Slippery glass noodles stir-fried with egg, pork or shrimp and a tangle of vegetables in a light oyster-and-soy sauce. Quick home cooking — the springy noodles soak up the savory seasoning without turning heavy.
Pad woon sen is the Thai glass-noodle stir-fry — slippery mung-bean noodles tossed with egg, vegetables and a little meat or shrimp in a light savoury sauce. Quick and homely, it is a staple of the Thai home kitchen.
The noodles are bouncy and slick, sliding off the chopsticks while carrying a gentle savory-sweet seasoning. Soft egg, crisp vegetables and bits of pork give each forkful a satisfying mix of textures without any heaviness.
Soaking rather than boiling keeps glass noodles springy; in the wok they finish cooking by absorbing the sauce directly, turning translucent as the mung-bean starch hydrates and grips the seasoning.
Variations
Shrimp, chicken or vegetarian, with dried shrimp and wood ear mushroom, spicier with chili, baked in a clay pot
On the Palate
Where Pad Woon Sen sits in the Thai flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 3
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 115 min
Soak glass noodles in warm water until pliable, then drain.
Watch outSoak only until the strands bend without snapping — fully soft here means mush once they hit the wok.
- 22 min
Mix oyster sauce, soy sauce, a little sugar and water into a sauce.
- 32 min
Scramble a beaten egg in hot oil and push to one side.
- 43 min
Stir-fry garlic and your protein until just cooked.
- 52 min
Add the noodles and the sauce, tossing to coat evenly.
Watch outPour the sauce onto the noodles, not the bare wok — they cook by drinking it up, so keep them coated.
- 62 min
Fold in vegetables such as carrot, cabbage and tomato.
- 72 min
Stir-fry until the noodles turn translucent and absorb the sauce.
Watch outPull them the moment they turn clear and glossy — past that they go gummy and clump.
- 81 min
Finish with spring onion and serve hot.
