Vegetable Pad Thai

Healthy vegetable Pad Thai with all the flavors you'd find if you ordered this in a restaurant. The only thing missing is the monstrous amount of grease. The sauce is a fabulous, sweet and savory combination of soy sauce, tamarind, rice vinegar, and tomato paste (the tomato paste adds sweetness without adding sugar). The rice noodles are cooked in the sauce, and adorned with garlic, ginger, bell peppers, onion, peanuts, cilantro, and lime. Insanely good.

This is one of my favorite dishes on earth. I think it's perfect the way it is - sweet, tart, salty, chewy, crunchy, and saucy. If you want added protein, add grilled tofu, diced cooked chicken, and/or steamed shrimp.

Vegetable Pad Thai

1 1/2 cups good-quality vegetable broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons tamarind paste (sold with the other Asian ingredients in the grocery store), or mango chutney
1 tablespoon rice vinegar, regular or seasoned
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon sweet (not smoked) paprika
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
1 each red and green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
8 ounces uncooked pad Thai noodles
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup dry-roasted salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

In a medium bowl, whisk together the broth, water, soy sauce, tamarind paste, rice vinegar, tomato paste, and paprika. Set aside until ready to use.
Heat the peanut and sesame oils together in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell peppers, garlic, and ginger and sauté for 3 minutes, until soft. Add the broth mixture and noodles and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes, until the noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.
Push the noodles and vegetables to one side of the pan to make room for the eggs. Add the eggs to the skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the eggs are cooked through but still moist. Fold the eggs into the noodles.
Top the noodle mixture with the peanuts and cilantro and serve with lime wedges on the side.

Serves 4