Pad Pak Boong — Stir Fried Morning Glory

Food culture, RECIPES, Stirfry, Vegetarian

Pad Pak Boong — Stir Fried Morning Glory
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Pad Pak Boong — Stir Fried Morning Glory

Servings

2

servings
Cooking time

10

minutes
Total time

15

minutes

Pad pak boong is one of the great Thai street food dishes — and one of the most underrated. Morning glory, known in Thai as ผักบุ้ง (pak boong), is a semi-aquatic leafy vegetable with hollow stems and tender leaves that wilts beautifully in a screaming hot wok, absorbing the salty, garlicky sauce in seconds. At street food stalls across Thailand, it is tossed in the wok at extraordinary heat — sometimes theatrically flipped high into the air, earning the dish its nickname "flying vegetables" — and arrives at the table blistered, fragrant, and deeply satisfying. It is the kind of dish that reminds you how much a handful of simple ingredients can achieve when the heat is right and the timing is perfect.

Ingredients

Directions

  • Prepare all ingredients before heating the wok — this dish cooks in under three minutes and there is no time to prepare anything once the heat is on.
  • Heat a wok over the highest heat your stove can produce until it is visibly smoking. This is not optional — the high heat is what gives pad pak boong its characteristic blistered texture and wok fragrance.
  • Add the vegetable oil and swirl to coat the wok. Immediately add the garlic and crushed chillies and stir fry for no more than 15–20 seconds until fragrant and just beginning to colour.
  • Add the morning glory all at once and toss vigorously in the wok, keeping everything moving constantly.
  • Add the ONOFF No Oyster Vegan Seasoning Sauce, ONOFF No Fish Vegan Seasoning Sauce, Sriracha Sauce, and palm sugar. Toss everything together well for 1–2 minutes until the stems are just tender and the leaves are wilted but still vivid green.
  • Taste and adjust — it should be savoury, garlicky, and have a gentle background heat from the chilli and sriracha.
  • Transfer immediately to a plate and serve alongside steamed jasmine rice. Eat straight away — pad pak boong waits for no one.

Notes

  • Morning glory is available in most Asian supermarkets, where it is sometimes labelled water spinach or kangkong. If you cannot find it, Chinese broccoli (gai lan) or regular spinach work as substitutes — reduce the cooking time slightly for spinach as it wilts faster. The dish is fully vegan as written using ONOFF's No Oyster and No Fish Vegan Seasoning Sauces, making it one of the easiest and most satisfying plant-based Thai dishes in the entire repertoire.