Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles): Thai Street-Style Spicy Stir-Fried Noodles

Stir-fried noodles where steam, chile and basil rise all at once

The moment crushed garlic and chile go into an oiled wok, the air in the kitchen changes. Add wide rice noodles, circle the dark soy sauce around the wall of the pan, and a sweet char, the saltiness of fish sauce and the green scent of basil at the end all rise together. Pad kee mao is not a dish of long simmering; it is a dish that carries the momentum of those few minutes onto the plate.

Pad kee mao, also written phat khi mao, is a stir-fried noodle dish written ผัดขี้เมา in Thai. In English it is called drunken noodles, though no alcohol goes into the dish. The origin of the name is debated: it is explained variously as a flavor so spicy and strong you crave it after drinking, as something even a drunk person can make by instinct, or as so hot it sobers you up. Rather than insisting on any one, it is easier in the kitchen to think of it as "a street noodle that strongly features chile, garlic, basil and dark soy sauce."

There are three difficulties when making it at home. Not over-soaking the wide rice noodles. Separating the roles of dark soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce. And stir-frying briefly over high heat without putting in too much. Unlike a sweet-and-sour noodle such as pad thai, pad kee mao stars heat and char. If you like the basil stir-fry of gapao rice, you can enjoy the same aroma direction in noodles.

The story of the dish and the frame of its flavor

Pad kee mao is a Thai dish in which Chinese-origin wok culture and Thailand's chile-and-herb culture strongly overlap. Stir-frying flat rice noodles over high heat is much like Malaysia's char kway teow. But where char kway teow leans toward the sweet soy sauce and seafood aroma of the Straits region, pad kee mao pushes with the drive of garlic, chile and holy basil.

At street stalls in Thailand, wide rice noodles called sen yai are often used. Fresh ones are chewy and don't tear easily, and only the parts touching the wall of the pan scorch slightly. Fresh sen yai is hard to find elsewhere, so use dried pho or wide rice noodles soaked on the short side. If you soften them too much here, the noodles hold water even before stir-frying and tear easily in the wok.

The frame of the flavor is the color and roundness of dark soy sauce, the saltiness of fish sauce, the thickness of oyster sauce and a small sweetness from sugar. Thai see ew dam plays a role close to Chinese dark soy sauce, giving the noodles a black gloss and a caramel-like aroma. Made with ordinary soy sauce alone, the color is pale and only the saltiness comes forward. The first time, adding even a little dark soy sauce gets the outline closer to a street noodle.

For basil, holy basil is what you want if possible. As with gapao rice, holy basil is green and slightly medicinal, and its aroma stands up just by adding it right before turning off the heat. If you can't get it nearby, Thai basil or sweet basil works. Shiso changes the direction of the aroma, but suits a home table. Dried basil, however, has a weak aroma, so use fresh leaves for this one thing.

Ingredients (serves 2)

Ingredients that cause hesitation when shopping

What is worth tracking down for pad kee mao is not ordinary chicken or greens. It is wide rice noodles, dark soy sauce and a wok that lets you spread the noodles. Fish sauce is now found in most supermarkets, but rice noodles and dark soy sauce vary a great deal by store, and if these are weak it easily drifts toward "spicy soy-sauce stir-fried noodles."

Method

Before you put heat under the pan, set the noodles, sauce, cut toppings, egg and plate all within reach. Once you start stir-frying pad kee mao, it doesn't stop. Open the refrigerator midway and the noodles stick to the bottom of the pan or water comes out of the greens.

Tips for getting closer to the original in a home kitchen

Pad kee mao succeeds or fails on the amount of moisture in the pan more than on the kinds of ingredients. A home stove doesn't reach the firepower of a street stall, so if you make two servings at once, it matters not to add too many toppings. Chicken, greens, egg and noodles are enough to eat. Adding bean sprouts, onion or mushrooms increases moisture and leaves the noodles pale and steamed.

What can be swapped, and what to keep

Without dark soy sauce, you can mix 2 tsp regular soy sauce with 1/2 tsp brown sugar. But it is not completely the same. Regular soy sauce lets saltiness come forward, so reduce the fish sauce to 2 tsp and taste at the end to add more.

