THAI DRUNKEN NOODLES RECIPE (Pad Kee Mao)

Thai Drunken Noodles or ‘Pad Kee Mao’ is a spicy noodle dish originating from Northern Thailand and parts of Laos. The name of this dish can be misleading because there isn’t actually alcohol in the recipe or cooking process, despite Kee Mao translating to ‘drunkard’ in Thailand. There are various claims as to the origin of the name of this dish. One theory is that it’s so spicy, it actually makes you feel slightly drunk or dizzy. While another claim is that it’s simply a favourite meal to eat among the Thai, particularly after an evening of drinking. The latter is arguably more plausible, because you can certainly adjust the heat and spice level of this dish to your tolerance. 

So, what are the key ingredients for making Pad Kee Mao/Thai Drunken Noodles? This dish combines a choice of meat, which is typically ground pork with large (wide) rice noodles,  three main sauces; fish sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce, fresh herbs like garlic and Thai sweet basil and of course an essential ingredient in many Thai dishes, fresh chilli peppers. While the 3 main sauces, herbs, chillies and rice noodles are important ingredients in an authentic Pad Kee Mao recipe, alternative versions of this dish sometimes use fish instead of meat to suit different diets and preferences.

With this dish focusing heavily on seasoning with traditional Asian sauces, it’s important to use high quality sauces to achieve the best and most authentic flavour. For example, when it comes to fish sauce, it’s all in the name. Fish and salt are the main ingredients, however, the flavour that you should taste and smell is fish with a hint of saltiness and not the other way around. Hence authentically sourced ingredients will always achieve the best results when it comes to traditional recipes like this.

Some other tips to help you prepare your best Thai drunken noodles are to use fresh meat or fish rather than frozen. The texture of the meat or fish will be a lot softer and which helps the flavour of the sauces absorb better. You can also add vegetables such as baby corn and snow peas to add more textures and make the recipe heartier.