Thai cuisine is our favorite cuisine after Indian. I belong to the coastal region of India. I grew up eating food that used lot of coconut. Thai food brings back the memories of the curries my mom used to make with coconut.  Pad Kee Mau is a little tedious recipe but the efforts are worth it. 

You need –

Thai Flat Rice Noodles – about 2-3 cups. 

1/2 Cup of Broccoli florets

1/2 Cup of Thick slices of Carrots

1/2 Cup of Chopped Celery

1/2 Cup of Bamboo Shoots

1/2 cup of Water Chestnuts

1-2 Red/Yellow Bell peppers chopped into 1 inch dices. 

1 Pack of Extra-Firm Tofu

1-2 Springs Onions

2 Tomatoes cut in half.

Thai Red Chilles( Optional)

1 cup Basil Leaves.

1/2 Cup of whole Cashews.

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoons of Palm Sugar ( Brown sugar if Palm Sugar is not available)

2 Teaspoons of White Vinegar

1-2 Tablespoons of Chunky Peanut Butter

Oil

Salt to taste

1-2 Teaspoons of Stir Fry Sauce

Preparing Tofu

Cut Tofu in 1 inch pieces. In a bowl mix Soy Sauce and Sugar together. Marinate Tofu for 15-20 minutes.

Heat frying pan and add a little oil.

Saute the Tofu and keep aside. You should see some brown spots on the Tofu.

Preparing Rice Noodles

Boil about 10 cups of water. Remove from heat.

Add the Rice Noodle Package to the water and keep for 3-4 minutes. That time is sufficient for the noodles to cook.

Remove and rince through ice cold water. This is to make sure they don’t stick. Keep them immersed in the cold water.

Preparing the Vegetables.

Heat oil in the same pan you sauted the Tofu. Add all the vegetables at the same time. Add Salt, Sugar, Soy Sauce, Peanut butter, Vinegar and Thai Chillies ( if you like spicy). Add the Stir fry sauce. Goal is to cook the vegetables just enough. We do not want to cook them all the way through. We need to preserve the crispiness. 

Remove the veggies from the heat and set aside. Add chopped basil leaves on the vegetables. The heat from the veggies is enough for basil to cook. Save some basil leaves for garnishing. 

Preparing the Tomato

In the same pan when hot add the tomatoes cut side down. The sugar in the juice from Tomatoes is enough to caramelize them in a minute of so. Add a little salt and sugar and few drops of Soy sauce. Remove and set aside. 

Preparing the Cashews

In the same pan sauce Cashews till they turn a little brown. Remove and set aside. 

Preparing the noodles-II

In the same pan heat a little bit of oil. When hot add the noodles. Make sure you drain the water from the noodles as much as you can.

Add a little soy sauce, stir fry sauce and sugar. Remember we already have salt in there. The high heat and a little sugar will help the noodles caramelize nicely and get the light brown color.

Putting it all together

In a serving plate mix tofu, veggies, noodles and cashews. Garnish with crushes peanuts and fresh Thai basil and the seared tomatoes.

If using any meat – marinate it separately with soy sauce, pepper and stir fry sauce and saute it and mix at the end.

Pad Kee Mau can be made with any meat like chicken or beef. When made with just vegetarian it is called Pad Kee Mau Jay.

These are also called Drunken noodles because essentially they are high on spices and Soy.