Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
Print RecipeServings: 4 servings
You can adjust the heat of the dish by lessening or increasing the number of Thai chiles in the dish. It will also depend on the size of the chiles, i used larger size chiles. I used 4 in the recipe I cooked in the video, it was a nice subtle burn that was in the final dish.
Pin Recipe
Share on Facebook
Tried this recipe?Mention @culinaryseasons or tag #culinaryseasons!
Recipe Multiplier
Hydrating Noodle Ingredients
- 1 ea 14 oz Dry Rice Noodles XL (you can use fresh noodles as well)
- Hot Tap Water
Sauce Ingredients
- ⅓ cup Dark Sweet Soy Sauce
- ⅓ cup Fish Sauce
- ¼ cup Rice Vinegar Seasoned
- 2 ea Juice of 2 Limes
Ingredients to Prep
- 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 lb Ground Pork or Ground Chicken
- 5 ea Garlic Cloves minced
- 5 ea Thai Chilis sliced
- 3 ea Medium Shallots sliced
- 3 ea Carrots peeled and sliced
- 3 ea Scallions sliced
- 1 cup Baby Spinach
- ⅔ cup Thai Basil Leaves whole
Instructions
Hydrate the Dry Rice Noodles
- Place the dry rice noodles in a bowl or container that will allow the noodles to be covered by the hot water. Run tap hot tap water over the dry rice noodles until they are covered. Let the rice noodles soak for 20-30 minutes, changing the water mid way to have hot water throughout the soaking process. If using fresh rice noodles, you can skip this step.
Assemble the Sauce
- In a bowl combine the dark sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar and the lime juice. mix until combined. Reserve until ready to use.
Cooking the Dish
- Start a pot of water on the stove to blanch the rice noodles. It should be at a simmer. Reserve for later use. Have a strainer or colander to drain the noodles.
- In a wok on the Kamado Joe or on the stove top with a wok or saute pan, heat the oil.
- Add the ground pork or chicken to the pan once the oil is hot.
- Break apart the ground pork or chicken and saute until cooked. Once cooked, you can remove the meat from the pan and drain any fat. Or if there is not much fat in the pan, you can leave the meat in while you assemble the remaining ingredients.
- Add the garlic, thai chilis and shallots to the pan. Saute with or without the cooked ground meat.
- Once the shallots start to become translucent, add the carrots to the pan. Continue to saute the aromatics.
- Add 2 tablespoons of sauce to the pan and toss to coat. This will give some liquid to the pan allowing some steam to help cook the carrots. Saute the carrots and other ingredients in the pan for a couple of minutes.
- Add the spinach and toss to begin wilting.
- Remove the ingredients from the pan and reserve until after the noodles have been sauteed.
- From this step on, you will make half of the dish at a time to not overcrowd the pan or wok.
- In the pan, add a tablespoon of oil.
- Blanch the half of the rice noodles, for just a few seconds, in the simmering pot of water that you have on the stove. Scoop out the noodles with a strainer or drain the pot into a colander to remove as much water as you can.
- Add the drained rice noodles to the pan with the oil. Toss the noodles in the hot pan with the oil. Toss for 30 seconds to a minute. Tossing the noodles helps to soften the noodles and dry them out a bit. If the noodles begin to stick to the pan add the sauce.
- Add the half of the sauce to the noodles and toss to coat.
- Add half of the reserved meat and aromatics back into the pan. Mix to combine the sauce with the ingredients.
- Continue to toss the ingredients in the pan keeping the noodles moving to avoid it burning. The noodles will absorb the sauce and should become darker as they absorb the sauce.
- Once the noodles absorb the sauce, add half of the Thai basil and toss to combine.
- Remove the Drunken Noodles from the pan into a bowl or serving dish.
- Repeat steps 11 thru 18 to make the other half of the dish.
- Serve as a side dish to other entrees or serve as a meal in itself. Enjoy!