Thai Drunken Noodles

Drunken noodles have been a favorite of mine to order at Thai restaurants for years. It's a simple recipe and so flavorful -- moreover, you can do a lot with it when you make your own. The name of the dish almost always serves as a misnomer for those unfamiliar; eating the dish will not make you drunk, as it has no alcohol in it. The title implies how much beer you need to drink to counter the spiciness of the food. BUT, that too is misguided ... because fluid will only make excessive spiciness more intense. Instead, use bread or some kind of potato dish. As always, adjust proportions for your table ...



INGREDIENTS ( ... most of the work is in the prep here ...)

• - 7 ounces 1/4-inch-wide flat rice noodles (half a 14-ounce package). Of interest here ... many restaurants will use dried rice pasta flakes instead of dried flat noodles (1/4'') for this dish. Either works, so choose what you will.

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• - 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• - 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• - 1/8 cup chopped fresh Thai chiles
• - 3/4 pounds chopped chicken (or tofu, shrimp or beef)
• - 1/8 cup fish sauce
• - 1/8 cup black soy sauce (use regular if you can't find the black variety -- one is made from soy beans, the other from soya).
• -1/8 cup Golden Mountain sauce or light soy sauce (this is fairly easy to find, but if you can't just add a little more soy sauce from the previous ingredient)
• - 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• -2-3 large plum tomatoes, each cut into 6 wedges
• - 2 Anaheim chiles or Italian frying peppers, OR 1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
• -1/2 cup fresh Thai basil leaves* or regular basil leaves (some cooks will add the basil leaves near the end of the saute so that they will wilt some ... this is a personal preference. Wilting them will impart a deeper basil flavor to the dish, while adding them fresh on top just before serving will add the fresh green flavor.

GET a short drink and let's get to work ....

Put on water to boil with a dash of salt. Give enough time to get close to a boil ...

Meanwhile, heat oil in medium pot or skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and Thai chiles; sauté 30 seconds. 

Add noodles to boiling water.

Then, add chicken (or whatever meat/tofu) and next four ingredients to pot/skillet and sauté until meat is cooked through. 

When rice noodles are done (soft but still 'spaghetti' consistency), drain and rinse with cold water. 

Back to the pot/skillet -- add noodles, tomatoes, and Anaheim (or substitute) chiles; toss to coat. Transfer to plate or bowl, sprinkle with basil leaves, and serve.

Isn't that EASY?!! Yes Yes!!

Tonight's music: Gaucho by Steely Dan (yes, again)

Technology Tip: okay ... at this point, web-based services/apps (or, 'Web 2.0) have been around awhile. Which ones are you still using? Is it Facebook? Myspace? Flickr? Yahoo? Shutterfly? Photobucket? Vudu? Dropbox? Friendster (are they still around?!). There are still HUNDREDS. But maybe not as many as, say, five years ago -- the buzz is over and now it's GAME time. For the companies, it's a question of staying power, and what they want to do in both an innovative and commercial sense; for consumers, it's an issue of where they want to put their time and INFORMATION. The bottom line? Feel free to experiment, as always, but those days are largely behind us -- the current Web 2.0 climate demands users be more aware and discerning of their actions. In 2004, one could create accounts across the web at numerous social media and sharing sites just for fun ... maybe you'd remember to come back and check in a few months, maybe not. But, things are a little different now. The social media landscape is changing. Facebook is king today, but will it be tomorrow? 

Be careful, not just for mere safety but for expediency  -- and most of all, privacy.