A noodle dish with a lot of spice and kick.

Craving a tasty noodle meal that is a delight for the senses?

Here’s a recipe for a Pad Thai that offers suggestions, at the same time, giving you autonomy to create a version to suit your desires.

Tahini Pad Thai {Recipe}

Ingredients

Pad Thai noodles: see package for the amount to use

Tofu or tempeh

Shrooms of choice: button, baby portabella, shitake, maitake, turkey tail, lion’s mane

Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, peas: one of these, or better still, mix it up

Red bell pepper: 1/4 or the entire pepper, because you can

Poblano, jalapeno, or any hot (or not) pepper—go wild

Tahini: 1 to 2 tablespoons

Sesame oil: 1 tablespoon or to your liking

Coconut liquid aminos: couple dashes or more

Tamari: couple dashes or more

Lime juice: 1/2 to whole

Ginger: thumb size or less or more

Black sesame seeds: generous or stingy

Cayenne pepper

Now, the fun begins.

Wash your hands as you sing a song, clean down the countertop with distilled white vinegar cut with water, and wipe it with a reusable towel. Place a thick towel down for drying the veggies.

Peruse the counter, cabinets, fridge, freezer, and, if you’re lucky, your backyard garden and select the goodies.

With love, wash the produce. Take time to feel the texture of each, and how the cute textured Brussel sprouts feel, compared with the smooth surface of the red bell pepper.

Take in the sight of the colors, and smile.

Pour room temperature filtered water in a pot and get it boiling. Place the noodles next to it and have a colander ready in the sink, to catch those cooked noodles.

While the water is heating, line up the oil, liquids noted above, lime juice, tahini, in the order to be used.

Cut or mince the ginger.

Place the tofu on the cutting board after you have used a cloth to drain excess moisture and cut it into bite-size pieces.

Place the noodles in the boiling water—they are quick to cook, about 4-5 minutes.

Clean up anything while waiting for the noodles. Drain the noodles into the strainer and return the hot pot to the stove.

Add the oil, ginger, and black sesame seeds to the already hot pot. Smell the aroma of the sesame oil and ginger and smile.

Your taste buds had started getting the juices flowing above when you saw and felt the veggies. Now your sense of smell gets kicked in. The initial phase of digestion has already begun.

Add the tofu and the liquids, and give it a gentle turn.

I like to cut the other veggies at this point, letting the tofu blend with the spices and liquids. After about 5 minutes, you can add the mushrooms. They will need another 5 or so minutes, with the tofu.

Add the remaining veggies, stir, and put the lid back on the pot. With a Zen-like mind, do another clean-up—by this time you have hand-washed utensils, cutting board, and stacked them on the rack. A double sink works easily for this task, but an eco-friendly dish rack on the counter works just as fine.

Add the noodles and tahini into the pot, and work some magic to mix it all together. I find a silicone spoon and a stainless steel fork work, to separate the noodles and to coat the tahini throughout the pot of goodness.

Select a plate or bowl.

If you want an extra zing in your mouth, spoon some wasabi on a little glass miso soup spoon, and set beside your meal.

Depending on how much you were making, the entire cooking time, not including the noodles, is about 15-20 minutes.

With care, place your meal in your favorite spot to eat, preferably away from phones, laptops, tablets, TVs, and settle in.

With gratitude and mindfulness, let the look, smell, and taste create a delightful yumminess.

If you had cut your ginger, instead of mincing it, wait for and enjoy the explosion of it when you bite into a forkful of food that has a piece or two of ginger. It’s a wow moment.

And remember to eat slowly, and chew each bite thoroughly. Mastication is the second phase of the digestion process; that’s a story for another day.

Enjoy!

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