In this recipe, chicken and bok choy are added to the noodles instead of the more traditional beef and Chinese broccoli. And, unlike most recipes you’ll find on the web which relies on the sauce and only the sauce to flavor the dish, we season every step of the way.
Pad see ew is a stir fried dish. It requires a short cooking time at a very high temperature. But the total cooking time is much longer because the preparation includes soaking the rice noodles for 40 minutes. You can probably get away with 30 minutes of soaking time but you’ll have to compensate by cooking the noodles longer and with more water.
While the noodles are soaking, prep the rest of the ingredients. If using dried shiitake, soak them in warm water so that they’ll soften at the same time as the rice noodles.
Cut the chicken thigh fillets, mince the garlic and trim the bok choy. We prefer chicken thigh fillets, skin on, over chicken breast. We allow the skin to render fat for added flavor. If your bok choy is large (or if you’re using the more traditional Chinese broccolli), cut into lower and upper halves to separate the stalks from the leaves. Add the stalks to the stir fry ahead of the leaves as they will take more time to cook.
Measure all the ingredients for the sauce and mix them all together. If palm sugar is not available, you may use light brown sugar. The flavor won’t be the same though.
The first step in the actual cooking is to cook the chicken and shiitake in a little oil. Spread them on the bottom of the wok or frying pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add minced garlic. Once the chicken is cooked through, add the bok choy, sprinkle in salt and pepper, and stir fry just until the leaves soften.
Next, the eggs. Push the chicken and bok choy to the side to make space for the eggs. Crack the eggs directly into that empty space and stir. Once the eggs are firm, scoop out all the contents of pan and transfer to a plate or shallow bowl.
Drizzle in more oil into the pan, take your rice noodles and toss in the hot oil. Pour in the sauce, toss the noodles so that they are coated evenly then pour in water. Cover the pan and leave the noodles to soak up the water.
The final step is tossing together the noodles, chicken, mushrooms, bok choy and eggs, and stir frying just until everything is heated through.
Pad see ew
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons palm sugar
To complete the dish
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 4 chicken thigh fillets - cut into thin strips
- 4 shiitake mushrooms - sliced
- salt
- pepper
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 3 eggs
- baby bok choy - root ends cut off
- 225 grams wide rice noodles - soaked in warm water for 40 minutes then drained
Instructions
- Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce. Set aside.
- Heat one tablespoon cooking oil in a wok or frying pan.
- When the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken strips in the hot oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Allow the bottom to brown before stirring.
- Add the garlic to the chicken and stir fry just until the chicken is cooked through.
- Throw in the bok choy, sprinkle in a little salt and pepper, and stir fry just until the greens start to wilt.
- Push the chicken and greens to the edges of the pan to create a well at the center.
- Crack the eggs directly into the well. Stir until the eggs are set.
- Scoop out the contents of the pan, transfer to a plate and keep hot.
- Heat the remaining cooking oil in the wok or frying pan and dump in the drained rice noodles. Stir to coat the noodles with oil.
- Pour in the sauce. Stir and toss the noodles around to distribute the sauce evenly.
- Slowly pour in a quarter cup of water around the perimeter of the noodles.
- Cover the wok or pan and allow the noodles to fully cook.
- Stir the noodles and make sure they have absorbed the water.
- Add the stir fried chicken, greens and eggs and toss to distribute everything evenly.
