Thai Noodles

Thai Street Vendor Noodles

(Kuaytiaw)

Preview of the style of dish we are going to show you how to replicate at home.

Thai-street-vendor-Noodles-RecipeKhwanjai’s a dab hand at Thai Noodles (Kwaytiaw) and so she should be; she can serve up over 200 portions a day in her Thai noodles cafe above. Kwaytiaw is a traditional Thai Noodles, sold all over Thailand by street vendors and small cafe owners. It is another one of Thailand’s fast foods and is also a style of noodles soup.

It is instantly variable by the vendor to suit customers wants. There many different types of soup noodles which we cover in this recipe video tutorial.

We have many Noodle Classes, which are all typical Thai food cooking style, using ideally, fresh noodles and of course vegetables when they’re involved we also included Thai Spring Rolls in the Noodle section because they contain noodles too.

This is a typical Thai snack recipe eaten any time of day and is generally eaten on it’s own but at the table you would have a choice of Thai sauces and condiments such as Pik Nam Paa, Pik Nam Som, Chilli Powder, Toasted Peanuts and sugar.

How to Make Kwaytiaw Noodles
Recipe for 6-8 People
Ingredients:Thai-street-vendor-Noodles-Ingredients
Stock Ingredients:
300gr Lean Pork Steak
1 Cup Pork Bones
1 Cup Pickled Garlic
1/2 Cup Coriander Roots
1 ts Salt
1 ts Palm Sugar (heaped)
2 Tbs Thai Seasoning Sauce
2 Tbs sized Chunks of Galangal
1 Tbs Chicken Stock
1 Gallon Water

Noodles Ingredients:
Various types of noodles (your preference)
1 Pack Egg Noodle square wrappers (small)
3-4 Cups Water Spinach
3-4 Cups Bean Sprouts
1/4 Cup Minced/ Ground Pork
3-4 Spring Onions (shown mixed with coriander) >>
1/2 Cup Coriander (when chopped)
2 Tbs Pickled Cabbage
1/2 Cup Fried Garlic and Pork fat in Pork oil *
Lots of Pepper

Preparation:
Clean up and skin a couple of large chunks of Galangal
Wash Coriander roots, use stems if you can’t get roots
Chop the Spring Onions and Coriander and mix together as per photo
Chop the Water Spinach
Soak Bean sprouts together with the Water Spinach in cold fresh water
Prepare some Ground meat as per Thai Ground Meats Video Tutorial
Prepare some fried Garlic and Pork Fat and oil as per Frying Garlic and Rendering Pork Fat Tutorials
If using dried noodles follow instructions on the pack to soften them up

Cooking:
Bring about a gallon of water to boil for the stock and throw in all the “stock ingredients” at the same time and cook for thirty minutes.
Whilst waiting for the pork to cook, fold in half (into triangles) the egg noodle squares and deep fry (medium heat) until golden and crispy
Return to stock pot after 30 minutes: Remove the lean Pork and slice thinly
Next step involves minced meat- see video tips.
Now you’re ready for the family fun; to start serving up Kwaytiaw!
To do this at home you’ll need a second pan of simmering hot water
Select a portion of your preferred noodles and lower them into the simmering water and stir briefly
Grab a handful of bean sprouts and water spinach and add to the noodles, mix all together for 10-20 seconds or so and remove to a LARGE bowl
On top we add a spoon of the fried garlic and pork fat, a generous pinch of pickled cabbage, a very generous pinch of the chopped coriander and spring onions
Next you lay the sliced pork on top (and the trick stuff with minced meats)
Next up, is a goodly portion of the Pork Stock to almost fill the bowl (see topmost image above)
Done! You just learned how to make Thai Noodles (Kwaytiaw – Street Vendor style)

Serving suggestion:
Serve with a nice sprinkling of pepper on top to taste! Thais would generally add the following ingredients to fine tune the Kwaytiaw to their own taste. Try our Pik Nam Paa – Chilli Fish Sauce for those of us who like to pep it up a bit, be careful with this because its red hot or try adding some Red Chilli Powder, or Crushed Toasted Peanuts, Chilli Vinegar Sauce, Pik Nam Som and not forgetting sugar to taste. See how Jules does it in the video to get a better idea.

Also see….. One of tourists most favourite Thai Noodle Soups simply known a Raad Naa or Thick Brown Noodles Soup, a much easier recipe than this one.

There is also useful info here – Kwaytiaw Thai Noodles one of our Thai Food Blog posts.

Khwanjai’s Top Tips:
Try to get fresh noodles always: Useful info about the types of noodles in our Drunkards Noodles Blog Post and here also more About Thai Noodles

If using “dried” Rice noodles, soak them first for about 10 minutes, and then leave them to drain before cooking. Try to have a selection for your guests, they all have different qualities, texture flavour etc. and all require under a minute to cook.

The noodles we used in this video were Egg Noodles (Bah Mee) but in fact, when you go into most Thai cafés these days you can get any noodles you ask for, even the dried ones we use in our Pad MaMa Class (same as pot noodles style) so it’s up to your own preference

Pork or Chicken or Beef:
Okay we talk about Pork and Beef mainly because that’s what Khwanjai does every day, but Beef is an easy substitution. Fish is also served in many places in Thailand but that is another ball game and beyond the scope of this tutorial.

The Minced Meats:
This is a real treat and allows you to get creative, a few of the better street vendors use this to create loyalty. They make a ground meat and add various ingredients to make it more interesting.
ie. Marinating, adding chopped herbs, even fruit and veg binding it with egg making a sort of log and boiling it with the stock at the outset. This gets sliced and served up with the noodles.

Khwanjai shows you a simple, quick and easy way to recreate this type of thing using chopped pork and a ladle. We purposely have not given you any specifics as to marinade or other ingredients. Use your imagination and create your own; let us know what you did, we love to get feedback.

It’s a really good idea to serve it with the traditional condiments for Thai style enjoyment. Instructional videos for all of these below…

Pik Bohnn – chilli powder – dried chillis, toasted or deep fried ground/blended to granular powder
Pik Nam Som – chopped chillies (often crushed) in white vinegar
Pik Nam Paa – chopped chillied (red and green) in fish sauce
Toasted Peanuts – chopped to crumbs

Print the recipe to make notes, top tips in the video.

Please feel free to share; comments and questions go below…

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