• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Messy Vegan Cook
  • Recipes
  • Thai Food + Travel
  • Supper Clubs
  • Subscribe
    • Bloglovin
    • Instagram
    • RSS
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • All Recipes
  • Thai Food and Travel
  • London Vegan Supper Clubs
  • About
    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Articles » Thai Food and Travel » Vegan Thai Recipes

    Vegan Drunken Noodles (Kway Teow Pad Kee Mao – ก๋วยเตี๋ยวผัดขี้เมา)

    19 January, 2019 by Kip 3 Comments

    Kee mao is a noun (not adjective) in Thai language that translates to drunk or drunkard. Prepended with pad or pat, which means stir-fried, the full title of this dish translates to drunk stir fry or drunkard's stir fry. Somewhere along the road "drunken noodles" becomes the accepted translation and the name stuck.

    Vegan Pad Kee Mao Drunken Noodles

    Vegan pad kee mao with condiments

    The meaning of the name is typically interpreted in one of two ways. The most popular narrative indicates the stir fry was created to accommodate the appetites of drunken revelers craving spicy food. Another explanation is pat kee mao is a dish comprised of what a hungry drunk person may throw into a wok based on what's available.

    Astute readers will have correctly noticed no mention of noodles thus far. That is because pad kee mao does not necessarily contain noodles. Tack kway teow (rice noodles) onto the front of the title, however, and you have a drunkard's stir fry with noodles as the main ingredient.

    You need only do a Google image search for ผัดขี้เมา to get an idea of how varied pad kee mao can be (also note how popular spaghetti noodles are). Nevertheless, beyond Thailand's borders it's reasonable to expect an order of pat kee mao to arrive as a plate of stir fried sen yai (hor fun) noodles.

    Vegan Pad Kee Mao Drunken Noodles
    Print Recipe
    5 from 1 vote

    Kway Tiao Pat Kee Mao (Vegan Drunken Noodles)

    Prep Time15 mins
    Cook Time5 mins
    Total Time20 mins
    Cuisine: Thai
    Servings: 1 serving

    Ingredients

    • 250 grams fresh rice noodles
    • 1 tablespoon Thai light/thin soy sauce
    • 2 teaspoons Thai seasoning sauce
    • 1 teaspoon vegan oyster sauce
    • 1 teaspoon sweet dark soy sauce or kecap manis
    • 1 teaspoon white sugar
    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 1-3 bird’s eye chillies roughly chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
    • ½ medium sized onion cut into 2-3 cm wedges
    • ½ cup protein of choice tofu or mock pork are great
    • A few cherry tomatoes optional
    • Green peppercorns optional
    • Handful of holy basil

    Instructions

    • Seperate the noodles. If they have been refrigerated, steam them in a bowl for a few minutes until soft enough to separate.
    • In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, seasoning sauce, sweet soy sauce, and sugar.
    • Heat a wok to high heat. Add the oil. As soon as it smokes, add the garlic and chilli. Stir fry about 15-20 seconds, until garlic begins to brown. Add the onions and stir fry for thirty seconds before adding the protein and stir frying for another minute.
    • Add the noodles, sauce, tomatoes, and green peppercorns, stir frying to coat every strand of noodle. Leave to cook for a minute or two, allowing the noodles to absorb the sauce. Flip and cook for another minute or two.
    • Turn off the heat and add the holy basil, quickly stirring to wilt. Serve immediately with chilli vinegar.

    Notes

    Tomatoes are an unusual addition I learned from a recipe out of the Simple Thai Food Cookbook, but the pop of sweet acidity is welcome.
    For anyone wondering why I go back and forth between pat and pad, this is because Thai transliteration methods are all over the place. Both are appropriate (or not, depending who you talk to).
    You can use store bought or my homemade rice noodles.

    More Vegan Thai Recipes

    • Vegan kanom baa bin (Thai coconut pancakes), take two
    • Thai style vegan chicken rice (khao man gai)
    • Vegan mee gati – Thai coconut milk noodles
    • Vegan miang kham เมี่ยงคำ

    Reader Interactions

    I reserve the right to improve any malicious and trollish comments left below. Please do not comment about nonvegan products or activities.

    Comments

    1. Rashmi

      May 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm

      Hello, a quick question what do you mean by Thai seasoning sauce and the dark sweet soy sauce - do you mean siew dam?

      Reply
      • Kip

        May 22, 2019 at 1:27 pm

        Hi Rashmi, I wrote another post on these sauces here: Thai Soy Sauce and Seasoning Sauce Primer. The dark sweet soy sauce is see ew dam waan or see ew waan (see ew dam is unsweetened).

        Reply
    2. Sunil Dogra

      July 24, 2019 at 6:57 am

      5 stars
      This recipe is so versatile which makes it fun to recreate over and over again. Thanks for the recipe!

      Reply
    3. I reserve the right to improve malicious and trollish comments.

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Name's Kip. Some things about me: vegan, Thai food enthusiast, comfortably chaotic and disorganised, information lover, Londoner, cookbook collector, clumsy AF, rarely takes a serious photo, has never been on a diet. This is not a wellness blog.

    More about me →

    • All recipes
    • Thai food + travel
    • General travel
    • Reviews
    • Food facts
    • Thai fried tofu with sweet peanut dipping sauce
    • Thai winged bean salad (yam tua pu)
    Vegan Thai Recipes
    Vegan Travel in Thailand
    Kippysnacks logo

    I run vegan Thai supper clubs at my home in East London.

    Think Like a Vegan

    Think Like a Vegan Book

    A thoughtful read for long time vegans and nonvegans alike, this is one of the best styles of arguing for and discussing veganism I have yet to find. Highly recommended reading.

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • About
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Privacy policy
    • Relationships and disclosures
    • Comments Policy
    • PR and Review Policy
    • Freelance and Consultancy

    Contact

    Email me
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Newsletter

    All content on this site, including, but not limited to, text, recipes, and photographs are owned by Messy Vegan Cook and its contributors. No content may be reprinted or reproduced without permission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2020 Messy Vegan Cook