Pad Woon Sen (Thai stir-fried glass noodles) with kelp noodles and woon sen pad thai sauce tastes just like your favorite Thai food but made low carb delicious! The same recipe also works for regular glass noodles (cellophane noodles). See recipe notes.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Thai
Keyword Glass noodles stri fry, Glass noodles thai, kelp noodles stir fry, Pad thai woon sen, Pad woon sen, Pad woon sen noodle, Pad woon sen recipe, Thai glass noodles, Thai pad woon sen, Woon sen pad thai
Take the noodles out of the packet and discard the water. In a large bowl, mix the lemon juice with baking soda with a spoon. You’ll see bubbles immediately. Immediately add the noodles to the bowl, and massage them for about 1 minute. The noodles will soften. Transfer the noodles to a colander rinse under running water for 1 minute. Set aside to drain well. The noodles are ready to eat.
Prepare the ingredients:
Prepare the chicken in a bowl with garlic, salt, pepper, and sesame oil. Set aside the onion, garlic, carrots, Chinese broccoli, and scallions on a large plate in separate piles. Mix the sauce in a small bowl,
Cook the chicken and/or shrimp:
Chicken: Preheat a large saute pan, ideally 12-inch wide, over medium heat until the pan is hot. Add 1.5 tbsp oil. Pan sear the chicken over medium-high heat until almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. Push the chicken to the side of the pan and crack two eggs and add them to the center. Break the eggs with a spatula as if you are making scrambled eggs. Cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer them out to a plate.
If you select shrimp, you don’t need to season it. Pan sear them over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes per side and transfer them out to a plate.
The rest:
Using the same pan and keep your pan hot by preheating it for a few seconds over medium heat. Add 1.5 tbsp oil, quickly saute the garlic, carrots, and onion with a pinch of salt for 10 seconds, stir-often. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add broccoli and scallions, saute for 20 seconds. Return the chicken and eggs, kelp noodles, and the sauce to the pan. Toss for about 10 seconds. Turn off the heat and transfer them to a large serving plate. Sprinkle it with black pepper and serve warm.
Notes
Bias cut is a crosswise cut at a 45° angle; most often used in cutting vegetables, particularly on thick vegetable stems, for Asian dishes. The stems cook faster in stir-fries under high heat so that the vegetable remains crisp and tender.
About kelp noodles - The taste and flavor of kelp noodles are very similar to Chinese bean thread noodles (glass noodles) but super low in carb. They are rubbery when you open the packet but after you give them a quick lemon juice + baking soda massage bath, the noodles turn soft and are ready to eat.
The kelp noodles continue to turn softer if they are soaked in water. Please do not soak them in liquid for more than 1 minute. They might clump slightly as they dry out but as soon as they are in contact with liquid, they will bounce back.
Because kelp noodles contain little to no starch, they don’t absorb the liquid in the pan and therefore the dish tends to turn watery. To compensate its nature, you should 1) keep your pan hot the whole time, 2) select ingredients that don’t produce more liquid, 3) keep the cook time fast and short, and 4) add a little starch (xanthan gum for keto, tapioca arrowroot starch for paleo), to thicken the pan juice. Avoid extra liquid as it dilutes the sauce and flavor.
If using regular bean thread noodles - They come in dry forms. Do this while you prep the dish - Soak 1-2 bundles of bean thread noodles in a large bowl of room-temperature water for about 10 minutes. Drain the noodles using a strainer and make two cuts with kitchen shears. Toss the noodles with olive oil or toasted sesame oil so they are less likely to clump. If they become clumpy, they will bounce back as soon as they are in contact with the sauce and the liquid in the pan. Bean thread noodles also release starch and soak up the sauce so you can skip the starch element in my recipe card and increase the sauce quantity volume, if needed.