For today’s recipe, we revisited the famous Thai cashew chicken stir-fry and turned it vegan using tofu. It’s a quick and delicious meal that will take just 20 minutes to put together. And we promise it’s as delicious as the classic one!
Stir-fries with cashews are a favourite across Asia, and the Chinese and Thai versions are probably the most famous. The two are very similar, but the Thai spin is less saucy, so the flavours are more concentrated.
Cashew chicken stir-fry is known as gai pad med mamuang in Thai. It’s an incredibly popular dish in restaurants and a takeaway favourite.
And for a good reason!
The classic dish is made by stir-frying chicken, chillies, garlic, peppers, and onions with a rich, savoury sauce. Crunchy, roasted cashews and fresh spring onions round up the dish with extra flavour and texture.
Cashew stir-fry is so good we think everyone should be able to enjoy it, no matter their diet.
And that’s why we redesigned the recipe to be fully plant-based, and a little healthier too.
How did we do it?
First, we replaced chicken with tofu.
Tofu is a staple food across Asia and simply perfect in vegan stir-fries. Make sure you get firm tofu, not silken tofu. And if you can, opt for medium-firm tofu as it’s a little spongier.
Then, we had to work on the stir-fry sauce.
The cashew sauce is usually a mix of fish sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, and often Thai chilli paste. It’s sweet, spicy, and salty — it makes all the difference in this dish!
To make the sauce vegan and a little lower in sugars, we used a combo of light soy sauce and vegan Thai chilli paste.
The original Thai chilli paste contains shrimps, so it’s not vegan. But some brands make a vegetarian version (which is effectively also vegan) using shiitake mushrooms for that umami flavour.
You should be able to find it at large supermarkets, at your local Asian food store, or online. But if you can’t get it, we’ll tell you how to swap it in the tips at the bottom of the recipe.
Once all the ingredients are sorted, all is left to do is get the wok hot and get cookin’. Your delicious vegan tofu pad med mamuang is just a few minutes away!
And if you liked this recipe, why not try another spicy tofu seasoning next time? We think you’ll love this Chinese firecracker sauce for tofu or this Asian sweet and spicy tofu glaze with honey.