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Pad Mee (Serves 4)



After Henry’s first experience with spaghetti, I thought we would try another noodle dish. This recipe comes through a family friend whose daughter-in-law is from Thailand. Daddy and I love going out for Thai food, but this dish is simple enough to make at home.
This recipe is Henry-approved.
At first, Henry was a bit skeptical of the rice noodles. He was much more interested in the meat and veggies. By the end of our meal, however, he was having a lot of fun eating and playing with the noodles.
Henry tries to understand why the noodles stick to his hands.
You probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry. If you have not used rice noodles or fish sauce before, you can find them in the Asian section of most supermarkets. As always, feel free to swap the vegetable assortment with whatever you may have on hand. Cabbage, cauliflower, and onion are delicious possibilities.

Ingredients
1 handful rice noodles
1 Tablespoon peanut oil or canola oil
1 pound turkey or chicken breast
1 red bell pepper
6 crimini or white button mushrooms
1 medium zucchini
1 Tablespoon fish sauce*
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce*
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
¼ cup vegetable or chicken broth*
Black pepper to taste
Pad Mee cooking in the pan.
Directions
Soak the noodles in a bowl of warm water for about 1 hour. Rinse and drain the noodles.

While the noodles are soaking, slice the meat into thin strips. Using a separate cutting board, cut the vegetables into slices.

Combine fish sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and broth in a small bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves.

Heat oil on high in a large pan. When oil is hot, add the meat. Stir frequently until it begins to brown. Add the vegetables to the stir fry pan.

When vegetables begin to soften, add the sauce to the pan. Then add the noodles to the stir fry pan for the final one to two minutes of cooking.

Add a few twists of fresh ground black pepper to taste and serve.

*Soy sauce, fish sauce and chicken broth can be high in salt, so we choose the low-sodium versions when available.
Henry slurps up a rice noodle.
How your kids can help

  • 1-year old: Listening to you name each of the ingredients as you use them in the recipe. This is a great way for little ones to learn new words.
  • 2-year old: Stirring the sauce mixture.
  • 3-year old: Using the pepper grinder.
  • 4-year old: Soaking and rinsing the rice noodles.
  • 5-year old: Measuring the ingredients for the sauce mixture.
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