Since I shared my Pad See Ew ผัดซีอิ้ว recipe, many people have told me that they can't find the fresh rice noodles. And when the dry ones really are not nearly as good, the only other sensible option is to make it. And you'll be glad to know it's not that hard!
Choosing the right pan
Choosing the right pan to steam the noodles is perhaps the hardest part of this whole thing. The ideal pan should release the noodles cleanly without too much stickiness left behind, leaving noodles smooth on the underside.
When I filmed the video originally, the noodles released beautifully from the pan I used. But when I tried other pans later, I found some did not release as well and created a sticky bottom. Still usable in dishes, but they were more difficult to work with and needed more oil in between the sheets.
I found that the pan surface needs to be super smooth in order for things to release cleanly. Stainless steel, glass, porcelaine, or some nonstick surfaces are great. Aluminum and some rougher non-stick pans are not as great.
Thinner pans are also better because they cool down much faster, allowing you to move from one plate to the next quickly.
Creating Optimal Noodles
Many Thai recipes for fresh rice noodles calls for kneading the flour with a small amount of water first before adding the rest of the water to dissolve the dough into a batter. The kneading essentially forces the starch molecules to absorb water more readily, allowing the starch to hydrate more fully. The longer you knead, the better.
Why does this matter? Because fully-hydrated starch yields softer, shinier, and chewier noodles.
I was curious about this phenomenon, and a chain of introductions led me to Dr. Teeprakorn Kongraksawech, a food scientist from Oregon State University who told me:
In an industry level, a flour slurry is allowed to equilibrate for many hours before cooking it so flour becomes fully hydrated. A study compared noodles made from a 27-hr slurry vs a 3-hr slurry. The 27-hr slurry noodles were shinier, softer, and chewier. For a household/small-scale level, we may not want to wait that long. Slowly adding water and kneading will allow the flour to absorb more water.
So there, you can either knead or wait for the perfect noodles.
Use your fresh rice noodles in...
Fresh Rice Noodles (ho fun)
Equipment
- Pastry brush
- Nonstick or stainless steel cake pan
- Steamer
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice flour
- ½ cup tapioca starch
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¼-⅓ cup Vegetable oil, for brushing
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success. If you enjoy them, consider subscribing to the YouTube Channel to not miss an episode. Thank you!
Subscribe to my YouTube ChannelInstructions
- In a mixing bowl, add the rice flour and the tapioca starch and whisk to combine.
- Add a little water at a time and mix just until it can form into a dough, then knead it for about 5 minutes, or longer if you feel up to it, then add the remaining water to dissolve the dough into a batter.Note: The noodles will work without kneading, but the kneading forces the starch to absorb more water faster and become more fully hydrated, which results in shinier, softer, and chewier texture. Alternatively, you can skip the kneading and just add all the water, then rest the batter, allowing the starch to hydrate with time. You'd rest the batter ideally for 1 day, or at least 1 hour, but the longer the better.
- Preheat the steamer and bring the water to a boil. Brush your pan with oil and then use paper towel to remove any excess. Pour in an amount of batter that would yield noodles that are about 1/16 inch or 1.5 mm; you will need to do some testing given the size of your pan.
- Place the pan into the steamer, and jiggle it so that the batter covers the entire pan if needed. Steam for about 2 minutes or until fully cooked.
- Remove the pan from the steamer, then brush a generous amount of oil on top. Once it's cool enough to handle, peel the noodles from the pan and place it on a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, placing subsequent sheets on top of the first one. If there is a thick side (can happen if your stove isn't completely flat), make sure you put the thick side of the sheets on the same side so we can trim them.
- Once you have all the noodles, trim off a side that is too thick if necessary (see video for example). Then cut into strips. For Pad see ew or pad kee mao, I prefer noodles that are about ¾ inch thick. For noodle soups, I prefer ½-inch.
tuan nguyen
how to make fresh noodles for padthai, pls can you show me ,tks so much
Pailin Chongchitnant
You do not use fresh noodles for pad thai, that one requires dried noodles for the right texture.
Foodboi
Do you have any pro tips to keep the noodles intact/whole during the stir-fry? Mine breakup into small pieces. I've noticed this at some Thai restaurants here in the US too, but my favorite restaurant would serve them in nice long strands.
Thanks for your well put together videos and recipes!
Jeffrey Reid
I want to use this recipe for making all my rice noodles, but wish to use Brown Rice over white rice. Would I just grind brown rice into a flour and use that as my rice flour?
I am using the brown rice due to dietary needs; brown rice releases its sugars more slowly versus white rice--important for preventing or limiting diabetes 2.
In fact I am curious about thai food and its relationship with glucose levels, especially with ingredients like Coconut Milk, etc.
Pailin Chongchitnant
I am not sure if using brown rice flour will work but it's worth a try. I would recommend buying brown rice flour instead of making your own, however, because it needs to be really fine. Thai food isn't great for diabetics to be honest because we eat a lot of rice, though coconut milk isn't a problem.
Thai foodie
Just so you know, diabetics can do fine with tai food, provided you understand and track the portion size allowed for ones own needs. A kitchen scale can make this easier!
Kai Etringer
Hi. My noodles fall apart when I stir fry them (I'm pretty gentle. They're definitly more delicate than the fresh ones I get at the store). Any suggestions?
Jetta B
Which rice is used to make rice flour? I would like to make my own rice flour for the drunken noodle fresh made noodles. I have a grain mill and should be able to get a decent flour; I just need to know which rice is best to use to make the flour. Thanks in advance for any advice. I adore your videos and am slowly learning to make middling decent salad rolls using the hard to handle very thin rice paper sheets, butter lettuce, shredded carrot, ginger, basil, mint, and avocado! Delicious! My favorite Thai restaurant recently was sold to new owners and now their yellow curry chicken (my all time fav)is so spicy that I can’t eat it anymore. Because of your website I was able to make up my own MILD curry paste and enjoy it once again. Thank you for the clear instructions and excellent videos!
sue
I just started making fresh rice noodles and I am having one huge problem. I put some of the batter in the steamer. The problem is is that I can't get it out. What are your tips to getting them out?
Adam The HTK Minion
Hi Sue! I asked and she said "It's the material of the pan. Try going for non-stick cake pan or stainless steel, and brush with oil before using." Cheers! Adam
Leigh
Sue, I use silicon cake pans (link below). Honestly...I barely even need oil. They slip out so easily.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08ND34C7N/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_7XHA6TT5RVK427JESK42?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Jennifer
Excellent tutorial!!! I have a well-stocked international market and they did not offer the fun ho noodle for Pad See Ew. Although intimidated, we decided to try making them from scratch and the outcome was successful. So successful that we may continue to make fresh rice noodles because they were so good. So glad we found your website Pailin, and thank you for being so detailed with your instructions. The science aspect was super helpful as well!
Helen
This recipe worked out great! The tips in the video were so helpful.
Adam The HTK Minion
Yay - and thanks!!
Tom
Just measure a cup of flour and if it's 2 grams off I think you'll live. You're not supposed to pack the flour in when you measure by volume pro tip, just scoop and level. It's way easier than using a scale.
Markus
It would be cool to have recipes with actually precise measures, meaning grams and ml instead of "cups" which can be extremely imprecise.
Lol@markus
Yet he gives 5 stars....I bet you don't even cook in metric anyways "Markus" schweittenliar
Jesi
I have made these twice and they turned out great both times! Thank you for the wonderful recipe and the video is super helpful.
linmu
Google: weight of 1 cup flour = 120g. weight of 1 cup tapioca flour = 122g. weight of 1 cup water = 236 grams.