One of my favourite Thai dishes is the famously spicy Pad Kee Mao. Its spiciness is said to contribute to its English translation, “Druken Noodles” not because the noodles are drenched in any particular liquid, but because you often need to reach for a drink due its spiciness and best drunk with beer.
Not all Thai places serve this noodle, but I often ask them if they do it off the menu (great where they actually have a real Thai chef). I’ve successfully made this at home, so here’s the recipe that I used:
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp water
- 2 tsp brown sugar/palm sugar
- 1/4 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp gold mountain (a classic seasoning sauce used in Thai cooking)
- 1 tsp soy regular
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp smashed thai chillies
- 1 sliced chilli
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 block of firm tofu cubed into bite sized pieces
- vegetables
- flat rice noodles, separated into different strands
- bell pepper/capsicum
- onion
- Thai basil (optional)
Method
- Combine the water, sugar, gold moutain, soy, oyster sauces together with the smashed chillies. This will be added at the end of the cooking.
- Prepare all vegetables – slice the onions, peppers into fine strips. Cut the vegetables into similar sizes.
- Fry the tofu until it has a relatively crispy skin and set aside
- Reheat the pan, starting with the garlic, onion then adding the chili to fry off.
- Cook the vegetables and when ready, add the noodles. Having previously separated them makes it easier to mix together and still leave whole
- Add the tofu and then fry until the noodle is soft and cooked. At the last moment, throw in the prepared sauce and stir until the noodles are evenly coated with it
- Just before serving, I like to mix some Thai basil through to add another layer of flavour