While Pad Thai has the privileged position as Thailand’s most famous stir fry, I’m here to plead the case for her less known older sister, Pad See Ew. Don’t let the name fool you, this dish is quite delicious. See Ew simply is a way of saying soy sauce in Thai – no prizes for guessing one of the key ingredients. Pad See Ew stands out to me because its smoky, sweet and so delightfully savoury. What I love the most about Pad See Ew is the satisfying chew of the wide rice noodles this dish calls for, all the better when you achieve a little char on them from an appropriately hot wok.

Pad See Ew requires a little TLC, but it is a great introduction to Thai cooking. While the recipe below is traditional and follows the composition of ingredients commonly associated with Pad See Ew, you can use this recipe as a base to start experimenting. I personally love to add carrots to basically everything so more often than not some of them find their way into my Pad See Ew. Another addition I like are some zainy green chillies to really make this sing if you’re craving some spice. If you’re feeling frisky it also works well as a great surf and turf dish, add some stir fried prawns to it alongside chicken and thank me later.

Pro Tip: For this dish, prepare in batches (make one portion at a time) and use wooden implements only to stir fry, the noodles can break easily. We really don’t want to crowd the wok because that will steam the noodles instead of fry them, making them mushy and depressed.

Ingredients note: This recipe calls for some ingredients that aren’t commonly found in your average British/American supermarket but don’t let that discourage you. Kailan can be easily swapped out for tenderstem broccoli or sweetheart cabbage and while the wide rice noodles make this dish, you could use egg noodles in a pinch. If you live near to an Asian supermarket all of these ingredients will be easy to find and inexpensive. You can also source all non-fresh ingredients on Amazon easily.

Cuisine	Thai, Thai-Chinese
Serves	2
Prep Time	2 hours (mostly passive)
Cook Time	~10 minutes per portion

Ingredients:

• 400g – Extra wide (Ho Fan/Sen Yai) flat rice noodles – These can be found fresh and dried. Fresh can be cooked directly in a wok but the dried type is much more commonly found. For these, soak them in room temp water for a minimum of 2 hours or until all rigidity is lost. These noodles are quite brittle so any flakes or broken noodles should be set aside to use in soups.
• 200g – Protein of your choice – I recommend chicken thigh diced into bite sized pieces or king prawns.
• 200g – Kailan (Chinese Broccoli) – if you can’t find this tenderstem broccoli works as a good substitute – slice the stems on a bias and slice leaves into ribbons roughly double the width of the noodles.
• 3 Spring onion greens chopped into 2 cm pieces
• 4 cloves of garlic finely diced
• 1 egg beaten
• Optional fried egg on top to serve
• Fresh lime wedges/cheeks to serve
• Vegetable oil for frying – do NOT use olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp palm sugar – sub with demarara sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp Thai thin soy sauce – if you don’t have Thai soy sauce use Chinese light soy sauce but only add 2 tsps.
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp golden mountain sauce – sub with maggi liquid seasoning or omit entirely
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 pinch white pepper

Method:

1. If using dried rice noodles soak in room temperature water for roughly 2 hours or until they lose rigidity but still have some firmness. If using fresh ho fun noodles separate them carefully ahead of frying. They may require 30 seconds or so in the microwave to make them pliable if they’ve been sitting in the fridge for a few days.
2. Prep all ingredients to description, for sauce combine all ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved.
3. Cook protein in wok on high heat with oil, once cooked remove and reserve for later.
4. Repeat for the egg.
5. Add noodles and stir fry gently to allow some noodles to develop a slight char, these noodles can be tricky to work with so be mindful of that and use gentle motions with a tool or move by tossing the wok/frying pan. 
6. After a minute or so add the garlic and allow it to develop colour for 20 seconds or so. If you are worried about anything sticking or needing more oil just add as needed.
7. Add sauce and stems of kailan, allow 15 seconds or so before tossing to combine.
8. Add back egg and protein of choice and toss/stir to combine.
9. Add kailan leaves and spring onion greens and allow to wilt as you continue to stir fry for another 30 seconds or until all ingredients are cooked.
10. Serve with optional fried egg and lime.