I love Thai food. I love Pad Thai noodles a lot. But since we’ve started on a journey towards eating healthy foods, I had to leave Pad Thai behind me. Savoring it only in the fond memories that I treasure. *over dramatic sigh*
After months of adding new vitamin packed dishes to my weekly menu and seeing great results. I began craving Pad Thai. What to do, what to do? And the inspiration came to me. What I love is the sauce. What if I could pour the sauce on veggies instead of a pile of white rice noodle? So I turned to the internet for some sauce recipe suggestions… and found out, much to my delight, that this actually exists.
It was a challenge to get all of these fresh ingredients in the house at the same time. We have to go to five different stores to get them and inevitably the avocado or the cabbage would rot while waiting for the cilantro to finally show up or vice-versa.
One fine day, I have everything in my kitchen at the same time. I start measuring the ingredients for the sauce. The sweet smell of peanut butter fills the room, then the pungent aroma of soy sauce over powers it, but not for long when I am mincing the fresh ginger. What? This recipe just keeps getting weirder and weirder. And to that mess I find myself adding my liquid gold, local honey, thinking all along that that I might as well just be scooping that honey right down the drain, there is no way this sauce is going to be edible. There are four other ingredients you’ll discover and every single one looks undeniably incompatible with something else on the list. And somehow, magically, it all just works.
Sometimes you just have to push all the way through to the other side before it all makes sense. So don’t give up. Keep doing the next best thing that you know to do. Don’t give up on your dream because it is taking longer than you thought it would. Don’t stop because it looks like a mess. There is a masterpiece inside you and if you stop now, you know you’ll be compelled to start all over again in the near future.
Don’t stop because it looks like a mess.
Thai Fusion Salad
Salad
- ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
- 320g Konjac noodles
- 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 cup thinly sliced sugar snap peas (or snow peas)
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
Optional Add-ons
- 1 avocado
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 red bell pepper
- ½ cucumber
- A handful of bean sprouts
- ¼ cup roasted salted peanuts
Peanut Sauce
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (white vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- ½ lime, juiced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes