Pad See Ew with Carrot Noodles

I love any food that’s Asian-inspired, and when it comes to comfort food, Pad See Ew is at the top of the list. The caramelized salty-savory sauce, the soft wide noodles… hands down one of my favorite dishes. 

In traditional Thai cooking, Pad See Ew (also called Phat Si Ew) is a dish made with stir-fried wide noodles, meat, eggs, greens and soy sauce.

I was craving a little comfort so I decided to make some Pad See Ew at home with a few simple swaps to “health-ify” the dish – making it gluten-free, paleo and Whole30 Friendly.

A few things to keep in mind when making this dish:

For the carrot noodles– you can use a Spiralizer – or, if you don’t have one, you can use a peeler! Honestly, it completely slipped my mind that I could use a Spiralizer for this so I used a peeler and it worked perfectly. I’ll probably try my Spiralizer next time!

If you don’t eat meat– try this with tofu! The marinade would work wonderfully on tofu as well. 

For the marinade– Be sure to marinate the chicken for at LEAST 30 minutes – preferably a few hours or overnight. Personally, I don’t love the taste of plain chicken, so the marinade really made the dish for me. You want to give the chicken plenty of time to soak up those good marinade flavors! 

For the broccoli rabe– Aside from the noodles and sauce, I’m in love with the broccoli rabe (also called Chinese Broccoli) in this recipe. It’s a combination of broccoli florets with green leaves. However, if you can’t find broccoli rabe, you can always use broccolini or regular broccoli.

For the cooking oil – I almost always use avocado oil when cooking because it has the highest smoke point, and when you cook an oil past it’s smoke point, you’re not only losing phytonutrients and releasing free-radicals, you’re essentially burning the oil which can change the flavor of the dish. You could also use coconut oil.

What are broken eggs? Sure, you could simply scramble the eggs for this recipe, but I find that adding crispy broken eggs makes the recipe a little more authentic (and a lot more delicious). I used a pan on high heat to make crispy, bubble, sunny side up eggs – then added them back in and broke them up while cooking the remainder of the dish. This adds a beautiful golden color, cooking the yolks into the sauce while maintaining the crispy exterior.

Let’s talk fish sauce….I know, it sounds a little scary. I was a little put-off before I tried it too. BUT – we’re only using a small amount in this recipe and it really helps add that salty-umami flavor! If you’ve been weary of trying it – give it a go. You won’t be disappointed. 😋

Ingredients: 

·     10 Carrots (thinly sliced with a peeler or inspiralized using the ribbon setting)

·     1 lb Boneless & skinless chicken breast, sliced

·     3 Cups Broccoli Rabe (with the stems thinly sliced)

·     2 Eggs

·     4 TBSP Avocado Oil (for cooking)

·     2 Cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

·     3 Green Onions, thinly sliced

·     Himalayan Sea Salt & Black Pepper

·     3-4 Dried Red Chilies or 1-3 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

For the Marinade:

·     2-Inch piece of ginger, grated

·     3 Cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

·     3 TBSP Coconut Aminos

·     2 TBSP Avocado Oil 

·     2 TBSP Arrowroot Powder (to thicken and keep the chicken from drying out)

For the Sauce: 

·     ½ cup Coconut Aminos

·     2 tsp fish sauce

·     2 TBSP Toasted Sesame Oil, unrefined

Directions:

1.    Marinade the chicken. Combine all marinade ingredients, pour over sliced chicken in an air-tight container and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, preferably a few hours or overnight.

2.    Fry the Eggs. Heat a small pan on medium-high heat. Add in 1 TBSP of avocado oil and cracked eggs. Cook until they start to bubble and crisp; remove before the yolk is fully cooked and you have a sunny-side up egg. Remove from pan and set aside. 

3.    Pan-Fry the Chicken. In a large pan or skillet, heat 2 TBSP of avocado oil on medium-high heat. Add in the marinated chicken in a single layer (so the sides get nicely browned and caramelized) and cook until golden brown. Set aside. 

4.     Cook the Veggies & Noodles. In the same large pan, heat remaining 1 TBSP of Avocado Oil on medium-high heat. Add in minced garlic, green onions and red pepper flakes and cook until garlic becomes fragrant (about 10 seconds). Add in sliced broccoli rabe and sauté for 2 minutes. Add in carrot noodles, sprinkle with salt & pepper, and sauté until they begin to soften, about 4 minutes.

5.     Combine remaining ingredients. To the pan of veggies, add in chicken and eggs, using a spatula to break up the eggs. Add in the sauce and cook until all ingredients are heated and well-combined, about 2 minutes. 

6.     Serve and Enjoy!