Back when I lived in Austin, I’d always go to this Thai restaurant called Madam Mam’s. It was cheap, delicious, and they always gave you enough food to have some left over to take home. Now I am not a huge fan of leftovers, but when it came to Madam Mam’s, you better believe that I got territorial over people sneaking my food (mainly honey). Since being away, I have not yet found a Thai restaurant in Dallas comparable to the simplicity and goodness of Madam Mam’s so I decided to reproduce one of my favorite pasta dishes at home: Pad Spaghetti Kee Mao. It’s basically a linguine tossed with thai basil, thai peppers and mushrooms, and it is quite spicy (or at least that’s how I always ordered it, extra hot please!).
I love this dish for many reasons -it’s vegetarian but you don’t even notice because of the meaty taste of the mushrooms, it is light and refreshing with the Thai basil, the flavors are simple yet complex and it was really easy to make! I am sure I probably fudged the ingredients but I have to say the end result was pretty darn close. I think because I used less oil it didn’t taste as epic as I’d want it to be, but seeing that my pants barely fit because of the holidays it was probably better this way 
I also used three different types of mushrooms: King Oyster, Shiitake, and Porcini — it really gave the dish a more earthier and meatier flavor and of course plenty of umami.
Ingredients for Pad Spaghetti Kee Mao: (serves 2)
- 1/2 package of linguine
- 1 cup thai basil, rinsed – 2/3 chopped, 1/3 whole
- 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup king oyster mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup porcini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 shallot, minced
- 2 thai peppers, minced
- 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper (you can use less or omit if you do not like spicy food)
- 2 tablespoons water (only use if pasta is too dry)
- salt to taste
Fill a large pot with water and bring to boil. You can add about 1 tablespoon of salt to the water to add flavor to the pasta if you choose. Once water comes to a boil, place the dry linguine and cook until al dente, about 7-8 min. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the oil at medium heat. Sautee the garlic, shallots, peppers, and crushed red pepper until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Next add the mushrooms, and cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Place pasta into pan and mix well with spices and mushrooms, add soy sauce and increase heat to medium high. If the mixture is too dry, simply add more water, if it is too wet, cook until it dries out a little bit. Add the chopped basil, mix well and season to your liking with salt. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Garnish with remaining basil leaves.
See how simple that was? I am dedicating this post to my best friend Karolina, this is actually her favorite dish at Madam Mam’s. I miss you Karol and wish you were here to eat this with me 
I have also made some minor changes with the layout — and added some SNOW to be festive ^_^ (wordpress tells me it is only available til Jan. 4)!!! I will continue making changes throughout, I am very web script illiterate so the process is quite slow, so please bear with me. Also, if anyone has any Thai recipes, do share! I have always wanted a good Pad Thai recipe — tried making it at home once and it turned out pretty not good, it had the Pad but lacked the Thai. Anyways, I will also be posting easy to make gift ideas (soon-ish) since Christmas is literally a little over two weeks away, WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?! Til then, happy eating everyone — don’t hold back, it’s the holidays! We all need a couple extra pounds to keep us warm during the winter
30 Comments
you are absolutely right, mushrooms do take on a meaty taste and I think wheat gluten does too. But this is a cool vegetarian dish, when I fast twice a month I’ll probably make this. Now the name Madam Mam kills me. Anyhow,have a great day.
LOL!!!!! The name is ridiculous isn’t it hahahaha
omg joy i love you for this
HAHAHA I knew austinites would appreciate this one
miss you!
Hey…have you become a vegetarian….haha? This sure looks very delicious. I don’t mind being a vegetarian for one meal eating this….hehe. I love all the mushrooms….mmmm.
NEVER mary NEVER…meat is in my blood hahahaha I try to switch off, meat one day veg the other. My honey has high cholesterol so I try to balance out the diet from time to time hee hee
Love the mushrooms and I think this is a healthy great combo meal.
I love mushrooms too, thanks anncoo
Love love love this post! This dish is gorgeous! I am always looking out for vegetarian recipes and this one is calling out to me. Thank you for that!
Ju
Thank you Ju!! I made the delicious donut muffins I found on your page last night — my honey ate almost all of them hahaha I will post and credit you soon!!
Joy- I disappear for a few days and you are cooking up a storm! I love, love thai food but whenever we go I always order pad thai because I can’t bear not to have it. This looks right up my alley, so I am bookmarking it now. I would really like to experiment more with thai cooking at home, so thanks for the inspiration!
Hahaha! Thanks erin, I adore thai food as well I hope it turns out well!!
MMMM… you had me at spaghetti & vegetarian! This looks amazing… I might just have to feature your recipe on my blog (after I try it, of course). Thanks for the post!
omg Kinzie I would love that, id feel so honored
!! Thank you for your kind words hee hee
I love pasta and this looks just fantastic!
Thank you sook!!!
i love this post… my first time to have a pad spaghetti recipe to tell you honestly. so thank you! and even though it’s vegeterian, i could have a plate of this dish!
Yeah i noticed the falling snow… i love it… so festive and it makes me miss NY!
I have a pad-thai recipe in my blog (under thai-ene entry) but it was one of my first entries, so I didn’t have pictures on that post yet (i’m still learning up to now) But check it out. You might like it. Just make it spicy if you want it to be spicy hahaha!
OMG you rock I am all about spicy pad thai, heading over now to track down that recipe…and thank you for the kind words
Wow, what a delicious pad spaghetti, I love that you are using three kinds of mushrooms, nice!
Thanks Natasha!!!
Great spaghetti! It looks delicious
Thanks Karine ^_^
I did notice the snow and that’ awesome. I absolutely love mushrooms and with pasta, I will always have seconds. Some Thai flavors are always welcome. Actually, I think I always have seconds of everything good.
My huge appetite.
Hurray!! I think you’re one of the few that did notice the snow
Thanks for the kind words, I always have seconds too…sometimes even thirds ^_^
OMG! OMG!
this has been my dish since freshmen year COLLEGE! that’s 2001, Joy.
I used to eat F5 sometimes 5 times a week!!! sometimes twice a day!
OMG!
can’t wait to learn this shit!
HAHA Linda i love you you are so hilarious! I hope you love it!!
I love it, it’s very similar to our pancit canton.. Thanks for sharing, I hope to try this recipe when mushrooms are not that expensive anymore..
..snow..brrr..brrr…lol
Aaaaw phooey if only mushrooms grew in snow hee hee hee
For a good Thai restaurant in Dallas, try Bangkok City on 4301 Bryan near downtown. Their Pad Gra Prow (as well as half their menu, which I’ve tried) is delicious.
wow thanks for that I will definitely give that a try – I love love LOVE Thai food!!!