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Sweet potato pad thai
Ok, so I have to admit, I kind of hated the whole “spiralized veggie” thing. I’m sort of a traditionalist at heart (plus I hate extra kitchen gadgets). If it can’t be done with a chef’s knife, I don’t like it. So I was NOT going to be buying a “spiralizer” (or an Instapot) any time soon.
But when I was at whole foods last week I spotted all of these spiralized veggies and decided it was time I put my disdain for trends to the side and give these veggies a chance. Besides, it wasn’t the sweet potatoes fault they got a perm. In my cart they went. Now I was committed. Off to make THE BEST spiralized veggies ever (or at least the best in my house 😉
For starters, I had no idea how to cook these poor things. Do you boil them? Bake them? Turns our a saute pan and a little olive oil work great. And even better when you add in a ton of fresh veggies and big bold flavors. I’m kind of getting the craze now.
I have always been a huge fan of sweet potatoes. For so many reasons, but one is how versatile they are. The sweet, but mellow flavor profile can be taken in so many directions. I especially love combining sweet potatoes with really savory and bold flavors. Their sweet notes create a great balance in big bold dishes, like this pad thai.
Now I should also preface that I’m using the term “pad thai” very broadly here. I’m taking a few of my own liberties (but that’s the beauty of cooking, right?). So there are no noodles, no egg and the sauce might not be the “traditional” pad thai sauce – but all the flavors combined remind me so much of some of my very favorite pad thai dishes – only healthier.
This dish comes together pretty quickly. It can be done in about 10-15 minutes, so it’s a great easy week night dinner.
To start, I lightly sautéed the sweet potatoes, then added in a generous amount of red cabbage, green onions, garlic and ginger. I gave it a quick toss and topped it off with a few extra green onions, bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, cilantro and of course a few squeezes of lime. But the real winner here is the sauce. Oh my gosh, it’s so addicting. I don’t know why I don’t make double batches of this sauce because I put it on everything now. It’s that good.
The sauce is essentially peanut (or any nut butter), garlic, ginger, red curry paste, rice wine vinegar, lime, and soy sauce. All blended up. It’s creamy, thick, salty, sweet, tart, and addicting. I drizzled waaaay more than necessary over my little sweet potatoes, but they loved it. We all loved it. Even JP (who would eat a burger every day if I let him) licked his bowl clean…..a bowl that I might add was completely plant based. Not bad for a little spiralized veggies.
The thing that I loved most about this dish, is that it actually eats like real pad thai. I honestly forgot that the sweet potatoes weren’t noodles. They were so fun and satisfying to eat. I left mine with a little “bite” to it, so the potatoes had great “chew” and didn’t feel mushy at all.
All in all, I’m kind of a new lover of spiralized veggies (and may have done a quick peak on amazon for a “spiralizer”. I may have to break my “no kitchen gadget” rule for this one).
Hope you enjoy, friends!
Recipe:
Sweet potato pad thai
Instructions:
- In a saute pan set over medium heat, add the olive and sesame oils, followed by the spiralized sweet potatoes. Gently toss to evenly coat the potatoes with the oil, and then allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes, tossing as needed
- Meanwhile, make your dressing while the potatoes cook
- In a high speed blender, add the nut butter, lime juice, garlic, ginger, curry paste, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and olive oil. Blend on high for about 30 seconds. Taste, Season as necessary. (even though there is soy sauce in the dressing, it still needs a touch of salt, Salt and soy sauce have different properties and the salt will really help bring out all of the other flavors. You need both, but be careful to not OVER season.). Transfer the dressing to a glass jar. Left over dressing can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.
- next add in the the red cabbage, half of the sliced green onions, and the minced garlic and ginger. Toss all together and cook for about a minute, being carefully not to burn the garlic/ginger or over cook the cabbage. They really only need a minute.
- Transfer to the potato and cabbage mixture to a serving dish. Drizzle with a generous amount of dressing (3-4 tbsps). Garnish with additional green onions, chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, cilantro and lime wedges.
- Serve and enjoy!
Recipe:
Sweet potato pad thai
Instructions:
- In a saute pan set over medium heat, add the olive and sesame oils, followed by the spiralized sweet potatoes. Gently toss to evenly coat the potatoes with the oil, and then allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes, tossing as needed
- Meanwhile, make your dressing while the potatoes cook
- In a high speed blender, add the nut butter, lime juice, garlic, ginger, curry paste, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and olive oil. Blend on high for about 30 seconds. Taste, Season as necessary. (even though there is soy sauce in the dressing, it still needs a touch of salt, Salt and soy sauce have different properties and the salt will really help bring out all of the other flavors. You need both, but be careful to not OVER season.). Transfer the dressing to a glass jar. Left over dressing can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.
- next add in the the red cabbage, half of the sliced green onions, and the minced garlic and ginger. Toss all together and cook for about a minute, being carefully not to burn the garlic/ginger or over cook the cabbage. They really only need a minute.
- Transfer to the potato and cabbage mixture to a serving dish. Drizzle with a generous amount of dressing (3-4 tbsps). Garnish with additional green onions, chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, cilantro and lime wedges.
- Serve and enjoy!
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