not yet pad thai success

I love pad thai so much, that peanut deliciousness and rice noodles and vegetables. It is a great way to eat noodles!

Sadly, it is a noodle dish that I have so far failed to replicate at home.

We've tried many different methods: using peanut butter; crushing peanuts; mixing together so many different sauces. We've tried cheater methods and long-form methods. We've tried recipes from Thai bloggers and recipes from people who claim their recipes are so totally wrong but so totally delicious.

Still, so far, giant failure. Is it because we'll never replicate pad thai without fish sauce? I hope not, because that means the pad thai we get from our local is not suitable for us, AND the cheerful man there lied to me.



This one was okay, but still not quite right.

tom yum noodle soup

I have been a bit under the weather the last two weeks, and in grand SEAsian tradition, we've been eating a lot of curries to try and kick it (to the point that I went to hang out with some friends and volunteered to cook laksa for dinner at their house…).

I'd never tried making Tom Yum soup before, so when Danni suggested it as something to try, it was a challenge I was keen to accept. It's got a lot of really homey elements in it for me; because of the moderate Thai influence on Penang cooking, lemon grass, lime kaffir, and coconut feature heavily across Penang dishes.

The tart, lemongrassy flavour, with the spice of the chilli and the bite of the galangal, along with the soup and the noodles, makes this dish perfect for the cold weather, comfort food eating, and helping me shake off this cold.


Tom Yum Noodle Soup



I added some bok choy to this because I wanted the extra vegetables; they're totally optional.

ingredients
1 length lemongrass
small handful lime kaffir leaves
1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small piece (approx 2 cm) galangal, sliced
3 cups veggie stock
100g golden boy mushrooms
handful cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon veggie oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
quarter cup coconut cream
some rice noodles
optional: bok choy

method
Simmer lemon grass, lime kaffir leaves, some dried chilli flakes, garlic and a little bit of sliced galangal in some veggie stock for about half an hour, lid on. Then add some golden boy mushrooms (washed and halved), and do some more simmering. Also add a handful of cherry tomatoes. When this is merrily boiling away, add a tablespoon or so of veggie oyster sauce. Leave to simmer for about twenty minutes. Then reduce heat and add a tablespoon of light soy sauce, and quarter cup of coconut cream. At this point, throw in the bok choy, sliced, if you are adding it. Simmer five minutes longer, lid off, then serve, with noodles, or even without noodles if that's your preference.

(Noodles are the best)

green palace, newtown (sydney)

Late Friday night, after shenanigans with plumbers, we headed on out to Newtown (woo!) to Green Palace, which Alysia had found in the Good Eats Guide. We decided a Thai vegan restaurant was a possibility for a gluten-free meal, and I haven't heard from either B or Alysia that there was gluten-related illness afterwards, so yay! (Also the internet tells me explicitly that Green Palace does cater for gluten-free)



We were incredibly indecisive, unsure of what to order and uncharacteristically unable to come to a decision, so we started with the delightful and familiar, spring rolls, which were crispy and tasty, perfectly serviceable spring rolls.



B, D and I shared a panang curry and a pad see eu. It was the best pad see eu I've ever had, for serious. It had just the right amount of sauce, and wide, thick noodles and perfectly cooked vegetables and I loved it. Alysia ordered another one of the curries, allegedly most of their curries are gluten free.



We rounded out the meal with a couple of serves of fried banana and icecream (with sprinkles!). The icecream was not great, with that watery aftertaste, but the fried banana was pretty tasty.



Splitting the bill came to about $25 per person, which is not bad for a Friday night out.

Green Palace
182 King St
Newtown

dusit thai, northbridge

Having heard such good things about Dusit Thai, but having never been, I crafted an opportunity on Sunday night to visit there.



The vegetarian menu is located in the back of the menu book, there are quite a few options and the waitstaff assured me that the noodles and things had no egg at all, which was grand. Still, I went with a hot green curry, hoping to stay healthy in the face of my very busy week to come (it was indeed very busy, and I did not fall ill, unlike D).

The curry was indeed quite hot, as advised, and I shared it and the popiah with Grahame in exchange for some of his noodles (which were tasty, too). The curry was fantastic, and I love a good fried popiah, though steamed are still the tastiest.

The items were a tad pricy, about $20.00 for the curry, but I was very happy with the meal and the service was pretty good. I can see why I have heard a lot about Dusit Thai.




Dusit Thai Restaurant
249 James Street
Northbridge

sawadee, subiaco

Two restaurant reviews in a row!



When we move, there will be many new local places we have to find. A new local (I suspect it will be the Queens), a new provider of kway teow, a new kebab bar. We won't have to find a new Thai restaurant, but more on that later.

I will miss Sawadee, though. Sad though it is, I've ordered exactly the same thing every time I've visited for the last two years: green vegetable curry, vegetarian spring rolls, and pad thai with no meat and no egg. This is not something I do at any other restaurant! Though part of this repeat ordering is that there's only half a dozen vegetarian dishes on the menu, and these three dishes are always delicious, both take-away and dine-in, and we may visit occasionally, perhaps.

Sawadee Restaurant
279 Rokeby Rd
Subiaco