Chinese sweet soy sauce recipe

By Rachel

As the boyfriend drives over for dinner after work, he generally gives me a call. We’ll talk about our respective days at work, his newest brilliant ideas, items on my to-do list, and various other random things. Then our conversation inevitably turns to what’s for dinner.

Many times it will be a new Thai dish that I’ve been researching and wanting to try. In these cases, his response is generally something wary along the lines of, “Okay… but I’m not sure if you can make it the way it’s made in Thailand.” He then proceeds to give me a little education on exactly how it should taste and advice for how to make it that way.

But other times, I’ll tell him that I’m making a dish that I’ve made before and already perfected. In these cases, his response is always an enthusiastic, “Oh yeah! I can’t wait! It’s so yummy!” This was exactly his response when I told him I was making pad see ew for dinner one day a few weeks ago.

Truthfully, pad see ew is a dish that we both get pretty excited about. It’s a common noodle dish in Thailand that’s made by stirfrying wide rice noodles with sweet dark soy sauce, chicken, and Chinese broccoli. The key to this dish is cooking it over super high heat so that the noodles take on a rich, smokey, almost charred flavor.

Although the boyfriend and I eat pad see ew for dinner during the week, it really is considered more of a lunch dish in Thailand. Most Thai noodle dishes are, because they’re great one-dish meals that don’t demand the requisite rice, soup, dips, and other condiments that generally accompany a real dinner.

The ease of a one-dish meal combined with the boyfriend’s pre-approval make pad see ew a natural choice for dinner… especially on those nights that I’m not quite up to trying something new!

Noodles with Sweet Soy Sauce | Pad See Ew | ผัดซีอิ๊ว

Ingredients

• 8 ounces fresh wide, flat rice noodles (sen yai)
• 1/2 cup chicken, sliced thinly
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 2 cups Chinese broccoli, chopped coarsely (with stems sliced very thinly on diagonal)
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions

1. Prepare your sauce by mixing the sweet dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, thin soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar together. Set aside.
2. Prepare your rice noodles by blanching them in simmering water for a few seconds, as needed. Use your fingers to separate each noodle if they are stuck together.
3. Add a bit of oil to your wok and heat it to high heat. Add the garlic and saute until it's almost golden brown. Then add the chicken and saute until it's cooked through.
4. Push the garlic and chicken to the side of the wok. Add a little more oil and once it's hot, crack an egg and scramble it in the middle of the wok.
5. Push everything to the side and add the blanched rice noodles and sauce you prepared earlier. Mix everything together and stir fry until there is not much liquid left in the wok.
6. Next add the Chinese broccoli to the noodles and cook until wilted. During this time, just let the noodles sit for a minute or so to get a nice char on them. Once done, take off the heat and serve immediately!