On days you can't find holy basil, sweet basil makes it perfectly good. The medicinal aroma like gapao is just weaker. Made with shiso, it gets close to a green-shiso stir-fried noodle, but the direction of chile and fish sauce remains, so as a weeknight dinner it is a very usable substitute.

Causes of wateriness

The most common cause is softening the rice noodles too much. Soaking them in boiling water as the package says is good for soup but too soft for stir-fried noodles. Stop when, tasting before stir-frying, they still feel "a little firm." Once in the pan, the sauce and residual heat bring them to just right.

The second is insufficient pan heat. With a nonstick skillet it is safer not to heat it dry for too long, but in exchange stir-fry one serving at a time. With a cast-iron pan or wok, heat it well before the oil goes in, and once the noodles are in, don't mix the whole thing right away; make time to sear them a little.

The third is putting in too many toppings. If you want more vegetables, serving cucumber and lime alongside suits better than adding more greens. The more watery vegetables you add to the pan, the more pad kee mao drifts away from a strongly aromatic stir-fried noodle toward a richly seasoned steamed noodle.

Serving, storage, FAQ and sources

Pad kee mao is a dish whose aroma is strongest right out of the pan. At the table, don't squeeze all the lime at the start; add acidity after eating about half, and the flavor won't go flat. A little chile vinegar cuts the weight of the oil and soy sauce.

To build a Thai menu, make a small soup of tom yum goong (in Japanese), different in direction of heat, and add the green sourness of som tam for a street-stall table. With a curry, a low-liquid kai yang disturbs the aroma of the noodles less than gaeng phet (in Japanese).

To compare similar stir-fried noodles, the sweet-and-sour pad thai, Malaysia's strongly charred char kway teow and Indonesia's mie goreng finished with sweet soy sauce are close cousins. Even in the same rice culture, the sauce, noodle width and use of firepower change the impression greatly.

Storage and reheating

Finish the pad kee mao the same day if possible. To store, spread it in a shallow container, let it cool slightly and keep it refrigerated until the next day. To reheat, put 2 tsp water and 1 tsp oil in a skillet, warm over medium heat for 1 minute, add the noodles and toss only 1 to 2 minutes. In a microwave, 40 to 50 seconds at 600 W, loosening once partway. Overheating breaks the noodles and blackens the basil.

Freezing is not recommended. Rice noodles break easily when thawed and the sauce separates. If there is leftover you must keep, rather than storing only the noodles, adding an egg the next day and lightly re-stir-frying is easier to eat.

Q1. I can't get sen yai. Can I make it with regular pho noodles?

Yes. With dried pho, choose flat ones 8 to 10 mm wide or more and soak them shorter than the package says. Thin rice vermicelli also takes on flavor, but the chewy texture from searing against the pan wall is weak and it gets closer to a spicy fried vermicelli than pad kee mao.

Q2. What if I want to reduce the heat a lot?

Use 1 chile and remove the seeds. Taking it to zero loses the aroma of the dish, so warming a small amount in the oil is recommended. On days each person wants different heat, put chile vinegar or chile flakes on the table and keep the heat inside the pan mild.

Q3. Is the difference between holy basil and sweet basil big?

It is big. Holy basil has a green, slightly spicy, medicinal aroma. Sweet basil is sweet and has an aroma close to Italian cooking. But sweet basil is easier to get in many places, and it is a sufficient substitute the first time. If using shiso, add it after turning off the heat and bring out the aroma briefly with residual heat.

Q4. Can I make it with something other than chicken?

You can make it with thin-sliced pork, thin-sliced beef, shrimp or thick fried tofu. Cook the pork 2 minutes over high heat; take shrimp out early when the surface turns white and return them at the end so they don't toughen. If using thick fried tofu, cut it into 1.5 cm cubes and brown 2 minutes over medium heat before combining with the noodles.

Q5. Can I put it in a lunch box?

You can, but the basil aroma and springiness of the noodles drop. For a lunch box, cook the egg fully and drive off moisture from the greens before packing. Avoid leaving soft-cooked egg or fresh herbs at room temperature for a long time. If it will be reheated, keep the chile modest and add a little lime or vinegar just before eating, and the flavor returns more easily.

Sources