Seafood Soybean Gravy On Fried Rice Noodle

The salty-sweet sticky gravy sauce made with a combination of Chinese fermented soybean and thin soy sauce draped on the crispy wide rice noodle scrambled with egg. This dish creates both feeling of noodle soup and stir-fried—it’s named Rad Na in Thai.

In Thailand, I love going to a made-to-order spot to enjoy customizing my food. Mostly, the shop provides a single-dish menu with choices of meats and spiciness. And you can ask them to remove, replace, or even reinvent your dish.

“A plate of Rad Na Talay with extra scrambled egg, crispy on the noodle, less broccoli and no spicy”—that’s what I ordered from childhood.

Rad Na is another version of stir-fried rice noodle—if you’re familiar with Pad See Eiw, Kuay Tiew Kua Gai, Drunken noodle—sold at the made-to-order food shop,

Rad [râːt] stands for ‘pouring,’ Na[nâː] means face or on top, while ‘Talay’ is seafood.

But instead of frying all ingredients at once, we make the thick sauce pouring on top of fried rice noodle with a bit of black soy sauce.

My favorite part is the smell of the roast garlic and pepper powdered on top catching my nose to “Bon appetite.” And, it has a unique texture and taste.

Typically, you also get assorted condiments such as jalapeños vinegar, dry chili flakes, fish sauce, Sambal Oelek, etc., and you can even customize the flavor again before beginning to ingest.

How to fry the wide rice noodle

Wide rice noodle is sold in every Asian store. Good noodle should be thin and stretchy. Before buying,  look for the expiration date and keep refrigerated if you don’t use it within 4 hours.

*Note: If the wide fresh rice is not your favorite, you can substitute with any kinds of noodle, e.g. small round noodle(sen mee), thin rice noodle(Pad Thai noodle), or crispy egg noodle (mee krob)

For the fried noodle, you only need 4 items:

1. 1 tbsp canola oil
2. 1 lb fresh rice noodle
3. 2 eggs
4. 2 tbsp black soy sauce (Healthy Boy brand)

First, prepare the rice noodle by cutting and separating from the pack(I use 1 lb per 2 servings)

Bring a wok or pan to high heat with 1 tbsp of canola oil, then scramble eggs to fully cooked.

Then add the noodle and mixing with the oil and the eggs, flip it occasionally. If you prefer crispier noodle, you can lower the heat to medium and add more oil to fry longer.

Drop about 2 tbsp of black soy sauce and mix it thoroughly.

Set aside on your plates.

What’s in the gravy sauce

Ingredients: for 2 servings

The crucial part of making the gravy is the amount of starch you combine with the broth. Adding too much starch can cause the sauce to form gluey chunks. On the other hand, adding too little makes the sauce runny and bland.

A general stickiness ratio I’ve discovered can be 2 tbsp starch per ½ cup cold water per 1 ¾  cups stock broth. When adding, dissolve the starch and cold water first, then slowly mix the solution to the boiling soup.

Let’s see the video here:

1. Sear the beaten garlic cloves with 4 tbsp of canola oil and prawns, then add chicken stock to boil.
2. Drop mussels and season with fermented soybean, oyster sauce, thin soy sauce, sugar.
3. Add sliced Chinese broccoli, cut regular broccoli and cooked squids after that slowly pour the starch solution and vinegar while stirring until glutinous.
4. Then, top the gravy on the fried noodle and sprinkle some white pepper, serve hot.

How to eat it authentic

Like any rice or stir-fried dishes, Rad Nah uses common Thai etiquette to eat. Using a fork as a guide and spoon to scoop to your mouth is the best way to enjoy it.

Before you go ahead eating, I recommend to taste it and add more of sugar, fish sauce, and jalapeno. Then, mix the gravy sauce through the noodle with your spoon and fork and consume before the gravy cools down.

I always enjoy adjusting the flavors when I go to made-to-order shophouse even though my food is already yummy.

Conclusion

If you have a chance to visit Thailand, I suggest you go to eat at a made-to-order shop and order Rad Nah. Pick your own choice of meat, but I recommend seafood(Talay) or pork(Moo).

However, if you don’t have the opportunity, making it yourself, Rad Nah is a way to excite your home cooking whenever you host a party or prepare food for the family.

Double, triple or multiply the recipe up to the number of your serving. Get a big pot to make the gravy sauce, and a big wok to fry noodle separately. Combine those whenever you need to feast!

If you have visited any made-to-order shop in Thailand, please tell us how it went at the comment section below!