Pad Kee Mao, Drunken Noodles (ผัดขี้เมา)

 Favorite Thai Easy servings1 addedFebruary 2021

Base Stir-Fry Sauce

• ¼ cup oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Golden Mountain sauce or Maggi
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce

1. Mix the base stir-fry sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir well to combine. This will keep well in the fridge more months, and it’s great for all sorts of stir fries, including fried rice!
2. This is enough sauce for 4 servings, so use only 2 tablespoons of sauce per serving.

Stir-Fry

• 8 ounces flat, wide rice noodles (can use pre-cut, cut your own from a noodle sheet)
• 2 – 4 cloves garlic
• 1 – 3 Thai chilies, to taste
• (optional) 1 spur chilies (prik chee fah), cut into chunks, or any mild, red chili peppers
• (optional) 4 ounces protein of choice, cut into bite sized pieces
• 5 pieces of baby corn, cut each one into 3
• 2 stalks Chinese broccoli, cut into 1-2” pieces
• 2 tablespoons base stir fry sauce
• 1 teaspoon black soy sauce
• 1½ teaspoons sugar
• ½ cup holy basil leaves (can substitute Italian basil)

1. Put garlic and both types of chilies into a mortar, and pound to a rough paste, making sure that the Thai chilies are all mushed up.
2. In a large saute pan or a wok, heat about 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil over high heat, tilt the pan to coat the bottom. Add the chill/garlic mixture and stir until the small pieces of garlic starts to turn golden brown.
3. Add protein, if using, and cook until half way done.
4. Add vegetables, toss in the pan quickly to wilt.
5. Add noodles, 2 Tbsp of the stir-fry sauce, and sugar then toss to combine and let the noodles spread apart.
6. Add the black soy sauce, and toss again to coat. Let the noodles sit in the pan and absorb the sauce, flipping it once or twice.
7. When the sauce is all absorbed, turn the heat off, and add the basil. Toss just to wilt the basil, plate.

Tips

• Thai chilies keep very well in the freezer, and they also become easier to break down once thawed.
• Choose holy basil with small to medium leaves (leaves should be about 1-1.5” long) as they are younger and more fragrant than larger, older leaves. If using Italian basil, chop the leaves roughly as they tend to be quite large. You may also use Thai basil, which many restaurants use, but Italian basil has a more similar fragrance to holy basil.