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by Emily

The Best Pad Thai Recipe. Ever.

After years of testing and trying, I’ve finally found it! The perfect, best, most fail-proof pad thai recipe. This is a major feat, as it’s easy to mess up authentic Thai cooking at home, especially for someone like me who did not grow up in a Thai home. I’m learning this stuff as I go along. My brother Eric and I had the Summer of Pad Thai back in 2011, when we attempted SO many versions and nothing seemed to turn out just right. It was the noodles that caused the most trouble. And Eric is a chef who went to years of culinary school! You’d think he would be the ideal accomplice. But pad thai stumped us both.

NOT ANYMORE, thanks to this recipe! We’re talking something that anyone can make, right in their own kitchen. You might have to run around the Asian markets to pick up all the ingredients, but it’s well worth it. Then, as long as you have a hot stovetop and a big skillet, you’re in business.

Of course, credit where credit is due. I did not come up with this awesome tutorial and recipe. Leela from one of my favorite food blogs, She Simmers, did. Everything she writes is great, but this recipe in particular is SO thorough and SO well executed. The result? No gloppy noodles, nothing overcooked, nothing undercooked. A perfect sauce that isn’t too spicy, too sweet, too salty – just the best mix of all the Thai flavor profiles.

And in case you were wondering, no, She Simmers did not solicit this shout-out whatsoever! (Trust me, she wouldn’t need to be begging us for publicity, psshhh. Her site is super popular and she published a wonderful cookbook.) I just wanted to give the world a piece of my mind… and some pics of my beautiful pad thai.

So, are you ready for a project with a VERY delicious and pride-inducing result? Check out her tutorial here! This is part five (I told you it was thorough) but it links to the first four parts throughout the intro. So be sure to go through and read them all and watch her video before attempting!

If you try this (or any!) pad thai recipe and have great success (or great failure, for that matter) I’d love to hear about it! Or do you have any other go-to pad thai recipes ES should try? Let us know!

by Emily

Thai Butternut Squash & Coconut Soup

We”re nearing the end of soup season (which, to me, runs roughly mid-October through late-February) so I need to cram in some new recipes while I still have the chance! My two favorite types of soups are Asian-inspired, particularly Thai, and squash-based. So when my friend sent me a recipe on Pinterest incorporating both, I was IN. (And yeah I pinned it to my Soup-specific board, duh)

This fabulous recipe originally comes from the lovely blog Carlsbad Cravings. While I”ve made Thai-spiced butternut and/or sweet potato soups before, the addition of sriracha-roasted pumpkin seeds on top really brings this one to a whole other level. Actually, she used butternut squash seeds, but I had a bunch of naked pumpkin Superseedz in the pantry so I decided to use those and it came out great. Perfect if you are using pre-chunked or frozen butternut squash versus the whole gourd. (Which I actually was, too… pre-cut packaged organic squash because I was running late after work! No shame in my game on a busy weeknight.) I amped up the spice in this a bit and cut down the fat by using light coconut milk, and the result was absolute heaven.

Thai Butternut Squash Coconut Soup with Honey Sriracha Pumpkin Seeds

Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

So as I recently mentioned, like every other overly indulgent American, I’m ramping up my resolutions and getting back on the healthy track after a gluttonous holiday season. This means lots of salads, but as we know, I LOVE salads so this isn’t really a punishment for me.

This salad features all the aspects of Thai food that we know and love – it incorporates sour, sweet, tangy, spicy. You have tons of vegetables, protein from the chicken and nuts, but also a nice addition of… papaya! Try to get green papaya if you can, I thought I bought a green one but when I peeled it, it was definitely ripe and orange inside. How can you tell when a papaya is green versus ripe? This is something I should look into.

Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

Thai-Inspired Kale and Carrot Salad

Last week, I participated as a featured food blogger (woo!) in a kale-centric event at kor180, an indoor cycling and pilates studio in downtown Austin. It was a blast! I demo-ed one of my recipes, met a ton of awesome members of the Austin fitness and cooking community, and generally had a great time.

Obviously I was jazzed to attend a party ALL ABOUT KALE, and also unsurprisingly, I put an Asian twist on my salad recipe. What can I say? Sometimes I’m pretty predictable. In this case it was a good thing, as my recipe turned out really well, if I do say so myself. It’s crunchy, salty, sour, a little sweet, and a little spicy. Plus it’s veeeerrry easy to make and totally good for you. What’s not to love?!