My husband concocted this delicious meal last night from this week’s veg box contents when challenged with what to do with the sea spaghetti from The Cornish Seaweed Company. He also used the bean sprouts in our boxes. Ingredients can be changed as you see fit!
Serves 2
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
20g sea spaghetti
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
thumb sized knob of ginger, peeled and matchsticked
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 dried shitake mushrooms (or any fresh mushrooms as desired)
bean sprouts
150g buckwheat soba noodles (or any other noodles you fancy)
1 heaped tsp chilli bean paste or sliced fresh chillies to taste
1 Tbsp oil (sunflower or rapeseed)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
a dash of sesame oil
juice of 1 lime
Method
Soak the sea spaghetti in cold water for 30 minutes, then drain. If using dried mushrooms, soak in boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain and slice thinly. Cook the noodles as instructed on the packet until al-dente and drain.
Heat a wok or large frying pan, add the oil and stir-fry the onion for 2 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and beansprouts and stir-fry until the beansprouts start to soften. Add the sea spaghetti, mushrooms, chilli paste, soy sauce and half the lime juice and stir-fry for 30 seconds or so. Add the noodles and stir-fry until everything is piping hot.
Divide into two bowls. Sprinkle some sesame oil and the remaining lime juice over each bowl and serve.
We have spring onions and home-grown bean sprouts in this week’s veg boxes. My husband Frank adapted Felicity Cloake’s perfect pad thai recipe as we were lacking several other ingredients! If you haven’t got palm sugar he recommends using soft brown sugar. If you want a vegetarian pad thai just leave out the prawns.
Serves 2
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
120g 2-3mm wide flat rice noodles
60ml fish sauce
60ml tamarind water (you can use tamarind concentrate, thinned with a little water)
60g palm sugar
Pinch of chilli powder, to taste
80ml groundnut or vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g firm tofu, chopped into small cubes
8 large prawns
2 large eggs, beaten with 1 tsp sesame oil
100g beansprouts
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
50g roasted peanuts, roughly chopped, lime wedges, chilli flakes, fish sauce and sugar, to garnish
Method
Cook the rice noodles as directed on the packet until pliable but al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar in a small pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar and taste – add more of any of the ingredients as you wish. Season with chilli to taste and set aside.
Lay out all the ingredients within easy reach of the hob in the order they’ll be used. Put a wok on a high heat and add half the oil. Add the beaten egg and stir fry until cooked, remove from the pan. Add the rest of the oil and the garlic and spring onions, stir fry for a few seconds. Add the prawns, stir fry until they are starting to turn pink, then add the beansprouts and tofu and stir fry for 30 seconds or so.
Add the noodles, the cooked egg and the sauce, then stir until heated through and the noodles are soft enough to eat. Serve with the garnishes for people to add as they wish.
