This recipe is one that I have been experimenting with for a while, trying to find the right balance between the sauces and bring out the umami flavor without the addition of fish sauce. Inspired by the endless number of Thai restaurants in my university town, check out this recipe to make your own drunken noodles at home!
What you will need:
For the Sauce:
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce (or vegetarian oyster/mushroom sauce)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chili garlic sauce
optional: 1-2 tablespoons of pickled jalapeno juice
For the noodles:
14 oz packet of rice flakes (or rice noodles)
3-4 tbsp Vegetable/Sesame oil
1 medium white onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 medium carrots
1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes
2 cups of Thai basil
Fried tofu (soy chunks)
1-2 tbsp of pickled jalapeno juice (optional)
Chili flakes (optional)
Preparing the noodles:
- Prepare the sauce by combining all the ingredients listed (excluding the pickled jalapeno juice) in a bowl and put it aside. Won’t be needing this till the last step.
- Prepare the rest of the ingredients: Mince the garlic cloves. Cut up the vegetables to your desired bite size–I prefer a long cut for the onions, peppers, and carrots. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves. Cut the tofu chunk in halves. Roughly chop the Thai basil leaves.
- In a large pot start boiling water for the noodles and cook by instructions on the package. I prefer to go a few minutes beyond the time listed till the noodles are soft and chewy. Make sure to test the texture of the noodles before draining them so that they are the texture that you prefer.
- While the water is boiling for the noodles, simultaneously start heating up your oil in a separate pan with a large base or wok, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil on medium heat. Let the onions become almost translucent but do not let them burn.
- Add the rest of the vegetables and half of the Thai basil to the pan and let everything cook covered for a few minutes allowing for steam to build up in the pan.
- Drain the water from the noodles and quickly give them a rinse under cold water so they are not too hot.
- Once the vegetables are cooked, add in the drained noodles by separating them, if possible, to prevent giant clumps of noodles in the pan. Add in the sauce and tofu pieces.
- After the noodles have been combined well with the sauce and vegetables, add in the tomatoes to prevent them from overcooking.
- Add the remaining Thai basil leaves and give the noodles one last stir!
Some additional tips about the recipe:
If you want to swap out the rice flakes for the rice noodles, I recommend cooking them just slightly under perfect because as they cook in the sauce, they will start to break if they become overcooked.
Aim to immediately add the noodles once they are drained into the veggies so that you can avoid large clumps of noodles. This may require to you start cooking the veggies a few minutes before starting to boil the noodles.
If you cannot find fried soy chunks, you can also use regular firm tofu and pan fry that. For a healthier alternative, you can bake the tofu pieces or air fry it!
This is the final product with rice flakes giving the meal an authentic Thai restaurant look!
