Drunken Noodles with Thai Basil

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Fresh wide rice noodles seared in a screaming-hot pan until the edges char, tossed in a dark, garlicky soy-oyster sauce with chiles and long beans. A big handful of Thai basil goes in off the heat so it wilts without losing its licorice perfume. Twenty minutes start to finish, and the whole thing hinges on one thing: getting the pan hotter than you think you should.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp regular soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp water

• 1 lb fresh wide rice noodles (sen yai / ho fun), room temperature
• 3 tbsp neutral oil, such as canola or peanut
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 Thai bird chiles, thinly sliced (or 1 serrano)
• 2 large eggs
• 6 oz Chinese long beans or green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 small yellow onion, sliced into thick wedges
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 2 cups Thai basil leaves, loosely packed

• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Chili flakes or prik nam pla, for the table

Instructions

1. Whisk the oyster sauce, dark soy, regular soy, fish sauce, sugar, and water together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Set it right next to the stove — this cooks fast and you won't have time to measure mid-stir-fry.
2. Prep the noodles. If your fresh rice noodles are refrigerated and stuck in a solid block, microwave the sealed bag or a covered plate of them in 30-second bursts (60–90 seconds total) until pliable, then gently peel the sheets apart into 1-inch-wide strands. Don't rinse them and don't boil them. If you can only find dried wide rice noodles, soak 8 oz in hot tap water for 25 minutes until flexible but still firm, then drain very well.
3. Have everything within arm's reach: sauce, garlic and chiles together in one bowl, vegetables in another, eggs cracked into a cup, basil in a big pile.
4. Heat a 14-inch carbon steel wok or your largest heavy skillet over the highest heat your burner will give you for a full 3 minutes, until a drop of water vaporizes instantly on contact. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and swirl — it should shimmer and thin out immediately.
5. Add the long beans, onion, and bell pepper. Stir-fry 2 minutes, pressing the vegetables against the pan so they take on black blistered spots. They should stay crisp. Scrape them out onto a plate.
6. Return the pan to high heat, add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and add the garlic and chiles. Stir for 15 seconds — just until fragrant, not browned. Pour in the eggs, let them set for 20 seconds, then break them into large curds.
7. Add the noodles and pour the sauce down the side of the hot pan so it sizzles and caramelizes on contact. Now stop stirring: let the noodles sit undisturbed for 45 to 60 seconds to catch char. Then toss with a wide spatula, folding rather than stirring so the strands don't shred, and let them sit again for another 45 seconds. Total noodle time is about 3 minutes; you want distinct charred edges and no pooling liquid.
8. Return the vegetables to the pan and toss 30 seconds to combine and reheat.
9. Kill the heat completely. Add all the Thai basil and fold it through the residual heat for about 20 seconds — it should wilt and release its perfume without turning dark and grassy. Taste one noodle: add a splash more fish sauce for salt or a pinch of sugar for balance.
10. Divide between two warm plates immediately and serve with lime wedges and chili flakes. Drunken noodles wait for no one — the char and the basil both fade within minutes.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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