Pad Si Ew How to & dining in

R and I really want to do some traveling this year. We could have easily gone on a really sweet trip last year if we would have spent just HALF of the money we spent eating out on travel. So now instead of going out to eat for our favorite dishes, we're making them at home on the weekends and saving going out for special occasions.

A Thai spicy, Pad Si Ew and a tall hot sake makes me a happy, happy girl so that is what I made last night.

My first experience with Pad Si Ew was in 2007 at Bens Noodles and Rice on Chicago's North side (Bryn Mar & Broadway). It was made with super wide rice noodles, a sweet soy sauce, broccoli and chicken. Simple, yet amazing. 

Through the years I've had more PSE than I can even count, so I was really excited to try my interpretation of the yummy noodle dish. I looked up some of the techniques used in Thai cooking, bought the ingredients and ended up with something really tasty!

Traditionally Pad Si Ew is prepared with a thick flat rice noodle, chicken or pork, and broccoli, but I always order the veggie, so I added some carrot, onion and red pepper to my PSE with the delicious free range, humanely treated, locally raised chicken that our grocery store started selling recently. 

(I had to try it and holy moly, is it the most tender and yummy chicken I've ever had)

Pad Si Ew seems like a tedious list and task, but if you just stay organized it's easy peasy and so yummy!

(Plus all the ingredients you need are staples in Asian cuisine and last a while in the fridge)

Ingredients:

serves 2-4

2 eggs

1 -2 tbs baking soda

Light Soy or Low Sodium Sauce

1/4 c. Dark Sweet soy Sauce*

4 tbs Oyster Sauce

2tbs Rice vinegar

1 package of wide rice noodles (the wider the better)

Vegetable Oil

Sesame seed oil

1/2 to 1 lbs Boneless-skinless organic free range chicken, pork, beef, or tofu(or extra veggies)

1/2 red bell pepper thinly sliced

1-3 carrots thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves minced

1/2 white onion cut in 8ths

2 c. loosely packed Kai-Lan or Broccoli Florets

For spice use Siracha or Chili Paste (red pepper flakes work too)
3 bowls and a wok or extra large non-stick pan.

Other veggies that might be good: Mushrooms, Baby corn, Water Chesnuts, Cabbage

*I could not find Dark Sweet Soy Sauce, so I mixed 1/4 c. of the soy sauce I had on hand with about 2 tbs of Honey.

What to do:

Step one: Prepare

Slice the veggies and chicken thinly (and separately). Mince the garlic and pull out your supplies.
Put your veggies (not the garlic) in a bowl and set aside

Step two: Make some sauces
. In a second bowl start your marinade using soy sauce and a table spoon of baking soda- you will want the soy sauce to cover all of the meat, set aside.

Then make the sauce: Using another bowl whisk together 1/8 to 1/4th c low-sodium soy sauce, 4 tbs oyster sauce, 2 tbs rice vinegar, and 3 minced garlic cloves.

I could not find Dark Sweet Soy Sauce, so I used about 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce with 2 tbs of Honey, mixed it together in a bowl and set aside.. 

Step Three: Noodles, veggies & blanching

Bring water to a boil and cook rice noodles according to directions on package (do not over cook).

While the pasta is cooking, bring up the heat on your wok with enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  (I used a large non stick pan). You will want your heat at its highest setting! Once the oil starts to smoke, throw your veggies in the pan; cook the veggies until the broccoli is bright green and tender. 

Don't be afraid of some slight burning.

 

Put your veggies back in the bowl, and now your pasta should be done.

Use tongs to transfer the noodles from the water into a colander. Save the water and put the pot back on the burner to bring water back to a boil. Then blanch the chicken in pasta water (cook it until it is white all over, in this case it will be a brownish/white because of the soy sauce).

Step Four: Pull it together.

While the chicken is cooking, clean and dry the cooking surface of your wok or pan.

Add two tbs of oil to pan and turn up the heat to the highest setting, once the oil starts to smoke, crack two eggs over the oil and scramble in the oil with a wooden spoon, once the eggs are set add in your noodles and a tsp of sesame seed oil. Toss generously for about a minute.

Then add the SWEET SOY SAUCE* to the noodles and continue cooking for another minute, tossing the noodles until they are evenly browned. 

Using the colander, strain the blanched chicken from the boiling water. Then add your veggies and chicken to noodles, continuing to toss ingredients until evenly distributed. Once everything is warm and mixed together add in the sauce (the one with the garlic, oyster sauce and vinegar) toss some more, then serve! 

Then I added some Siracha to mine for some spice :)
I meant to chop up some peanuts, but I was so excited to try it I forgot about that part ; )

 Sorry for the really awesome cell phone pictures, the camera was dead. 

Next time we make Thai I will make Panang curry.

Enjoy & Namaste!

R