Pad See Ew
The Thai stir-fry of wide rice noodles seared in a hot wok with chicken, egg, and Chinese broccoli, coated in a sweet-savoury sauce of dark and light soy. It's the mild, smoky counterpart to pad thai — no tamarind, no peanuts, no chili heat built in — and it lives on the char that only a screaming-hot pan can give.
Ingredients
- 400 gwide rice noodles, fresh
- 300 gchicken, thigh
- 200 gChinese broccoli, gai lan
- 15 mldark soy sauce
- 15 mllight soy sauce
- 30 mloyster sauce
- 2 pcsegg
- 3 pcsgarlic
- 10 gsugar
- 30 mlvegetable oil
- 2 gwhite pepper
Method
- If using fresh wide rice noodles, gently separate the sheets by hand; if they've been refrigerated and are stiff, microwave them for 30 seconds to loosen. For dried noodles, soak in warm water until pliable but not fully soft, then drain well.
- Mix the sauce: stir together the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. The dark soy is for colour and a faint molasses note; the light soy and oyster sauce carry the salt and savour.
- Slice the chicken thin and cut the gai lan, separating the thick stems from the leaves. Peel and roughly chop the garlic.
- Heat a wok or wide pan until very hot, add half the oil, and stir-fry the chicken until just cooked. Push it aside, add the garlic and the gai lan stems, and stir-fry for a minute until the stems soften slightly.
- Push everything to one side, add the remaining oil, and crack in the eggs. Let them set for a few seconds, then scramble roughly before folding into the rest.
- Add the noodles and the gai lan leaves, pour over the sauce, and toss over the highest heat. Let the noodles sit against the hot pan between tosses — the slight char, the wok hei, is the whole point of pad see ew.
- Toss just until the noodles are coated and glossy and a few edges have caught colour. Don't overstir or they'll break up and turn gluey. Finish with a dusting of white pepper and serve at once.
FAQ
Wide, flat fresh rice noodles (sen yai), the kind sold in soft folded sheets. If you can only get dried, soak them until pliable but still firm — they finish cooking in the wok. Thin rice noodles will turn to mush here.
They're not variations of each other. Pad thai uses thin rice noodles in a tangy tamarind sauce with peanuts and lime; pad see ew uses wide noodles in a sweet-savoury soy and oyster sauce with Chinese broccoli, and no tamarind or peanuts. See pad thai for the tamarind version, and pad kra pao if you want the spicy basil stir-fry.
Usually too much stirring, a pan that wasn't hot enough, or over-soaked dried noodles. Fresh wide noodles are delicate; toss them sparingly on very high heat and let them sit against the pan between tosses instead of stirring constantly.
The noodles are rice, but the sauces aren't — soy sauce and oyster sauce usually contain wheat. Use gluten-free soy sauce (tamari), a gluten-free "dark soy" or a little molasses for colour, and a gluten-free oyster sauce.
Chinese broccoli is traditional, but broccolini, regular broccoli cut small, or even chard stems work. Cook the thicker stems a little before the leaves so everything finishes tender at the same time. Broccoli cut this way also works in a chicken and broccoli stir-fry.
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