Pad See Ew

For the past few months, I’ve been more than a little obsessed with Thai food. I’ve always liked the sweet, sour, salty, spicy, umami punch that typifies Thai cuisine, but I was intimidated to try cooking it at home.

Then I got the cookbook Night + Market.

Now, I am not one who claims perfect authenticity in a dish. I am not Thai, have not been to Thailand, and in the Introduction, Night + Market itself doesn’t claim to be an encyclopedia of Thai food. And considering I’ve made my own changes to the recipes, little tweaks and adjustments as I’ve made these dishes now dozens (soon to be hundreds) of times, I don’t claim that this dish will taste like Pad See Ew made by someone’s Thai grandmother, or what you had in your last trip to Thailand. What I do claim? It’s damn delicious, and a far cry from the average Pad See Ew you can pick up in a normal Thai restaurant.

So give it a try. Once you have the ingredients prepped (which takes all of 30 minutes) the dish itself comes together in about 5 minutes. It’s perfect for a quick weeknight meal, but so freakin’ good, I’ve served it at parties with raving success.

A couple of notes before we begin…

1. For the chiles, I’ve specified jalapeños because they are easiest for me to find, but I often substitute Thai chiles (which are hotter.) You can use whatever chiles makes your heart sing, and increase the heat as much as you like. The more I make this dish, the hotter I seem to go.
2. The original recipe called for lemongrass, but that includes lots of extra chopping and I can’t often get lemongrass without a special trip to an Asian market, meanwhile my good old grocery store carries these tubes of lemongrass paste in the refrigerated section of the produce. It’s way easier and lasts longer, so that’s what I use
3. For the chicken, I most often use boneless skinless chicken thighs, but I’ve made this with white meat as well, it’s still delicious. Use what you prefer.
4. Noodles – ok, this is a hard one for me. I loooooove this dish with fresh wide rice noodles (chow fun) but they can be a pain to find and deal with. More often than not, I use store-bought dried rice noodles. Look for the widest ribbons you can find, and preferably a Thai brand. They need about 30 minutes of soaking in warm water to soften before using, which is basically the same 30 minutes you need to season your chicken, so they don’t add any additional time to the recipe. If you do find/use fresh noodles, you will need less stir-fry sauce and black soy sauce, cut the stir-fry sauce to 2.5 tablespoons and the black soy sauce to 1 tbsp.
5. I call for Stir-Fry sauce in the recipe. You make it by combining 3/4 cups Thai seasoning sauce, 1/2 cup oyster sauce, and 2.5 tsp of sugar. I mix it in a little mason jar and shake it up to dissolve the sugar and make sure all the ingredients are combined. It makes enough for several recipes, lasts pretty much forever, and can be used (per the name) in just about any stir-fry you want.

Ingredients

2 jalapeños, finely chopped (see note 1)
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp lemongrass paste (see note 2)
1/4 lb chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces (see note 3)
ground white pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz rice noodles (see note 4)
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp Stir-Fry sauce (see note 5)
3/4 cup Chinese broccoli, broccoli rabe, or broccolini, sliced into 2-inch lengths
1 egg
2 tbsp black soy sauce

The rest of the jalapeño gets added to the chicken (I use a little ziplock bag) along with the garlic, lemongrass paste, a good sprinkle of white pepper, and a small sprinkle of salt. Get those ingredients all combined to season the chicken and set aside for 30 minutes. If you want to do this earlier, leave out the salt until 30 minutes before cooking. If you are using dried noodles, now would be the time to get them in warm water for their 30 minute soak.

You’ve now got 30 minutes to prep your veggies and set up your mis en place for the stir-fry. This dish goes quickly once the pan is hot, so you want all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go.

After 30 minutes has passed, get your pan screaming hot (I use non-stick so I add the oil in the beginning and continue when the oil gets shimmery, right before it smokes. If you’ve got a wok, get that baby roaring, the add your oil. Either way, once your oil is shimmering, add the chicken along with its seasoning (the garlic, chiles, etc) to the hot pan and cook until it turns opaque, about 30 seconds. You do not want the chicken to cook all the way through yet, or it’ll get tough, likewise, we aren’t trying to sear the chicken or get dark brown bits yet. This is a pretty accurate 30 seconds.

Add the (now drained if they were soaking) noodles and the sugar and toss to coat, then add the stir-fry sauce and the Chinese broccoli. Make sure to keep turning to get the noodles coated in the stir-fry sauce, moving the noodles over the veggies to help them steam and soften.

In just 1 or 2 minutes, your noodles should have absorbed the sauce and your broccoli should have started softening. Use your spatula to move the noodles aside and make a little empty space in the center of your pan. Crack the egg in this center and leave it there untouched for a few seconds, just long enough for the whites to start to set, then use your spatula to scramble the eggs in the center before mixing it into the surrounding noodles while the egg is still soft.

Add the black soy sauce and really mix/toss to combine. Now here’s the tricky part, once it’s mixed, you want to leave sitting on the high heat, untouched for a solid 20 seconds or so. You are going to want to keep mixing it, but don’t. You want to develop a little char on the noodles before you toss them again. Then again, wait. Let them get that sight bit of char before you do a last toss.

Once your noodles have gotten gorgeous with their bits of charred edges, time to serve. Give it a quick sprinkle of white pepper and serve the vinegar/jalapeno mixture from the beginning alongside, to drizzle on top for a final sour/hot kick. Trust me, you’ll be in heaven.