food to glow

If you don’t have the brown rice noodles, use buckwheat soba noodles, regular rice noodles, vermicelli or no noodles at all: the tangy, sauce-soaked vegetables may be all the topping you need. And vegans, I haven’t forgotten you: swap the omelet for a socca (chickpea pancake) or dosa. For both recipes keep the pancakes plain and unflavoured.

Handful of raw almonds OR finely chopped roasted almonds or peanuts

Pad Thai Sauce

1 tbsp tamarind paste*

1 tbsp tamari sauce, soy sauce or coconut aminos

1 tbsp lime juice

1 ½ tsp maple syrup or date syrup or jaggery

A few grinds of fresh black pepper

1 tbsp water

1 carrot

1 small courgette/zucchini/summer squash

3 inch piece of mooli/white radish

Handful of radishes (If you don’t want to use a mooli, just use more radish)

100g plain or smoked tofu (optional – I didn’t in these images), pressed of liquid

75g brown rice noodles OR white rice noodles, vermicelli or even spaghetti

1 tbsp (divided) coconut oil or rapeseed oil

4 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced (or 1/2 small onion)

4 eggs

pinch of salt and sugar

Handful of baby spinach or other small, soft leaves (I used chard)

4 spring onions/scallions, sliced on the diagonal

Good handful each of coriander and mint

1 red chilli (optional), sliced

Radish sprouts or bean sprouts

* increase the lime juice and maple syrup if you don’t have tamarind paste

Method

1. If using whole almonds, roast in a 180C/350F oven for 8 minutes. Cool then tumble into small pieces in a food processor or similar (or chop very finely). Set aside.

2. Whisk together the Pad Thai sauce ingredients; set aside.

3. Take the carrot, courgette and mooli and either use a spiraliser to make noodles, use a julienne peeler, mandoline, or slice very thinly. Slice the radish into thin discs. Dice the tofu, if using. Set aside.

4. Cook the rice noodles in plenty of boiling water until just done. Mine were ready in eight minutes. Cool slightly in a sieve then pop the noodles back in the pan and douse with most of the Pad Thai sauce. If using just vegetables, toss the sauce through these.

5. Now, for the omelet that thinks it is a crepe. Heat a small sauté pan, adding half of the oil. Chuck in half of the sliced shallots and sauté until golden, stirring frequently. Whisk the eggs, adding the seasoning; pour into the pan, swirling to cover. Let this cook on a low-medium heat until just cooked through – pop on a lid if you like to speed up the cooking. You may like to flash this under a hot grill if your eggs are a bit large or your pan is quite small (ie, the egg coverage is thick). Upend the crepe into a serving plate. Carry on and make the next crepe.

6. Once the crepes are done, grab half of the saucey noodles and lay them over the crepes, then lay over the vegetables, herbs, spring onion, chillies, chopped almonds and radish sprouts. Pour over any remaining sauce and serve immediately.

Party Time: You can make this as a party dish by preparing multiple crepes (make ahead if you like and gently reheat in a microwave or steamer until barely warm), overlapping them on a long platter and covering with an appropriately increased amount of toppings. These are good garnished with stir-fried firm tofu pieces. To make this more authentic, add some dried shrimps too.