Pad Thai Pork Salad

I am relatively certain that I could never even begin to explain how ridiculous my family can be. And we are usually our most out of control around the dinner table.

And even though I will never really be able to explain, I can show you photo evidence.

I have no idea how we got there, but somehow we ended up discussing geographic tongues (if you don’t know what they are already, don’t Google it unless you have a strong stomach).

And then…

This…

Awesomeness…

Happened.

Awesome, or kind of gross? You be the judge.

But more awesome than family tongues, is this tasty dish.

You will need…

For the Pork:

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 pound ground pork

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

For the Salad:

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Pinch of Chinese five-spice

12 ounces Pad Thai noodles

½ medium cucumber, halved and thinly sliced

½ cup roughly chopped mint

½ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup chopped roasted peanuts

Start by heating a large pot of water until it boils.

While waiting for the water to boil, start your pork by heating the oil in a large pan over high heat.

When the oil gets warm, add in the pork and season it with salt and pepper.

Cook the pork until it is browned and nearly cooked. About 4 minutes.

Drain off half of the cooking fat and add the garlic, ginger and sugar.

Cook until the sugar is completely absorbed and add in the soy sauce.

Stir until the liquid has absorbed as much as possible and set aside.

By now your water should have boiled.

Add in the noodles and cook until they are barely tender, 4 to 6 minutes.

Drain the noodles and immediately submerge the noodles in cold water.

Combine the remaining soy sauce, brown sugar, pepper and Chinese five spice in a small bowl and mix well.

Drizzle the sauce over the noodles and add in the cucumber, cilantro, mint, and peanuts.

Top with the pork, toss and serve.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Pad Thai Pork Salad

For the Pork:

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 pound ground pork

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

For the Salad:

4 tablespoons soy sauce,

1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Pinch of Chinese five-spice

12 ounces Pad Thai noodles

½ medium cucumber, halved and thinly sliced

½ cup roughly chopped mint

½ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup chopped roasted peanuts

Start by heating a large pot of water until it boils.

While waiting for the water to boil, start your pork by heating the oil in a large pan over high heat.

When the oil gets warm, add in the pork and season it with salt and pepper.

Cook the pork until it is browned and nearly cooked. About 4 minutes.

Drain off half of the cooking fat and add the garlic, ginger and sugar.

Cook until the sugar is completely absorbed and add in the soy sauce.

Stir until the liquid has absorbed as much as possible and set aside.

By now your water should have boiled.

Add in the noodles and cook until they are barely tender, 4 to 6 minutes.

Drain the noodles and immediately submerge the noodles in cold water.

Combine the remaining soy sauce, brown sugar, pepper and Chinese five spice in a small bowl and mix well.

Drizzle the sauce over the noodles and add in the cucumber, cilantro, mint, and peanuts.

Top with the pork, toss and serve. 

Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad with Sweet Chili Vinaigrette

You know what really chaps my hide? What really cooks my grits? What really burns my butter?

Yoga without music.

Don’t get me wrong, I love yoga. It is my escape. But it is NOT easy. You push your body’s flexibility, strength and balance boundaries. It is exhausting. And the only thing that gets me through is a rocking play list.

But not today! Today I rocked out to the sounds of other people’s bodies cracking, their heavy breathing and sweat.

The worst part is that you don’t know it is happening till it’s too late. In the beginning of the hour-long class, we start out with stretching with out music. It wasn’t until about seven minutes into class that I realized I was screwed. And by then, it was too late for me to escape.

Fifty-three more minutes of awkward yoga noises.

I had to come home tonight and make something to bring back my yoga Zen. And this tasty salad did just that.

 

You will need…

For the Salad:

5 chicken breast tenders

1 small napa cabbage, chopped

½ small red cabbage, chopped

6 green onions, chopped

1 large cucumber, quartered and sliced (you can peel if you like but I like the peel)

1 cup grated carrots (you can buy them already grated in a bag)

2/3 cup fresh cilantro

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2/3 cup chopped peanuts

Salt and pepper to taste

For the Vinaigrette:

½ cup sweet chili sauce

¼ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup light coconut milk

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon, ginger

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Start by heating a grill pan or your outdoor grill to a medium heat.

Season your chicken well with salt and pepper and when the grill is hot, lightly place the chicken onto the grill and grill for about 5 minutes a side.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the heat and let it cool.

While the chicken is cooling, combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a mason jar or small bowl.

Whisk or shake the mixture well until it is completely combined.

By now, the chicken should have cooked enough to handle.

Use 2 forks to pull apart your chicken into little shredded pieces.

Combine the cabbage, carrots, green onions, cucumbers, cilantro and bell pepper together in a large bowl.

Top the salad with the shredded chicken and peanuts.

Drizzle with the vinaigrette.

Toss and serve.

