Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry (Pad Pak Ruam)

This recipe will change the way to think about "mixed veg." This isn't some boring old side dish, this quick and easy stir-fry is garlicky, umami, and full of flavour and textures. It's even got a little kick from some Thai chilies if you want it! It's Thai people's go-to whenever we need veggies on the table, and the recipe will work with whatever vegetables you have in the fridge. So, a great fridge cleanup dish!

What is pad pak ruam?

Pad means "stir-fry," pak means "vegetables," and ruam means "mixed," so it's very straight-forward! Though you often see pad pak ruam on menus of Thai restaurants overseas, in Thailand, this is very much home cooking.

Because Thai people eat family style, every meal is made up of multiple dishes, so no one dish needs to be "complete." So we have a lot of dishes that are mostly meat, and others, like this one, that is mostly veggies, and things balance each other out. Learn more about how Thai people eat here.

The vegetables can be flexible, and indeed I often use this dish as a "fridge cleanout," so the veggies in the recipe are just suggestions. I included several kinds in my version to give you ideas about things that work well, you can make this dish with just 2-3 veggies, no problem!

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe and important notes about them. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.

Sauce

You can use this sauce to stir fry just about anything, and indeed it's very similar to my universal stir fry sauce recipe!

• Oyster sauce. The queen of Thai stir fry sauce. Read more about how to choose good oyster sauce here.
• Soy sauce, any kind will do, but best if you have Thai soy sauce and my preference is Healthy Boy Mushroom Soy Sauce.
• Golden Mountain sauce, is another kind of soy sauce that has a slightly different flavour. You can substitute Maggi Seasoning or fish sauce instead, or simply use more soy sauce. Here are types of soy sauces explained.
• Water
• Sugar. Just a wee bit to balance the salt.

The Stir Fry

Again I repeat: these veggies are just suggestions and ideas. You do not need all of these vegetables, just a few kinds will do, but ideally you want a good mix of colours and textures.

• Carrots, "roll cut" for some cool shapes (you can see the video for technique), or simply cut them into thin sticks. Don't make them big, remember with stir fries you only have a few minutes in the pan.
• Cauliflower, SMALL florets. Again they won't have much time to cook in the wok so these should smaller than what you imagine a "floret" normally is.
• Green cabbage, bite-sized pieces. I prefer Asian cabbage (the squat ones) as they're sweeter and more delicate, but regular cabbage is fine.
• Chinese broccoli (gai lan), stems thinly sliced on a diagonal, leaves roughly torn into chunks
• Sugar snap peas, strings removed, which is done by snapping off the stem-end and pulling downward, and the strings on the sides of the pea should come away (see pic below). I like to then cut them in half on a sharp diagonal as allows the sauce to penetrate the otherwise impenetrable pods, making them more flavourful.
• Shiitake mushrooms, fresh, cut into slices. You can use any other kinds of mushrooms here.
• Garlic, roughly chopped
• Thai chilies, optional, only if you want to make it spicy. Most of the time this dish is done with no chilies in Thailand, but I wanted to include it here to give you the option. I like to just crushed the chilies with the side of a knife just until broken and the heat will gently infuse into the sauce so it's not overwhelmingly spicy.

How to Make Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry ผัดผักรวม Pad Pak Ruam

Here's a bird's eye view of the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success!

1. Organize your vegetables in order they are added to the pan: Bowl 1 with firm veggies: carrots and cauliflower in this case. Bowl 2 with softer veggies: Cabbage, snap peas, gai lan stems, and mushrooms. Bowl 3 with anything leafy, like gai lan leaves.
2. In a small bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
3. In a wok or a large saute pan on medium high heat, add a little vegetable oil, garlic and chilies and saute until small bits of garlic turns golden.
4. Add the firm veg in bowl 1 and a splash of water, and stir for 1-2 minutes or until they're about halfway cooked. Adding more water as needed.

5. Add bowl 2 of vegetables and the sauce and toss until the vegetables are done to your liking, 1-2 minutes.
6. Add gai lan leaves or anything leafy.
7. Toss just until the leaves are wilted, 20-30 seconds, and off heat.
8. Enjoy with jasmine rice!