Vegetable Pad Thai Noodles with Basil Foam

Ingredients

• 250 grams flat rice noodles
• 2 medium pak choy bunches
• 5-6 button mushrooms, stems removed
• 2 spring onions with greens
• 3 fresh bird's eye chillies 
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into diamonds
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 6-7 garlic cloves, sliced
• 50 grams tofu, cut into batons and fried
• ¼ cup bean sprouts
• A few basil leaves for garnishing
• Lemon wedges for garnishing
• ½ cup vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons tamarind paste
• 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon red chilli sauce
• 3-4 teaspoons basil leaves paste
• 50 millilitres fresh cream
• 50 millilitres coconut milk
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Bring sufficient water with salt to a boil in a deep non-stick pan. Add noodles and switch off heat. Set aside for 5-7 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
2. To make pad Thai sauce, heat together vegetable stock, tamarind paste, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, palm sugar, dark soy sauce and chilli sauce in a non-stick pan. Mix well and simmer for 4-5 minutes or till the sauce thickens. Switch off heat, cool down to room temperature and refrigerate.
3. Roughly chop pak choy. Cut mushrooms into cubes. Finely chop spring onions with greens. Slice bird’s eye chillies.
4. To make basil foam, put coconut milk, cream, basil paste and salt in a bowl. Whisk till well blended. Strain the mixture.
5. Transfer the mixture in a cream whipper and charge with a cartridge of nitrogen oxide and shake hard a few times. Refrigerate.
6. To make pad Thai noodles, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan. Add half the garlic and sauté for 1minute. Add bird’s eye chillies, spring onion bulbs and carrot and toss for ½ minute.
7. Add mushrooms and salt and toss. Sauté for 1minute. Add pak choy and tofu and toss well. Sauté for ½ a minute and remove from heat.
8. Heat remaining oil in a non-stick wok. Add remaining garlic and sauté for a minute. Add noodles and 1 ladleful of pad Thai sauce. Toss and stir-fry on high heat for 1 minute.
9. Add 1 more ladleful of pad Thai sauce, toss and cook for 1minute. Add sautéed vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, spring onion greens and bean sprouts. Toss and cook for 1 minute.
10. Transfer pad Thai noodles onto a serving plate. Top with basil foam, garnish with basil leaf and lemon wedge and serve hot.