Tteok Pad See Ew (Rice Cakes)

Serves 4 beautiful big bowls

Tteok Pad See Ew

Pad See Ew holds a special place in my heart as one of the longest-standing and most significant relationships in my life. I’ve eaten the deliciously stir-fried rice noodle dish more times than I can count, and some of my most cherished memories are scarfing down bowl after bowl of these caramelized noodles at my family’s Thai restaurant in Florida. And it was actually in Florida a few years ago that I was introduced to the incredible world of tteok (Korean rice cakes) by my cousin and since then, they’ve become a staple in my diet.

And to make my love for rice cakes even deeper, my entire world changed after my cookbook club read Dale Gray’s South of Somewhere, and I made her Tteok Alla Vodka recipe. Gray’s stroke of culinary genius expanded my own horizons, inspiring me to explore myriad ways to incorporate rice cakes into my diet. It also doesn’t hurt that as much as I love Pad See Ew, getting fresh wide noodles can present a bit of a challenge. Thus, I present to you a quick, low-effort, high-reward recipe that is just so beyond delicious that I am genuinely excited for you to try.

Recipe Notes:

-If you’re cooking for one or two, this recipe halves like a dream.

-Velveting tenderizes tough cuts of meat and makes them incredibly juicy and delicious. Though this step is optional, I highly encourage it.

-If you don’t have access to Chinese broccoli, broccolini can make a great substitution!

Ingredients

• 1 (2.2 pounds) bag of frozen tteok
• 1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced
• 2 cups chopped gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced (roughly 8 cloves)
• 5 tablespoons neutral oil
• 6 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• White pepper, to taste for garnish
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce, for velveting
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch, for velveting
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, for velveting
• 3 to 4 Thai birds-eye chilis, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup rice vinegar

Directions

1. Directions
2. Velvet the meat: In a medium bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, cornstarch, and baking soda (it will begin to slightly foam). Add sliced flank steak and marinate for at least 10 minutes (no longer than an hour).
3. Make the sauce: Mix the remaining 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sugar in a bowl and set aside.
4. Prepare the rice cakes: in a large pot, bring roughly eight cups of water to a boil, add your rice cakes, and cook for two minutes. If frozen, cook for four minutes. Drain and set aside.
5. Make the optional chile vinegar: in a small bowl, combine your Thai chilis with the rice vinegar and set aside.
6. Heat roughly 3 tablespoons of oil in a large wok or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add in your garlic, and cook until lightly browned. Add your sliced steak, and cook on both sides for thirty seconds at a time, trying to not move it around too much (or else the heat will reduce), for about a minute and a half.
7. Reduce your heat to low, and add in your drained rice cakes, gai lan, and sauce mixture, gently combining the ingredients until evenly coated.
8. Push the stir-fry mixture to the side of the wok or pan, and increase heat to high. In the empty spot, add another tablespoon of neutral oil and add your lightly beaten eggs, quickly scrambling until mostly cooked. Then, reduce the heat back to low and fold your eggs into the rest of the stir-fry mixture.
9. Garnish with a sprinkle of white ground pepper and season with the chile vinegar. Enjoy!

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