The fiance moved in with me, and with him came a whole pantry of weird food, mostly Asian items. As I was looking for dinner, I came across something called “banh pho”. I looked it up online and it happened to be Vietnamese rice noodles, perfect for one my favorite dishes of all time! I found an unusual recipe online that had tomato sauce in it, but since I had most of the ingredients necessary, I decided to give it a try anyway. I simply loved it! Even a better Pad Thai than some of the ones in town!

Traditionally, Pad Thai also has fried eggs in it, but the fiance can’t eat that. I made it even healthier by adding chopped carrots and celery though.

Pad Thai

Pad Thai

16-oz banh pho rice noodles

2 Tbsp peanut oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion (or a few scallions)

2 Tbsp fish sauce

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup sugar

1-3/4 cups water

1 tsp red chili paste

4 Tbsp chunky peanut butter

In a large bowl, soak the noodles in cool water for 30 minutes. In a large frying pan, heat peanut oil and stir-fly garlic and onions. Add the rest of the ingredients, except noodles. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add noodles and cook for 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Done!

Makes 6 servings of 800 calories each.