Pad See Ew
Wide rice noodles charred in a dry-hot pan with Chinese broccoli, egg and dark soy. Four minutes of cooking, all of it fast.
- Prep
- 15m
- Cook
- 10m
- Total
- 25m
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 400 g | Separate the noodles and coat them in dark soy 5m Fresh noodles crack if cold. Microwave 30 seconds or rinse in warm water to make them pliable. | Char the noodles in a dry hot pan, leaving them still for 45 seconds at a time 4m Stillness is what makes the blistered spots. Constant tossing gives you warm noodles and no smoke. | Toss the noodles through the greens and sauce, 60 seconds, and plate 2m Serve with chilli vinegar on the side. It is not optional in Thailand. | |
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
| 2 | Scramble the egg in a cleared corner of the pan 2m Let it set into curds before you break it up, or it disappears into the sauce. | |||
| 250 g | Wilt the greens with the garlic 2m | |||
| 3 cloves | ||||
| 200 g | ||||
| 2 tbsp | Stir the sauce together 2m | |||
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 1/4 tsp | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
-
Separate the noodles and coat them in dark soy
5m- fresh wide rice noodles 400 g
- dark soy sauce 1 tbsp
Fresh noodles crack if cold. Microwave 30 seconds or rinse in warm water to make them pliable.
-
Char the noodles in a dry hot pan, leaving them still for 45 seconds at a time
4m- from 1 Separate the noodles and coat them in dark soy
- neutral oil 2 tbsp
Stillness is what makes the blistered spots. Constant tossing gives you warm noodles and no smoke.
-
Scramble the egg in a cleared corner of the pan
2m- eggs 2
Let it set into curds before you break it up, or it disappears into the sauce.
-
Wilt the greens with the garlic
2m- Chinese broccoli 250 g
- garlic 3 cloves
- firm tofu 200 g
-
Stir the sauce together
2m- vegetarian oyster sauce 2 tbsp
- light soy sauce 1 tbsp
- dark soy sauce 2 tsp
- palm sugar 2 tsp
- white pepper 1/4 tsp
-
Toss the noodles through the greens and sauce, 60 seconds, and plate
2m- from 2 Char the noodles in a dry hot pan, leaving them still for 45 seconds at a time
- from 3 Scramble the egg in a cleared corner of the pan
- from 4 Wilt the greens with the garlic
- from 5 Stir the sauce together
- rice vinegar 3 tbsp
Serve with chilli vinegar on the side. It is not optional in Thailand.
Why the pan must be too hot
The whole appeal of pad see ew is wok hei — the scorched, faintly smoky edge you get when sugars and soy proteins hit metal above roughly 200°C and brown almost instantly. That only happens if the surface stays hot, which means a thin carbon steel pan, small batches, and long still moments where the noodles sit against the metal rather than being stirred. Every time you toss, you drop the surface temperature and the noodles start to steam in their own moisture instead. Cook for one or two, never four.
Notes
- Fresh wide noodles from the chilled counter are worth the trip. Dried ones work but never quite blister the same way.
- Have every component in a bowl beside the hob before the pan goes on. The entire cook is under five minutes.
- Vegetarian oyster sauce is made from shiitake and is easy to find; without it, use two tablespoons of light soy and an extra teaspoon of sugar.