Pad See Ew with Asparagus

Rice noodles tossed in a sweet soy sauce and oyster sauce mixture, with creamy eggs and earthy, vegetal asparagus. This is my "Americanized takeout" spin on the classic Chinese-influenced Thai dish: pad see ew.

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Total Time 25

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings people

Ingredients

1 lb (16 oz.) wide rice noodles dried or fresh (instructions are for dried noodles)
Avocado or peanut oil for pan, can sub vegetable oil or another oil of choice (don't do coconut though because it will change the flavor of the entire dish)
1 lb (16 oz.) asparagus stems trimmed and cut into thirds
4 cloves garlic finely minced or grated
3 eggs lightly beaten

Sauce

5 tbsp Soy sauce see notes*
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp agave nectar can sub for sugar, and you can also adjust to taste. I like my pad see ew on the less sweet side so I start with this and add on accordingly if I want it sweeter
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp fish sauce optional
Fresh cracked black pepper for topping optional

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix together the agave nectar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar and fish sauce. Taste the mixture to make sure you approve of the sweetness level. If you want it sweeter, add a little more agave nectar and miix it in. Continue to add and taste until the sweetness makes you happy. Set the mixture aside.
Fill a stock pot 3/4 the way with water and bring it to a boil.
While the water is coming to a boil, heat a wok or large skillet over medium high heat and season generously with oil. Add the garlic and asparagus and sauté until the asparagus is bright green and the garlic is fragrant (about 2-3 minutes.) Note: if you're adding a protein, cook the protein first, then remove the protein and continue with this step.)
Cook the noodles according to the instructions. (For context, my noodles took 8 minutes to cook, so I let them cook while I did the next steps.)
If your pan is dry, add a little more oil to ~*lube it up.*~ Lower the heat to medium and push the asparagus and garlic to one side of the pan, or remove the asparagus all together if your pan is small. Add the eggs and scramble in the pan until fully cooked. Lower the heat to low and add the asparagus back into the pan just as your noodles are done cooking.
When the noodles are done, add them to the pan. Once all of the noodles are out of the water, pour the sauce mixture all over them, making sure to use every ounce! Gently mix the noodles, asparagus and eggs into the sauce, until the noodles turn a golden brown color. Every type of noodle and every soy sauce is different, which means your noodles could be a darker or lighter color than my photo. As long as they taste good, that's all that matters. Once the noodles are fully coated, taste to make sure you approve of your creation.
Top with a sprinkle of black pepper if that's your vibe. If not, skip this! Serve immediately and enjoy!

Notes

Pad see ew traditionally incorporates a dark soy sauce, which is a sweet, more concentrated soy sauce that gives the noodles their intense dark color. To make this recipe as easy as possible, I decided that we should just use regular soy sauce and add a sweetener. If you want to make these noodles super dark brown, feel free to buy dark soy sauce and substitute the following instead of 1/4 cup soy sauce: 2 tbsp dark soy sauce and 2 tbsp regular soy sauce.

Keyword agave nectar, asparagus, eggs, garlic, oyster sauce, rice noodles, rice vinegar, soy sauce

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