Wok-fried rice noodle dishes have several permutations around Asia (e.g. Chow Fun in Hong Kong) and South East Asia (e.g. Char Kway Teow in Malaysia), and Pad See Ew (ผัดซีอิ้ว) is the Thai version of this popular concoction. In Thailand, Pad See Ew is a common fast food or street food item – you will find it at street food stalls, carts, and restaurants all around Bangkok, and the good ones will be packed with patrons around lunch hour. I wish American fast food culture here was this cool.

I think of Pad See Ew as a sibling to the iconic Pad Thai. “Pad” means to stir-fry in Thai, and “See Ew” means soy sauce. So yeah, “stir fry soy sauce”, it makes no sense – I know. I’m just the messenger 😆 All kidding aside, in Thai it actually translates to “stir fry with or in soy sauce”, which makes a lot more sense. Who knew prepositions were so important 🙄 (We will talk about “Pad Thai” in another post.)

Language lesson aside, the “See Ew” in this dish refers to a specific type of soy sauce commonly used in many Thai dishes – the “black soy” (see more about this in the ingredients section below). You can definitely get this online, but man it is a whole lot cheaper if you have an Asian grocer nearby.

As for the noodles, look for rice noodles that come uncut in whole sheets (I guess it’s not technically a “noodle” at this stage then, eh?). Chinese grocers generally have it, and (surprisingly) the Korean grocer near my house also has this in the uncut sheet form. Take a sharp knife and cut the sheet into 1 1/4″ inch strips, and separate them into strands, et viola! Noodle! More commonly, fresh rice noodles come already pre-cut into strips. I personally feel these pre-cut ones are cut too thin. So while pre-cut sheets will still work, it will be a thinner noodle with less surface area for the “charring” to happen.

For protein – you can use anything you want. Beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, tofu are all fair game. I typically use chicken or beef. While you can cook everything in the wok all at once, I prefer to quickly marinade the meat first, cook them separately, then add it back in at the end. This saves me from over cooking or under cooking anything. 

Next, the vegetable. Pad See Ew is always made with Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan), which is relatively easy to find in pretty much any Asian grocery store. Cut the stems into small pieces and then rough chop the leafy tops. The stems being thicker, will take longer to cook than the tops; so the idea is to cut the stem parts small so everything can cook under the same time. In some restaurants, I’ve seen carrot slices added in which isn’t really how it’s made in Thailand (ahem … carrots aren’t from Thailand) but I guess this is up to you. I add bean sprouts to my Pad See Ew all the time, and that’s technically not an ingredient either 😛  

The last key ingredient is egg, which is scrambled directly in the wok. Use 1 or 2 eggs per serve, depending on how “eggy” you want it.

Finally, a word on the “charring” or “toasting” of the noodle. To me, this is a key signature characteristic of this dish, and is what separates Pad See Ew from other similar wok-fried noodle dishes. The charring really gives it that street food, wok-fried, smoky aroma that’s iconic with Pad See Ew. Toasting of the noodle is achieved by letting your noodle sit in contact with the hot wok for a minute or so (depending on how how your wok gets). This causes the sugar in the soy sauces and the starch in the noodle to caramelize. Do this a few times to get some charring throughout the dish. 

Once you are done, serve it up with a side of chili vinegar to cut the salty/sweet sauce, white pepper for a little heat, and extra grounded Thai chili pepper (for even more heat!). 

And that’s it. Nothing to it. Just remember this is “fast food” so once you start throwing stuff in the wok, it’s going to go fast. Do yourself a favor and make sure you have all the ingredients pre-portioned out and at your finger tips. You don’t want to be fumbling around, looking for anything once you get started. Enjoy!