Thai · Quick Meals

Pad See Ew

Wide rice noodles charred in a screaming wok with dark soy, egg and Chinese broccoli. The dish is defined by wok hei, the smoky char that only very high heat produces.

27 min total Serves 2 servings Easy
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Pad See Ew

Photograph credit: Chicken pad see ew at Rice and Noodles Restaurant in Franconia by Ser Amantio di Nicolao · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Making Pad See Ew

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  1. Bring the noodles to room temperature and gently separate the sheets with your fingers. If they resist, microwave them for 30 seconds to soften.

  2. Whisk all the sauce ingredients together.

  3. Heat a wok over the highest heat until it smokes. Add a tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the chicken for 2 minutes until browned. Remove.

  4. Add another tablespoon of oil and the gai lan stems for 90 seconds, then the leaves for 30 seconds. Remove.

  5. Add the last oil, then the garlic for 10 seconds, then crack in the eggs and scramble roughly for 30 seconds.

  6. Add the noodles and half the sauce. Toss once to coat, then spread them across the wok and leave completely undisturbed for 30 seconds so they char.

  7. Toss, spread, and leave again for another 30 seconds. Repeat once more. You should see and smell dark charred patches.

  8. Return the chicken and greens, add the remaining sauce, and toss for 45 seconds.

  9. Serve immediately with the chilli vinegar and condiments on the side.

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Notes for Getting It Right

  • Leave the noodles alone between tosses. That stillness is where the char comes from.
  • Cook one or two portions at a time. A crowded wok cannot get hot enough.
  • Never refrigerate fresh rice noodles. They go brittle and break into fragments.

Swaps and Variations

  • An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What Goes With Pad See Ew

  • Prik nam som, the chilli vinegar condiment
  • A cold Thai beer
  • Tom yum soup to start

Leftovers and Storage

Eat immediately. Reheated pad see ew loses all its char and the noodles turn gluey.

Nutrition per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .