Tofu Pad Kra Pow — Stewstone Kitchen

High on flavor and low on effort, this recipe should work just as well for a weekday dinner as it would for entertaining guests.

This recipe/method was adapted from the wonderful folks at Meadowlark Farm, whose abundant CSA also delivered me all of these colorful ingredients to play with:

Pad Kra Pow — at least the way it’s created here — highlights Thai Basil more than any other Thai dish I’ve tried to make. So if you are growing Thai Basil in your garden, this recipe is for you!

Here’s how you make it.

The Prep

Slice/chop your veg:

2 zucchinis
1 broccoli crown
1 onion
1 pepper

Mix up the sauce:

3 T soy sauce
1 T dark brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, microplaned
a knob of ginger, microplaned
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Prepare the tofu:

Using a clean kitchen towel, start to work on:

1 block of extra firm tofu

Wring it out to dry as best you can. You don’t have to be gentle since the next thing you’re going to do is crumble it up.

Crumble the tofu into little pieces that are uneven and perhaps resemble ground pork.

Putting it Together

Get a wok or big saute pan that retains heat well on a burner (med high). Add:

2 generous spoonfuls of coconut oil

When it’s hot, add in the tofu and let it settle and release excess moisture. Cook for 5-10 minutes, until it’s dry, firm, and maybe even a little brown. Season generously with salt and set aside.

Add all of the veggies to the pan with a generous sprinkling of salt. Stir and scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pan leftover from the tofu.

After a few minutes, add the sauce and give it a good stir. Add the tofu.

Cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the vegetables are firm-tender and still a little crisp.

While the vegetables are doing their last little bit of cooking, heat up a pan on a different burner and make:

4 sunny-side up / over-easy eggs

Plating

After turning off the heat and just before plating, add to the vegetables and tofu:

Lots of fresh Thai Basil, roughly chopped or simply picked off the stem

Spoon over white rice, top with your egg, and add some more sliced Thai Basil.

For my palette, I find that the extra Thai Basil really brings the whole dish together, and having it infiltrate into the egg yolk as it’s broken into is a true delight.

You can see in the picture above that I failed to add enough red pepper flakes to suit Eric’s palette, hence some (Korean) gochujang being added here. I tasted it and didn’t think it married well, so perhaps go with Sriracha instead if you find yourself wanting more spice.

Conclusion? A delicious meal that uses up a lot of veggies, and could have easily come from a Thai restaurant. The egg and Thai Basil on top transforms the dish from what looks like a simple veggie stir-fry into a luxurious, herbaceous, impeccably-balanced symphony of flavor and textures. Highly recommend.