Easy 15 Minute Drunken Noodles

I found a recipe that The Renaissance Man likes – he of my How to Make My Boyfriend a Foodie Post. I saw this recipe on Easy Chinese and it looked delicious and simple and he’s a huge fan of shrimp. I have to be honest, Thai food isn’t on the top of my list for favorite Asian foods. The list probably goes, in order of favorites: Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and then Thai, The Renaissance Man isn’t much a fan of Thai food, but that isn’t really saying much 😛 However one of my favorite dishes is Pad Kee Mao (very similiar to beef chow fun)

Here is the original recipe from Average Betty

Ingredients for Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mow)

3 tbsp black soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp canola or peanut oil
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggs
1/3 pounds beef and shrimp, beef thin sliced against the grain
1/2 medium white onion, sliced
4 cups fresh rice noodles, separated
1 cup Thai basil leaves, loosely packed
1/2 medium tomato, sliced
1/2 tsp white pepper

With stir fry recipes its best to prepare all the ingredients in advance

Combine black soy, sweet soy, oyster sauce, and fish sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat oil to medium high in a medium sauté pan and sauté garlic until light brown. Add eggs and lightly scramble until set.

A question that arose at this point was, what cut of meat works best for stir fry? Recommended was flank steak, sirloin steak or skirt steak.  I firmly believe and this isn’t noted in this recipe, that all meat should be velveted before stir frying. Velveting makes meat super tender, fluffy and velvet-y! I have often stir fried beef without velveting and the meat is tough, flavorless and inedible. Full information on how to velvet meat is posted here in Serious Eats. I prefer water velveting over hot oil velveting. Velveting instructions are posted below with the full recipe

Add meat and onions folding constantly until the meat is half cooked, about 1 to 2 minutes. For the rice noodle I really recommend using dried noodles. I made the mistake of using the Vietnamese cooked, wide oily noodles that you can get packaged at Asian Supermarkets. They are clumped together and I read that the only way to separate the noodles is carefully by hand one by one, this process would take at least 30 minutes on its own! Also you can’t refridegerate the fresh noodles, once in the fridge they turn hard and are unusable so the noodles need to be used within 24 hours.

Add fresh rice noodles, sauce, tomatoes and basil; toss to combine for about 3 to 5 minutes

I like to butterfly and devein both sides of the shrimp, belly also. I find that butterflying shrimp makes it a little more tender for my tastes. Make sure the noodles are cooked until the edges are slightly crisp. Sprinkle white pepper to combine well and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Ingredients for Velveting Meat

1 pound, boneless and skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon, salt
1 tablespoon, dry sherry
1 large, egg white
1 tablespoon, cornstarch
1tablespoon, oil

Instructions for Velveting Meat

Mix egg white with cornstarch, rice wine, and salt. Mix until the cornstarch dissolves. Make sure to dry the meat well with a paper towel. Pour the velveting mixture on top and marinade in the refridgerator for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, fill a pot with boiling water and 1 teaspoon of oil. Add meat and stir around for 40 seconds. Remove meat and strain water. Make sure to get rid of as much excess water as you can. Thats it – the mat is ready for stir fry!