Recipes

Drunken Noodles – Pad Kee Mao

Pad Kee Mao Sen Yai

Wide rice noodles stir-fried with chicken, finger root, and fresh green peppercorn

Prep

10 min

Cook

4 min

Serves

4

Heat

very hot

Despite the colorful name, Pad Kee Mao is simply a fast, deeply flavorful stir-fried noodle dish, built on wide rice noodles tossed with chicken, a rainbow of vegetables, and two distinctly pungent herbs: sharp, gingery finger root and fresh green peppercorn, still on the bunch. Chili and garlic pounded together form the aromatic base, and the noodles themselves only need a few minutes of high-heat cooking to pick up a deep brown color from dark sweet soy sauce before basil goes in at the very end. The dish is best made and eaten immediately, since the noodles turn increasingly sticky the longer they sit.

Ingredients

• 5 1/3 cups Wide rice noodles (prepared according to package directions if dried)
• 1 1/3 cups Chicken breast (thinly sliced)
• 4 Baby corns
• 7 small pieces Carrot (cut into small pieces)
• 7 slivers Thai long chili (cut into thin slivers)
• 2-3 Fresh green peppercorn bunches
• 27 slivers Finger root (cut into thin slivers)
• 9 Thai hot chilies (pounded with the garlic)
• 1-2 slices Brown or yellow onion (sliced)
• 9 Garlic, small cloves (pounded with the chili)
• 2 2/3 cups Thai sweet basil (leaves and flower tops)
• 2 2/3 tablespoons White cane sugar
• 5 1/3 teaspoons Light soy sauce
• 5 1/3 teaspoons Oyster sauce
• 1 1/3 teaspoons Dark sweet soy sauce

Directions

1. Slice the chicken thin. Clean and cut the vegetables and basil. Prepare the rice noodles per package directions if using dried.
2. Pound the chili and garlic together with a mortar and pestle to break them up. Use less chili if you prefer a milder dish — Thai hot chilies are very spicy.
3. Heat oil in a wok until very hot. Add the garlic, chili, and onion and stir-fry for about 10 seconds, until the garlic smells fragrant — watch closely so it doesn't burn.
4. Add the baby corn, mild chili, carrot, and green peppercorn bunches. Stir well and cook for 10 to 15 seconds, then add the chicken.
5. Cook until the chicken is about half done, then add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Stir constantly as it cooks in and the sugar melts.
6. Keep stirring until the chicken is fully cooked, about a minute.
7. Add the noodles, pushing and stretching them into the pan until well coated with the sauces. Add the dark sweet soy sauce.
8. Turn and stir the noodles until the dark soy sauce is fully mixed in and the noodles are evenly brown.
9. Add the basil, tossing it into the noodles until just wilted — this only takes 10 to 15 seconds, so don't overcook it.
10. Remove from heat and serve immediately, arranging the vegetables, chili, and peppercorns on top so the colors show. These noodles get stickier the longer they sit, so serve right away.

Notes

Serve these noodles the moment they come off the heat — they get progressively stickier and less appealing the longer they sit, unlike many stir-fries that hold up fine.

Substitutions

Pork tenderloin can replace the chicken. Use less chili, or a milder variety, if you don't want the dish as spicy as written — Thai hot chilies pack real heat.