It seems having Blossom Thai‘s pad see ew on a regular basis is not enough to appease my craving. I am so obsessed with this Thai style flat rice noodle stir fried with vegetables, egg and their special sweet soy sauce that I have decided to recreate it at home.
Pad see ew is very much similar to the Penang Char Kuay Teow, but minus the Chinese sausage and cockles. The key to a good stir fry flat rice noodles dish is definitely the breath of the wok (aka “wok hei“), which is a tricky thing to achieve at home. But there’s no harm in trying right?
To ensure rice noodles are well sauteed and caramelised, it is essential not to overcrowd the pan. Hence, I cooked the vegetables and noodles separately. I sauteed the mushrooms until lightly charred and cooked the vegetables with a pinch of salt until slightly wilted, but still retained some bite to it. Make sure you cook the vegetables to your desired texture as they won’t get much cooking time later on. Transfer the mushroom and veggies to a plate. After that, it’s time to transform the flat rice noodles from a bland and pale ingredient into mildly smoky, caramelised, sweet and savoury deliciouness!
By allowing one-to-one time for the noodles to cook in the sweet soy sauce mixture will not only deepen the colour, but also helps with the caramelisation. Thus creating the smoky and savoury flavour that we all like in an awesome flat rice noodles dish. 🙂
As usual, you’ll find the recipe below and I hope you will like it.
Ingredients
- 250g dried flat rice noodles (I used this brand )
- Cooking oil
- 2 Tbsps kecap manis + extra to taste (you can check out the homemade version here)
- 2 Tbsps soy sauce + extra to taste
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
- Ground white pepper to taste
- 200g mushrooms, sliced
- 200g carrots, julienned
- 200g broccolini, cut into thirds
- A pinch of salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Instructions
- Rehydrate the dried flat rice noodles according to the packet instructions. The brand I used calls for soaking the noodles in boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes. Drained and rinse under cold water. Lightly drizzle with some cooking oil to avoid the noodles from sticking to each other.
- In a bowl, mix together 2 Tbsps kecap manis, 2 Tbsps, soy sauce, 1 Tbsp white vinegar and ground white pepper to taste. Set aside.
- In a large non-stick stir fry pan, add two teaspoons of cooking oil. Saute the mushrooms until lightly brown, add carrots, broccolini with a pinch of salt. Cook the vegetables to your desired texture. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add a teaspoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add beaten eggs and cook until 80% done. Try to break the omelet into smaller pieces while it is cooking.
- When it is about 80% done, push the egg to one side of the pan and add garlic with a little oil to help the garlic to cook. Saute the garlic until just starting to become aromatic (not golden brown).
- Add noodles and toss to mix well with the garlic and egg. Allow the noodles to cook on the pan for half a minute over high heat.
- Add sauce to the noodles and mix well. Reduce the flame to medium-high and keep tossing and loosening the noodles. If they appear to be dry, add a little more oil to help with the cooking. When the noodles are lightly charred, check for taste. Add more soy sauce and/or kecap manis if required.
- Return the mushroom and vegetables to the pan and mix well with the noodles. Serve immediately.
Notes
Edit on 10/01/2017 - I have updated the quantity of ground white pepper as my original quantity was a little overwhelming. Thank you Mel @whatpiggydoes on Instagram for your feedback!
I absolutely adore Pad see ew. It is the one thing I order every single time I have thai food. I haven’t had much luck replicating it at home but this looks brilliant.