CRUISE RECIPE: Lobster Pad Thai by Oceania Cruises

Hungry to Sail Again 

We all love Norma and Dave, the Australian couple who were content to re-create their cancelled cruise by donning bathrobes, toasting each other and watching videos of a rolling blue ocean on their living room TV.    Well, sorry, Norma and Dave, but I’m hungry for more.

All around the world, people are staying at home—and cooking!  Why not order your groceries online and whip up some of your favorite cruise lines’ popular dishes?  Check back regularly to find cruise ship recipes that will satisfy your hunger until we’re back on board and somebody else is doing the cooking and cleaning up.

I figured I’d kick off with Oceana Cruises’ Lobster Pad Thai, a dish that I—personally—whipped up at the Culinary Center aboard an Oceania Marina French Polynesia cruise.  (The more exotic ingredients are available on amazon.com.) Bon apetit!

OCEANIA CRUISES:  Lobster Pad Thai

Sauce:

• ¼ cup tamarind juice
• 3 tablespoons each palm sugar, fish sauce, nam prik pao and creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ginger juice (grate unpeeled ginger into a cheesecloth and squeeze juice into small bowl)

Pad Thai:

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons ginger juice (grate unpeeled ginger into a cheesecloth and squeeze out the juice)
• ¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced on diagonal
• ½ cup leeks, thinly sliced on diagonal
• 1 cup lobster pieces
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups rice noodles, softened
• ½ cup bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 4 lime wedges
• ¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts

FOR THE SAUCE:

Whisk together all ingredients until smooth.  If needed, thin with warm water.  Reserve.

FOR THE PAD THAI:

Practice mise en place by lining up the ingredients in the order shown, with ½ cup of the prepared sauce between the eggs and the noodles.

In a wok over high heat, heat the peanut oil.  When the oil is hot, begin adding the garlic, ginger, scallions and leeks to the wok in sequence.  Use two spatulas and continuously toss to cook evenly and keep ingredients from burning at high heat.  Slide the vegetables up the sides of the wok and add the egg to scramble.  When the egg is just cooked, bring back the vegetables and lobster and add the ½ cup of sauce, noodles and bean sprouts.  Using the spatulas, gently toss the ingredients to cover them with sauce, adding more if needed, being careful not to break the noodles.  When heated through, divide between two serving dishes.  Finish with the sesame oil, lime wedges and peanuts.

Judi’s Lobster Pad Thai on board | Photo: Judi Cuervo

-Judi Cuervo 

VIDEO: Food and Dom Perignon Pairings on Oceania Cruises

Judi Cuervo is a New York City native who fell in love with cruising in 1976 during her first sailing aboard Carnival Cruises’ Mardi Gras. Twenty years later, she began her freelance cruise writing gig and, since that time, has covered mass market, ultra-premium, riverboat and expedition ships for regional, national and international publications as well as cruise websites.