August 21, 2017

Chicken of the Woods Vegan Pad Kee Mao

I loved pad thai the first time I tried it, and it took me years to get over my pad thai obsession enough to try any other dish. When I finally did, I realized I might never eat pad thai again- pad kee mao (often called drunken noodles) was so delicious, I couldn’t go back. To this day I’ve tried embarrassingly few Thai dishes, because I can never get over how great the ones I’ve had are, and how much I want to have them again. This homemade vegan pad kee mao hits all those amazing salty, savory, fresh, meaty notes of the original, but totally vegan and with a foraged twist!

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Foraging for Chicken of the Woods

When I go out for a forage, I’m an expert at finding chicken of the woods. That statement is similar to saying, “when I go driving, I am an expert at spotting traffic cones in the road”. Both traffic cones and chicken of the woods are bright orange, and pretty hard to miss if they’re around. Chicken of the woods is an orange or yellow polypore that grows in large clusters on dead or dying trees and, depending on the species, grow in clusters, shelves, or rosettes. As they age they become tough and more woody, but the younger mushrooms have a soft and sort of stringy texture. They can be a little tough to clean as they have no problem growing around and incorporating leaves, pine needles, dirt, twigs and other bits of the forest. Chicken of the woods is named so because it tastes and smells remarkably like chicken (or like a chicken-mushroom hybrid)- it also has a similar fibrous texture. It is one of the most identifiable and unique tasting wild mushrooms there is. They are quite large, and so usually finding just one chicken means you’re well on your way to dinner. The bottom side has pores (small holes), not gills (like a common oyster or portabello mushroom). They can be found most commonly in the fall (in this case I found it in summer) and are very widespread. Young species are better, as they become more brittle and woody as they age. Always make sure to cook and clean mushrooms that you find, for safety’s sake. This recipe uses a marinade for the chicken of the woods- because this mushroom does not contain the same amount of liquid and fats, it is extra important to give it time to soak before pan frying it. Without the time resting in fat and water, it is easy for the mushrooms to get dry and unpleasant to eat.

Disclaimer: When foraging wild mushrooms, you are responsible to verify beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have positively identified that mushroom. While I take responsibility for the accuracy of the information on this site, I can not take responsibility for the identification of the mushrooms you’ve foraged. Please consult multiple resources (books, websites, and human experts) to verify the identification of your mushroom.

Looking for Thai-Inspired Vegan Recipes? Try one of these!

Looking for Chicken of the Woods Recipes? Try one of these!

How to Make Vegan Pad Kee Mao

The most important ingredient in this vegan pad kee mao is our special ingredient- chicken of the woods mushrooms! This gives our dish much more flavor than if we were just going to do without. Prepare your chicken of the woods by giving them a good rinse, and picking out any twigs, pine needles, or bugs that might be on your mushrooms. That’s just part of life when you’re getting food from the forest. Use your hands to tear the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, and toss them in a simple marinade. Let them sit for about half an hour, just to soak up some of that flavor. While mushrooms marinate, you can get started on chopping and prepping the rest of the dish.

One thing I didn’t know about Thai food when I first started eating it was that most Thai dishes contain fish sauce- a rich, salty, umami flavor that makes Thai food really taste like Thai food. After I learned of its presence in most Thai dishes, I learned to ask for it to be left out- but the food really didn’t taste the same. As I began to adventure into cooking my own Thai noodle dishes, I remedied that by developing my own vegan fish sauce to keep on hand, and substitute in as needed. If you’d rather not make your own, some brands of vegan fish sauce do exist, but I have never seen one in a store near me.

Although many recipes for pad kee mao recommend using rice noodles, I decided to shake things up a little and make my pad kee mao noodles more similar to those I had in college. I came across a wide, frozen fresh noodle in the store called shanxi pulled noodles. The flat, broad shape adds a lot of surface area to get crispy and cover in sauce, which is one of the best elements of this dish. Boil your noodles as directed on the package while your mushrooms marinate.

This vegan pad kee mao all comes together in a simple stir fry. The mushrooms and tofu go first, then the garlic, chili, and ginger, next the peppers, onions, noodles and sauce, and finally the tomatoes and scallions. The final touch is a little fresh basil, right at the end. One last note before we get to the recipe- I don’t own a wok, so I made my drunken noodles in a large skillet- if you have a wok, please use it, if you don’t, grab the biggest skillet you’ve got. I ended up with so much mushroom, tofu, vegetables and noodles in my pan it was spilling out onto the stove!

Chicken of the Woods Vegan Pad Kee Mao

Vegan Chicken of the Woods Pad Kee Mao

Ingredients

½ lb. Chicken of the Woods mushrooms, cleaned
1 lb. flat, broad noodles, such as shanxi fresh pulled noodles
1 lb. firm tofu
5 cloves garlic
½ piece fresh ginger
2 Serrano (or other) hot peppers
2 bell peppers
1 large onion
1 large tomato
2 green onions
A handful of loosely packed fresh basil (Thai basil is best)
Vegetable oil, for cooking

Chicken Marinade:

3 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil

Pad Kee Mao Sauce

3 tbsp. vegan fish sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. white wine
1 tbsp. garlic chili paste

Instructions

Tear the cleaned chicken of the woods into bite-sized pieces, between ½-1 inch in size. Pour the marinade over the mushrooms and gently toss. Put aside and allow to marinate for around 30 minutes.
While you are waiting, prep the other elements of the dish. Press the moisture out of the tofu for around 10 minutes before chopping into half inch cubes. Put on a pot of water to boil, and cook the noodles as directed on the package. When they are done, drain, toss in a little oil to prevent sticking, and set aside. Slice the peppers and onions into thin strips. Cut tomatoes into 6-8 wedges. Mince the garlic and the ginger, and cut the chili peppers into thin discs. Lastly, whisk all of the ingredients for the sauce together and set aside.
Heat some vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok. Once it is hot, add the tofu and the chicken of the woods, including any marinade that is left in the bowl. Cook for at least 5 minutes, until the chicken and tofu begin to get crispy. Add the garlic, ginger and Serrano peppers, and continue to cook until fragrant, stirring often so as not to let anything burn. Next add the green peppers, onions and noodles. Cook for another few minutes until the peppers soften and the noodles get a little crispy. Add the tomato, scallion, and sauce. Stir well to make sure the sauce covers the entire dish. Remove from the heat, add the basil, serve and enjoy.

https://veryveganval.com/2017/08/21/vegan-chicken-of-the-woods-pad-kee-mao/

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