K.O. in Bangkok? Have some ‘Drunken noodles’!

Pad Ki Mao, or drunken noodles.

We already gave you some tips and tricks to get rid of your hangover. But every country has its own traditional dishes to make the process go faster. We like to give you a taste of the international anti-hangover cuisine. This time we take you to Thailand. You probably have heard crazy stories from friends who went there, or at least seen the movie Hangover 2. Thailand is one of the biggest party area’s in the world. No wonder they have some solid hangover cures in the morning. This one is named Pad Ki Mao, or in English ‘Drunken Noodles’. Must be good ey?!

Ah Thailand, what can we say about Thailand? Known for it’s great party facilities. It’s actually hard to think of something that isn’t available in this country. However most people go for sex and drinks. And boy, do they have some drinks for you out there in South East Asia. Do you want a snake, a scorpion or a spider in that drink sir? But besides the freaky stuff you can also just get embarresly drunk in an old fashioned way.
You wouldn’t be the only one. Thailand ranks 5th on the worldwide list of alcohol consumption according to the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Only South Korea, the Bahamas, Taiwan and Bermuda score higher on the list. And well, where there is good drinking, there better be some great hangover cures. Luckily the Thai kitchen has many hot dishes that will make you sweat out the alcohol. This dish that we present to you now is supposed to work extremely well and therefor got the name ‘drunken noodles’.Now we won’t claim that the movie The Hangover 2 would only last 5 minutes if only the cast ate this dish, but it would have probably helped a little.

Ingredients
400 grams of wide rice noodles
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium shallots (thinly sliced)
3 garlic cloves (chopped)
500 grams of chicken meat (chopped up in small pieces)
2 medium bell peppers (green or red doesn’t matter, but thinly sliced)
3 large eggs (slightly beaten)
2 medium jalapeño peppers
1 cup Thai basil leaves

Preparation:
Put the noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. After about 15 minutes of soaking, drain them and set them aside. In the meantime mix the oyster sauce, fish sauce and lime juice in a medium bowl and set this one aside too.
Now heat the oil in a frying pan and put in the shallots and garlic. After 2 minutes of cooking you can add the chicken. After about 3 minutes you can add the bell peppers. Let the whole thing fry for another 5 minutes.
Than push the chicken mixture to one side of the pan and add the eggs on the other. Scramble them until they are set. Now you can add the sauce mixture. Once the sauce is boiling, add the noodles and toss the whole thing well. Now remove from the heat and add the jalapeños and basil. Toss the whole thing one more time and your pad ki mao is ready to be served.

Micky Bumbar

Check out more tasty hangover cures from around the world