Dish Test Kitchen: Thai Drunken Noodles

My boyfriend has always wished I could cook awesome Asian food. One day, I decided to take his comment seriously and hone my skill sets toward the art of cooking Asian cuisine. 

For New Year’s, I made him Chinese dumplings. For his birthday, a basic Thai stir fry. I’ve endured the level-nine rabbit appetizer at Han Dynasty in an effort to understand the Szechuan peppercorn, as he loves a spicier life.

Then, after his restaurant launched a new menu and he worked all day every day, I decided to reward him with his all-time favorite: Thai drunken noodles.

It started off innocently enough, wanting to let him rest on his first day off in three weeks. I took a trip to Upper Darby’s HMart for ingredients.

I have long been a fan of Upper Darby’s only Asian grocery store, for everything from the inexpensive produce to the unfamiliar treats. The charm of everything being in another language adds to the excitement of not quite knowing what you might be getting but being pretty sure it will be delicious.

I started off my trip to H Mart by picking out my produce. I was using a recipe for drunken spaghetti I had found in Victor Sodsook’s True Thai: The Modern Art of Thai Cooking, with a few alterations.

I used habanero and Thai peppers instead of the recommended serrano and Japanese chilies. I also picked up my garlic, plum tomatoes, red onions, scallions and cilantro.

On next to the meat and seafood department, where I decided to forego Sodsook’s beef for shrimp and chicken tenderloins.

Another deviance from the recipe came with the spaghetti. I used vermicelli noodles instead, which are available at H Mart both fresh and dried.

My last alteration was the fish and oyster sauce. Oyster sauce is traditionally a Chinese ingredient, not Thai. I was already using Mexican peppers, so I decided to double the fish sauce and leave out the oyster sauce. (I also mistakenly grabbed what I thought was oyster sauce, but was really just oyster-brand fish sauce. The charm of H Mart strikes again!)

I returned home eager to start on my surprise. My prep started immediately and lasted for just over an hour, measuring out portions, peeling and dicing tomatoes, chopping basil, onions, chilies and scallions, making a “chili pesto” and, finally, slicing up my chicken and blanching off my noodles.

Real-time cooking started and finished within ten minutes. I tried to cook as authentically as possible by using a wok. Because I am trained in French cooking, I ended up sautéing more than stir frying, but I got the wok movement down about halfway through cooking.

The most important thing with a wok is that it is piping hot. Once it reached that point I added my butter, then began to stir fried my chicken, adding my shrimp when the chicken was just turning white.

I added my chili pesto and stir fried until shrimp and chicken were coated, about a minute, before adding the noodles and chicken stock. Another minute and in went my tomatoes, onions, and scallions, followed by my fish sauce.

At this point I removed my noodles to make the sauce. It was simply tomato sauce, sugar and white pepper. Once the sugar dissolved and the sauce was boiling, I added my noodles and tossed until everything was blended, completing my drunken noodles.

The best part of cooking anything is when you get to eat it. Because I used habaneros, my drunken noodles were more on the spicy side. In fact, I couldn’t eat more than one bowl before I began to sweat. The boy, however, continued eating.

It will be a few weeks before I brave another spicy dish, but Sodsook’s drunken noodles adapted for Chris and Christy were a hot success!

Recipe: Thai Drunken Noodles

Ingredients:

• 1 lb vermicelli noodles
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 6 habanero chilies
• 10 small Thai chilies
• 24 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch Italian basil
• ½ lb chicken tenderloin, sliced thin
• ½ lb peeled shrimp
• 6 plum tomatoes, concasse
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 3 scallions, cut into 1” pieces
• 6 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp white pepper
• Cilantro (for garnish)

Method:

1. Concasse (peel, seed and slice) your tomatoes
2. Make chili pesto: stem habaneros and crush them with the garlic using the side of your knife. Mince the Thai chilies. Process with basil until moist and nearly minced.
3. Place all of your ingredients near your cooking area. Time goes fast when stir frying! I lined them up in order of when I would use them.
4. While your wok heats, blanch your noodles (if you do this too soon, they become sticky and overcooked).
5. Coat wok with butter and stir-fry proteins. Chicken first, about two minutes, then add shrimp. Stir fry about 45 seconds.
6. Add chili pesto, stir fry until proteins are coated. Add noodles and chicken stock, stir fry about 45 seconds. Add tomatoes, red onion and scallions, stir fry about 45 seconds. Add fish sauce and stir fry 30 seconds.
7. Remove to side bowl.
8. Allow wok to heat, and begin sauce. Add tomato sauce, sugar and white pepper. Stir fry until sauce begins to boil and sugar is dissolved.
9. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir fry until well blended, about 1 minute.

• Photography: Gwen Moore