It has chewy flat rice noodles, tender chicken strips, fragrant holy basil, and Thai chilies tossed in a salty, savory sauce. You can make drunken noodles with everyday Asian ingredients and sauces. There’s nothing fancy here, but it’s big on flavor. The Thai bird’s eye chili is one of the main ingredients, as the heat it brings makes it unique, and the Thai basil gives it a burst of freshness.
Rice noodles: The wide noodles are designed to pick up a lot of sauce. They are chewy. Fresh rice noodles (aka ho fun noodles) are used authentically. However, sourcing and storing fresh rice noodles can be difficult. Your next best bet is dry wide rice noodles, which are easily available. Chicken: Boneless chicken cut into thin slices. Chicken thighs can also be used instead. Oil: Any neutral cooking oil. Sauce: For the depth of flavor, all of these sauces are a must, and I am afraid they can’t be substituted. Fish sauce doesn’t have a pleasant smell, but there is no doubt that it completes the dish. Dark soy sauce gives that deep color and can be substituted by regular soy sauce in a pinch. Shallots and garlic Sugar: brown sugar or regular white sugar is used to balance all the salty sauces. Birds eye chilli: For the heat. Look for small red chillies in the Asian section. Basil: Holy basil or Thai basil. While authentically Holly basil is used, it could be hard to find. Both of these basils have a spicy, peppery, anise flavor. Italian basil has a more sweet taste, so it will not have the same flavor. Green onion
There is some flexibility in the add-ons, I have used bok choy here, but you can use other veggies like Chinese broccoli, baby corn, and straw mushrooms.
Measure all the sauces and prepare the stir-fry sauce in a bowl. Cook rice noodles as per package instructions. I usually soak the noodles in hot water in a large bowl (until fully submerged) for about 15-20 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Another way to adjust the heat is to use 2 types of chillies, hot ones and mild chilli peppers. Mild peppers will add flavor without making the dish too spicy. If spicy noodles are not your thing, then you could give the Pad Thai, Pad See Ew recipes a try.
