Pad See Ew - Thai rice noodles with pork and soy sauce

As you probably know, we've recently moved to Bangkok for my work. Having found an apartment to live in that has a proper kitchen with gas stove and oven, a rarity in Bangkok, it means we have the luxury of being able to cook many things from scratch at home. Setting up home in Bangkok has been a fun experience and a main focus for my husband and I since we got here. You can read about our adventures here. Once we had our own wok, one of the first dishes I wanted to try out was Pad See Ew. This has been one of my favourite Thai dishes since we visited Thailand last Christmas. I first learned to make this dish on a cookery course at SITCA along with chicken Penang curry and an awesome fried prawn salad. I'll post my versions of those recipes in coming weeks and I can thoroughly recommend the SITCA cooking courses if you ever find yourself in Thailand. They're a good enough reason to visit Koh Samui on their own.

One of the things I love about living in a new country is the variety of ingredients and produce you can buy in the markets and grocery stores. Being able to buy real fresh wide rice noodles is wonderful and so much nicer than having to use reconstituted dried rice noodles. Don't get me wrong, dried rice noodles, just like dried pasta, have their place but for some recipes such as this Pad See Ew, fresh noodles really are the best thing to use if you can get them. If you are struggling to find fresh rice noodles where you live, buy the widest dried ones you can find and soak them for a couple for hours in cold water before using. This is something I only learned in recent years and it has hugely improved my success with noodle cookery. Also, before you fire up your wok you will need to get everything prepared - things will move fast once you start cooking.

rice noodles in sweet dark soy

Ingredients for about 2 servings
about 200g dried rice noodles soaked in cold water for at least an hour
OR
400-500g packet of fresh, wide rice noodles
1 pork loin chop or similar
2 eggs
handful of baby sweetcorn, cut widthwise in to small pieces
bundle of tender stem broccoli, chinese cabbage or other green veg of your choice
1 large carrot, peeled, halved and cut on the diagonal into bite size pieces
1 tbsp dark, sweet soy
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp regular soy
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp palm sugar
1 tbsp cornflour or baking soda
1 cup chicken stock (you may use all or none of this depending on the moistness of your noodles)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Lime wedges, sliced spring onions and chilli flakes for serving

stir fry sauce

1. In a large bowl separate the rice noodles if needed and add in the dark sweet soy and mix so that the noodles have a thorough coating. 
2. Beat the eggs together in a small bowl.
3. Thinly slice the pork, place in a bowl with the corn flour and massage it together with your hands until the powder is completely covering the meat. Place the finely chopped garlic on top then set to one side.
4. Mix together the oyster sauce, white pepper, fish sauce, palm sugar and regular soy. This will be your stir fry sauce. 
5. With all your ingredients prepare and ready to go heat your wok so that it is very very hot. This is the key to your success with this recipe. 
6. Once your wok is super hot add the oil and ensure you have an even coating over the base of your wok, then add the beaten egg and cook through. Next add the pork and garlic and kepp moving until it is cooked through.
7. Next chuck in the prepared veggies and stir for about a minute. 
8. Now you need to add the rice noodles. Try to keep everything move but don't worry too much if there is a bit of sticking on the bottom of the wok - this is all extra flavour, just make sure you scrape it up with your wok paddle. 
9. Pour in the stir fry sauce and give everything a good mix. You may need to add a little of the stock at this stage. Add it a little at a time while keeping everything else moving until your noodles are cooked through and have absorbed enough liquid. You don't want the finished dish to be gloopy but you want  the noodles to be properly cooked. This stage will probably take 3-5 minutes.
10. Turn out into your serving dishes and add the spring onions, chilli flakes and lime juice to your taste.

egg and pork

adding the veggies

now the noodles

add the stir fry sauce and keep it moving

add the stock as needed until everything is cooked through

yum

egg-fried rice with pork and vegetables

Fried rice is a great dish to have in your repertoire. You can easily turn all sorts of left overs into another meal. Once you've mastered the basic principles you can vary the vegetables, seasoning and chosen protein with ease. Following this method the key to success is cutting your veg up to a suitably small size so that it cooks quickly, preparing everything before you get started and keeping your wok on full heat while you're cooking. 

Ingredients Serves 2-3

200g (uncooked) long grain rice

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups of cooked meat - I used the left overs from my slow-cooked crispy chinese pork belly

1 stick of celery, finely sliced

3 small carrots, halved lengthways then finely sliced

1 red pepper, finely sliced

1 cup of frozen peas

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

small piece of ginger, finely sliced

2 green chillies, chopped (optional)

2 spring onions, sliced

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Soy sauce/fish sauce/chilli oil or whatever you fancy to serve

1. Cook the rice: Use what ever method you like but this always works for me. Boil the kettle. Put the rice in a saucepan then add the freshly boiled water to the rice so that it comes to a centimetre above the rice. Put the lid on the pan then boil rapidly on a high heat for exactly 5 minutes. Once the time has passed, turn off the heat then leave the rice until you're ready to use it. Don't lift the lid and make sure you leave it for at least 10 minutes as it needs to finish cooking.
2. Stir-fry: Make sure you've got everything to hand now as things are going to move pretty fast. The key to success here is being ready to go. Put a large wok on the highest heat you have and get it smoking hot. Add the oil then swirl it around to coat the lower third of the wok. Add the beaten egg swirl around then once it is bubbling round the edges start to stir it around.
3. Add the meat, ginger, garlic and chilli if using. Stir for a couple of minutes until the garlic starts to go crispy and brown round the edges. 
4. Add the remaining vegetables then continue to keep things moving for a couple more minutes and the vegetables are starting to cook through then add in the rice. Continue to cook and stir for another 3-5 minutes until everything is cooked through and well combined. Add the chopped spring onions then serve. Add some soy sauce or chilli oil if you want some extra flavour. 

'turkish eggs'

I've now been to Peter Gordon's restaurant/cafe/bar Kopapa in London's Covent Garden a few times and the food and service is always great. It's not a stuffy place, really straight forward but the food and cocktails on offer are really exciting without being pretentious or hugely over-priced, this is an incredibly rare thing in London. One dish that has stayed with me since the first time I tried it was their version of an egg dish from a related cafe in Istanbul, Turkey. The combination of thick yogurt, soft poached eggs and spicy rich butter is heavenly. Seriously - this is a wonderful breakfast.



Ingredients Serves 2
1 small clove garlic, peeled and crushed
150g thick Greek yoghurt
25ml extra virgin olive oil
25g unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (adjust this according to your tastes, you could also use some hot smoked paprika or cayenne instead.)
stem of fresh dill or flat parsley, shredded
4 eggs

1. Briefly whisk together the garlic, yoghurt and half the olive oil before setting to one side.
2. In a small pan cook the butter until it just starts to brown. You don't want it to burn just colour slightly. Remove the pan from the heat then add the chilli flakes, paprika or cayenne. Add the remaining oil and the dill. Put to one side while you poach the eggs.
3. Poach the eggs using whatever method you prefer. I have a suspicion that crispy edged, but still runny fried eggs would also work well here but I've ever tried so do what ever you fancy.
4. Divide the yogurt between two bowls, put two poached eggs in each bowl then spoon over the spicy butter and oil mix. Serve with some thick sliced, toasted bread or some warmed fat bread. 

butter, olive oil, chilli and herbs

yogurt mixed with olive oil and crushed garlic

the finished dish 

I've entered this dish in the Breakfast Club Challenge with A Kick at the Pantry and Fuss Free Flavours.