Sawaddee ka welcome to hot thai kitchen if you follow me on Facebook you notice that
my new year resolution for 2015 is to eat more vegetables so today I am making a dish that is
full of vegetables that it's also very popular it is pad Priew Waan or sweet and sour stir-fry Pad
means to stir-fry priew is sour and wan is sweet so I'm doing mine with tofu but you can use chicken
or whatever protein you like or leave the protein out altogether that's fine as well and my version
I'd like to say is not sweet and thick with lots of sauces actually really light and feels really
healthy so let's get started as I always do with my surprise I like to mix the sauce together first
so this sauce I've got some white vinegar which is going to be the sour part of this and then
for the salty I've got some oyster sauce some what is that soy sauce that's right soy sauce
and the sweet part I'm using brown sugar now you can use regular sugar or even palm sugar but I
actually like sort of the molasses the richness that brown sugar has for this dish and I am also
using si Racha or Thai hot sauce which is this guy and this is the original serie cha which is
what the rooster sauce the famous rooster sriracha is sort of based on if you don't have the Thai one
that's okay you can use the rooster Brown as well it will be a little spicier and a little
less sweet so you may have to adjust the sauce just a little bit also sesame oil I said just a
little bit of sesame oil to give it a little extra something something yeah just a little that's good
okay that's it that's the sauce super super easy you've got sweet I got sour I got salty perfect
now I'm using tofu when I stir-fry with tofu I always use at least medium firm because of it
gets too soft and if I'm using medium for me also like to fry it there are three benefits to frying
tofu for stir-fry one it gives a really nice golden color and it looks pretty too it creates
a rough surface so it holds onto sauce better and three it prevents them from crumbling because the
outside gets a little bit chewier if you don't want to fry tofu that's totally fine just make
sure you use firm or extra firm tofu and again you can use chicken you can use shrimp you can
use whatever you like vegetables I love this dish because I can throw any kind of vegetables I want
in it but the important to vegetables that I need is tomatoes and pineapple they're going to help
add that sweet-and-sour quality to the stir-fry with tomatoes you can use large one and and slice
them into wedges I just happen to have grape tomatoes on hand so that's what I'm using and
a slice of and have the little ones actually keep them whole and just make a little slit because I
don't want cherry tomatoes that's hot and steaming and then you bite into it burst in your mouth and
burns your mouth bad news I've got some onion some bell peppers whatever color you like some
cucumber which is also really really commonly used in Thailand as in a stir-fry I know people
don't usually eat cooked cucumber in North America but it's really good and we do put it in soups and
stir fries but I'm using the mini cucumber at the store it was labeled Japanese cucumber I've seen
it labeled Persian cucumber I find them a little crunchy err and they're easier to handle and I
don't know I just prefer these to the big ones what else got pineapple asparagus you don't have
to it's kind of a your your canvas you can throw whatever vegetables in here go time just a little
bit of oil in here and as with most stir-fries in Thailand I'm going to start with chopped garlic
okay come my garlic it's starting to turn brown if you're using meat you want to go in with your meat
first and then your vegetables but because I'm not using any meat all the veggies go in now I
know you're thinking whoa all your vegetables in at once yes that's the beauty of this dish
and I know the tomatoes don't take long to cook and they're going to mush and become a part of
the sauce and that's exactly what I want that's why I want the tomatoes to go in at the same time
as everything else so it has time to sort of disintegrate and sweeten the sauce in goes the
sauce and now I'm just going to cook this until the vegetables are done to my liking which is you
know tender but still got a little bit of crunch look like a party in the lock doesn't it this is
why I love making the fish there's so much fun to see all the colors there we go I think I am
there and if you're not sure you can just give give it a paste and go from there I'm going to
throw in my tofu at the last second because it's already cooked and I just need it to sort of mix
mingle and get coated with the sauce yes I like house tomatoes are getting stuff I'm going to
turn it off and then go in with my final greenery some green onions and some cashews just to give it
some nuttiness which i think is really important when you've got something this light and sour
and you know that nuttiness really balance with everything else give it a quick toss and it's
plating time always serve this with some jasmine rice ask Thai people we always eat all stir fries
with rice put a little bit more cashews on here I saved some especially if you're serving it to
other people so they can really see oh yeah shoes all right eating time I am so hungry
the reason why I love using medium firm tofu is because once you bite through the chewy
exterior you get to the inside and it's soft and silky and it just sort of melts in your
mouth mmm it's a great balancer of all the crunchy stuff and what I really love about
this particular style of sweet and sour said it's so light it doesn't have that rich thick
heavy sauce that this actually feels really healthy and I feel really good eating this
so I hope you give this a try and oh the recipe is on Hawkeye kitchen comm and if you enjoy the
show please click to subscribe and I'll see you next time for your next delicious timing