains.)

    1 red bell pepper
    1 large onion
    4-5 leaves of broccoli rabe
    Olive oil
    1/8 cup coconut milk
    1 clove garlic

    Preheat oven to 550 degrees. Seriously. Don't mess around, this is pizza.

    Meanwhile, sautee onions in 2 tablespoons olive oil and a little salt until starting to brown.

    Coarsely chop bell pepper, broccoli rabe and garlic. Toss in food processor and add coconut milk. Process briefly; don't let it completely homogenize.

    Roll out dough ball. Stretch out onto pizza pan dusted with cornmeal to prevent sticking. 

    Pour contents of food processor onto dough and spread around well.

    Top with the onions. Bake for around 14 minutes or until allllmost blackening at the edges. (If your oven can't get to 550 degrees you may need to bake a little longer.)

    Don't drown the pizza. This is the most common mistake and the reason you have to go easy on the coconut milk.

    "Hey, don't you add any spices to this?" I find it's quite flavorful as-is, but sure, knock yourself out.

    MORE
    5/5 '16 5 Comments
    I would eat that.
    I wonder if our pizzerias would sell balls of dough? I never thought to ask before...
    I didn't know dough was vegan. Cool!
    Thai Pizza should be shaped like a ball with two hexagons on the sides. What you've got there is a Star Destroyer Pizza.
    http://daiyafoods.com/our-foods/pizza/cheeze-lovers/

    This vegan pizza has caused fights at our house when a slice stolen. It's likely not as good as your pizza recipe but sometimes you need the convenience.
     

    This recipe is heavily inspired by the New York Times no-knead bread recipe and has snuggled intimately with various bagel recipes on the Internets.

    Prep time: 10 minutes
    Clock time: 18-24 hours
    Yield: 8 bagels

    Ingredients

    3 cups white flour
    1 cup whole wheat flour
    1 cup oatmeal (plus more for dusting)
    1/2 teaspoon instant dry bread yeast
    1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    1 tablespoon sugar
    3 tablespoons honey (optional; improves the crumb)
    2 cups water, and just a smidge more
    Corn meal, for dusting
    Kosher salt and crushed anise seed (or other toppings, or none)

    Method

    Day One

    Mix the dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Add the water and mix, just enough to form a dough; do not knead. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. let it sit overnight, ideally at room temperature. In winter I stash the bowl in front of a heat vent.

    After at least 18 hours, wash your hands well and remove the dough, laying it on a surface sprinkled with oatmeal. Fold it over on itself a couple times; really, that's it. You don't have to knead it.

    Wrap it up in the plastic wrap you just used for the bowl and let rest for 15 minutes.

    Put down a cotton towel or napkin and sprinkle it with oatmeal. Then wrap the towel around the dough.

    Day Two

    Let the dough rise for 2 hours. Around the 1:45 mark, start preheating the oven to 450 degrees, and boil water in a large pot. Add the honey to the water and stir it in well. The honey greatly improves the crumb of the bagels.

    Lay out the dough and cut into eight pieces. Pick up each piece, roll it out briefly between your hands and pinch the ends together to complete the ring. Don't worry if it doesn't look pretty! It just adds authenticity.

    Dust a baking sheet liberally with cornmeal to prevent sticking. A non-stick baking sheet can't hurt. If you're out of cornmeal flour or oatmeal will do.

    Boil three bagels at a time, until they float or for 20 seconds, but no longer. Remove bagels to the baking sheet. Don't put too many in at a time or the water will cool. Let the boil resume between batches.

    Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and crushed anise seed, fennel seed or other toppings. The middle eastern place around the corner from my office just happens to carry crushed anise seed and I bought some on a whim. I am not as cool as I sound.

    Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until nicely browned.

    Fresh bagels are insanely great right out of the oven with your favorite fixins. They also freeze well. I usually eat one almost immediately, let the rest cool, then put three in a bag on the counter and four in a freezer bag.

    I tend to alternate between this recipe and simply making bread, which can be done with the same ingredients, but you'll want to add another 1/8th cup of water or so. Bagels pick up extra moisture in the boil and need to be tough enough to resist.

    MORE
    3/12 '16 2 Comments
    That looks delicious. I have child that would love those. (Toasted bagels with excessive amounts of crunchy peanut butter is one of the the few things that picky child would eat when he was little- thankfully, he's not as picky now.)
    And the effort level is so close to zero!