Cooking in
Kootenays
Thai · Thailand
Pad Pak Ruam (Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry)
A rapid wok stir-fry of mixed seasonal vegetables with garlic, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and a small amount of fish sauce. Pad pak ruam is the simplest possible expression of Thai wok technique — no curry paste, no complex seasoning, just maximum wok heat and correctly timed additions of vegetables with different cooking times. Thompson covers it as a foundational technique preparation precisely because its simplicity makes the wok temperature and sequence critical: there is nothing else to hide behind.
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Five not yet within reach.
How the 5 are reached
- Not yet within reach
- 5 · neutral oil, baby corn, long beans, oyster sauce, light soy sauce
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
3 tbsp
neutral oil
Not yet within reach of Kootenays · each reach is counted
4 cloves
garlic
thinly sliced
Your own market
Dense vegetables (blanch first)
150 g
broccoli
cut into florets, blanched 2 minutes in salted water, shocked and drained
Your own market
150 g
cauliflower
cut into florets, blanched 2 minutes in salted water, shocked and drained
Your own market
100 g
baby corn
halved lengthways if large
Origin · MexicoNot yet within reach of Kootenays · each reach is counted
Medium-density vegetables
100 g
mushrooms
sliced
Your own market
100 g
long beans
cut into 4 cm lengths
Not yet within reach of Kootenays · each reach is counted
Soft vegetables
100 g
bean sprouts
Your own market
100 g
water spinach or spinach
stems and leaves separated if using water spinach
Your own market
Seasoning
2 tbsp
oyster sauce
Not yet within reach of Kootenays · each reach is counted
1 tbsp
light soy sauce
Not yet within reach of Kootenays · each reach is counted
1 tsp
fish sauce
Your own market
Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.
The larder of the Kootenays →II
The Method
1
Blanch broccoli and cauliflower separately in well-salted boiling water for 2 minutes each, so that each vegetable cooks at its own pace without the denser cauliflower robbing heat from the broccoli. Transfer immediately to cold water to stop the carry-over cooking that would otherwise push them past the correct texture, then drain thoroughly and set aside. The florets must be just yielding to a fingernail but carry no flaccidity — they will cook further in the wok.
2
Bring the wok to maximum heat until a drop of water vaporises on contact, so the oil smokes almost at once and the vegetables sear rather than steam when they go in. Add the oil and swirl to coat, then add the sliced garlic and toss for 10 seconds, until the edges begin to colour and the raw garlic smell sharpens to a toasted note.
3
Add the baby corn and blanched broccoli and cauliflower, and toss continuously for 1 minute so that every cut surface passes through the hottest part of the wok and picks up colour rather than stewing in its own moisture. The vegetables must be bright in colour and just beginning to show char at the edges; they should hiss loudly and persistently against the wok surface throughout.
4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Add the mushrooms and long beans and toss for 1 minute. Before proceeding, assess each vegetable individually: the broccoli and cauliflower must be tender but structurally intact, the mushrooms just collapsed and glistening, the long beans bright green and yielding without limpness — because a single element that has crossed into overcooking cannot be corrected, the remaining vegetables must be added only when every element present has reached correct doneness simultaneously.
5
Add the bean sprouts and water spinach or spinach, keeping them apart from the hotter base of the wok for the first few seconds so the delicate leaves wilt in the rising steam rather than scorch on direct contact. For water spinach, add the stems first, toss for 15 seconds, then add the leaves; for spinach or bean sprouts, add directly and toss for 30–45 seconds. The leaves must be just wilted and the sprouts translucent at the root end but not collapsed.
6
Pour in the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and fish sauce, and toss for 20 seconds so the heat drives off the raw edge of the fish sauce and the three together reduce to a glaze that clings to every surface rather than pooling at the bottom of the wok. Taste: the seasoning should be savoury and rounded, the fish sauce present but not dominant.
From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →
7
Transfer immediately to a serving plate, as the dish does not hold and residual wok heat continues to cook the vegetables. The surface should carry a faint sheen from the glaze and no standing liquid should collect on the plate.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Wok-grown seasonal Thai vegetables from a specialist grower — gai lan, Thai water spinach (pak boong), fresh straw mushrooms — cooked the moment they arrive. The wok itself is a seasoned carbon-steel restaurant model capable of sustaining true maximum heat throughout the cook.
02
Estate — Farmers'-market broccoli, cauliflower, and field mushrooms at peak freshness, purchased the same day. A well-seasoned home wok over the largest gas burner run at full power. Oyster sauce and fish sauce from a Thai brand (Maekrua, Tiparos).
03
Market — Supermarket mixed vegetables of good quality, prepared and pre-blanched before the wok is lit. A carbon-steel or cast-iron pan as a substitute if no wok is available; cook in two batches to preserve heat. Standard supermarket oyster and soy sauces.
04
House — Any mixed vegetables available, adapted to the same sequencing logic: densest first, softest last. The dish remains coherent at this level if the addition sequence and wok temperature are respected; quality of produce is secondary to technique.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sound. A loud, sustained hiss when each vegetable meets the wok; silence indicates the wok has lost heat and the cook must pause to allow temperature to recover before the next addition.
◇Sight. Each vegetable brightens visibly in colour within 30 seconds of entering the wok; the moment that brightness tips toward dullness or yellowing, the vegetable has overcooked.
◇Touch. Pre-blanched broccoli and cauliflower must yield to gentle pressure without crumbling — the interior should be just cooked through from the blanch, firm enough to survive the wok.
◇Smell. A clean, slightly smoky wok fragrance (wok hei) should develop from the second minute onward; a steamed or boiled smell indicates insufficient heat.
◇Where it lives or dies. Each vegetable in the wok must reach correct doneness — bright, slightly softened, structurally intact — before the next addition; a single overcooked element cannot be corrected and produces a dish of irrecoverably uneven texture.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
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