Namaste

Angela  

Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad with Sweet Chili Vinaigrette

For the Salad:

5 chicken breast tenders

1 small napa cabbage, chopped

½ small red cabbage, chopped

6 green onions, chopped

1 large cucumber, quartered and sliced (you can peel if you like but I like the peel)

1 cup grated carrots (you can buy them already grated in a bag)

2/3 cup fresh cilantro

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2/3 cup chopped peanuts

Salt and pepper to taste

For the Vinaigrette:

½ cup sweet chili sauce

¼ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup light coconut milk

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon, ginger

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Start by heating a grill pan or your outdoor grill to a medium heat.

Season your chicken well with salt and pepper and when the grill is hot, lightly place the chicken onto the grill and grill for about 5 minutes a side.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the heat and let it cool.

While the chicken is cooling, combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a mason jar or small bowl.

Whisk or shake the mixture well until it is completely combined.

By now, the chicken should have cooked enough to handle.

Use 2 forks to pull apart your chicken into little shredded pieces.

Combine the cabbage, carrots, green onions, cucumbers, cilantro and bell pepper together in a large bowl.

Top the salad with the shredded chicken and peanuts.

Drizzle with the vinaigrette.

Toss and serve. 

Pad Thai

Silly Kitchen Helper...

For years and years and years I was very limited in what I ate. Every time my family went to dinner I would order a ceasar salad, a diet coke and cheesecake for dessert. I was a coniseur of the cheesecake and cesar salad. I could write a blog souly about ceasar salad and cheesecake. Ok... maybe only enough posts to last a week... but that is still pretty impressive.

Luckily, in the last ten years I have slowly started to come out of my food shell. No, I still don't like spicy food or scallops. And please don't throw anything at me, send me hate mail or tee pee my house, but I still really don't like lasagna. That's right! I don't like LASAGNA. Get over it. Regardless of my dislike for lasagna, I have tried a lot of new foods that I really enjoy. And on the top of that list... Pad Thai. I had never had Thai food until a little over a year ago and even though I still haven't had that much Thai food since I don't like spicy... I fell in love with Pad Thai. But with out peanuts... because Jeanelle is allergic and that is who got me hooked.

I have been doing New Food Tuesdayz for about seven months now and I felt like I was getting a little too comfortable. Key word "felt." Tonight was seriously challenging. Not just because I've never made it before, but because I've never used a majority of the ingredients.

Like fish sauce, sliced pork, rice noodles and tamarind juice (what?!)

If the foreign ingredients weren't red flags, the fact that the recipe had ZERO... count them... ZERO... time suggestions should have been. Oh wait... that is a lie. It did tell me to soak the noodles for one hour. But the box told me 8-10 minutes in hot water. Now I can't tell if the first would have been right, but the second one for sure wasn't. While the flavor was absolutley fabulous, we were pretty much eating flavored mush. But I did manage to make it look pretty :)

And of course I had to have a yummy asian inspired salad to go with.

I promise when I figure out how to cook the noodles I will share the wealth.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Ingredients

4 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra as needed

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon dried shrimp, optional

1/2 cup sliced pork

1/2 cup whole shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 tablespoon (shredded) preserved radish

1/4 pound medium-size dried rice noodles (soaked 60 minutes in cold water and drained)

Water

5 tablespoons Pad Thai sauce, recipe follows

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon ground hot chiles, or more to taste

2 tablespoons ground roasted peanuts

1/2 cup sliced garlic chives or green onion

2 cups bean sprouts, rinsed, plus more for garnish

1 wedge lime

Directions

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the garlic and stir-fry until golden brown. Add the meat and shrimp and keep stirring until the shrimp changes color. Remove the shrimp to prevent overcooking and set aside.

Add the noodles. They will stick together so stir fast and try to separate them. Add a little water, stirring a few times. Then add the Pad Thai sauce, and keep stirring until everything is thoroughly mixed. The noodles should appear soft and moist. Return the cooked shrimp to the wok.

Push the contents of the wok up around the sides to make room to fry the eggs. If the pan is very dry, add 1 more tablespoon of oil. Add the eggs and spread the noodles over the eggs to cover. When the eggs are cooked, stir the noodles until everything is well mixed-this should result in cooked bits of eggs, both whites and yolk, throughout the noodle mixture.

Add chiles, peanuts, garlic chives and bean sprouts. Mix well. Remove to a platter. Serve with raw bean spouts and a few drops of lime juice.

A viewer, who may not be a professional cook, provided this recipe. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe and therefore, we cannot make representation as to the results.

Pat Thai Sauce:

1 cup tamarind juice

1 cup palm sugar plus 3 tablespoons

1 cup water

1/2 cup fish sauce

2 teaspoons salt

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan for about 60 minutes until it is well mixed and syrupy. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

Cook's Note: If you want to double this recipe, DO NOT double the ingredi ents, for the bulk will be too much to work with. Rather, make the dish twice. If you plan to make this for company, cook noodles ahead of time and add bean sprouts and garlic chives when you heat it up. If it is an informal gathering, it is fun to let your guests cook their own noodles.

You can buy premixed tamarind concentrate or make your own tamarind juice. Buy a package of compressed tamarind pulp at any Asian market, cut off 3 tablespoons of paste and soak in 1 1/2 cups of warm water for 20 minutes. Squeeze out the pulp and discard; the remaining liquid is tamarind juice.