Gregor Clegane's Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

No more rhymes now - I mean it!  Anybody want a peanut?

Princess Bride

I've never been very good at making pad thai, but it's one of my favorite things to eat.  For example,  I once tried a raw pad thai with bean sprouts instead of noodles.  It was fine, but definitely tasted nothing of good pad thai.  This time, I think I finally made a recipe that I will try again.  Stoney complained about the lack of spiciness, but I really enjoyed it.  I opted to make the recipe with spaghetti squash instead of noodles, and went with tofu as the protein.  In the future I might also add in some mung bean sprouts to the recipe, because I love them, but I didn't have any of those on hand this time.  The recipe is delightfully simple to make, and the lengthiest part came in cooking the spaghetti squash.  So overall?  I'm super happy with this one!

What you need:

• 14oz. container extra firm tofu, pressed (If you aren't sure how to press it, see our post here) and cut into small squares
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 4 green onions, sliced 
• 1/4 cup dried cilantro
• 1/3 cup peanuts (raw or roasted, either will work)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup tamari (you can sub soy sauce for this, but soy sauce is a bit saltier)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 3 tbsp raw honey (but any honey will probably work)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Chile pepper or black pepper to taste

Step 1: Cook the spaghetti squash

To cook, simply preheat your oven to 350, cut the squash in half, removing the seeds and "guts," and spray or brush olive oil onto the meat.

Place the squash flat-side down on an oiled baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes.  When it's done, take it out of the oven and let it cool before scraping the inside "spaghetti" part out with a fork.  I would recommend scraping it into a colander to let it drain a bit.

Step 2: Make the sauce

Combine vegetable broth, rice vinegar, tamari, lime juice, honey, 1 tsp sesame oil, and chile/black pepper in a small sauce pan.  Set the temperature to low and let it get warm while you cook do step 3.

Step 3: Everything else

Heat your sesame oil in a large skillet or wok, and add your tofu (realistically, you can use any protein you want, or just add in more veggies and forego the protein altogether!).  Cook until your tofu has started to become golden, then add in the green onion, carrot, and pepper.

Cook the veggies and tofu until the veggies have softened a bit (they should still be pretty crisp).  For the final step, stir in the squash, cilantro, peanuts, and sauce.

And that's it!  Enjoy!  I know I did!