Sugar Free Prawn ‘Pad Thai’
I have to apologise to any Thai readers or pad thai enthusiasts. This is not an authentic recipe. But it really couldn’t be if I wanted it to be sugar free!
Thai cuisine is one of the hardest to make sugar free. I love Thai food, and so does my husband, but it is only an occasional treat for us as it is generally packed full of palm sugar, sugary fish sauce, tamarind paste, and other high sugar ingredients. There are some safer options, but I really love pad thai, so wanted to come up with something that had all the flavour and freshness of a pad thai without the sugar.
And this is it. No palm sugar, no tamarind paste, using sugar free fish sauce.
So no, it is not authentic. If you are looking for something that tastes exactly like pad thai, I would just have it from a restaurant or take away, or even make your own with all the sugary ingredients as a special treat every now and then. But for a really quick, easy, sugar free, healthy and cheap version that uses easy to find ingredients (no scouring the internet for tamarind paste or dried shrimp!), this is the version I adore. And it helps that it can be on the table in less than 15 mins!
My family enjoys it, it gives us a dish that is remarkably similar to pad thai, full of flavour and fresh healthy ingredients. I cannot fault that, no matter how inauthentic it may be!
A sugar free version of a Thai classic that is usually high in sugar. Healthy, easy, quick and cheap, this meal is made from easy to source ingredients and can be on the table in less than 15 mins!
- 300 g (10oz) rice noodles (or use spiralised zucchini/courgette for low carb option)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 red chilli, de-seeded and sliced
- 4 tbsp sugar free (or very low sugar) fish sauce*
- juice of one lime
- 2 tsp tamari
- 300 g (10oz) frozen cooked prawns, defrosted (or use fresh)
- 2 large handfuls of frozen edamame or broad (fava) beans, defrosted
- 2 large handfuls of frozen baby leaf spinach, defrosted and drained (squeeze as much water as possible out of it)
- 4 medium eggs, beaten
- 1/2 pack (3-4 tbsp) fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
- large handful salted peanuts, chopped
- 2 spring onions, sliced
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Bring a pan of water to the boil, then turn off the heat and add the rice noodles. Leave to soak while you make the rest.
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Heat the coconut oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the onion, garlic and chilli (I also like to chop the coriander (cilantro) stems and add them here) for a couple of mins until going golden and soft, then add the fish sauce, lime, tamari, prawns and defrosted frozen veg. Stir for one minute, then add the (drained) noodles, mix and push to one side of the pan. On the clear side, pour in the beaten eggs and stir until almost cooked. Stir into the rest of the veg and noodles and take off the heat.
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Taste and add more fish sauce, tamari or lime to taste. Top with fresh coriander (cilantro), peanuts and spring onions and serve immediately.
*many main brand fish sauces will be as much as 10% sugar. Look for one that has none, or less than 3%, like this one. Using that one, the sugar content of the dish is only 2 tsp as a whole (so 1/2 tsp per person)! With a 3% one (which can usually be more easily found), you are looking at about 1 tsp per person, which is still much lower in sugar than a normal 'pad thai'. 🙂
