Thick Noodle Soup

Thai Thick Noodle Soup

Raad Naa

Raad-Naa-RecipeKhwanjai’s Raad Naa is a traditional dish, which is a thick and gloopy, sweet and savoury soup packed with vegetables and a very special thickening agent…. Tapioca starch… It is far superior to corn flour and not just in flavour but speed of reaction during cooking; a very useful attribute in Thai cooking.

We have made several Thai Noodle Class Tutorials, which are all typical Thai food cooking style, using (ideally) fresh noodles and of course vegetables if they’re involved.

This recipe is a typical Thai snack recipe eaten for lunch and is generally eaten on its 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 don’t worry the links to all these recipes are below.

How to Make Thai Thick Noodle Soup

Ingredients: Raad-Naa-Ingredients
Serves 2
150gr Pork or Chicken
1 Cup Rice Noodles (Wide Flat =Sen Yai)
4-5 Baby Corns
1 Piece Carrot (1/3 cup when sliced)
1 cup Kale (stems, young leaves)
1/3 cup Mange Touts
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tbs Oil
1 tbs Fish Sauce
2 tbs Oyster Sauce
2 tbs Soy Bean Paste
3 tbs Tapioca Starch
1 ts Dark Sweet Soy Sauce
1 tbs Sugar
1 1/2 tbs Chicken Stock powder
5-6 Cups Water

Preparation:
Wash and thinly slice chicken or pork
Cut Kale stems and young leaves
Use Broccoli or Cauliflower if you can’t get Kale
Carrots into sticks and finely chop the Garlic
Cut Baby corns into angled slices
Mix Tapioca Starch with water (watery mix)
If using dried noodles follow instructions on the pack to soften them up, super top tip in the full video tutorial for this

Cooking:
Turn on medium heat pour 1 tbs oil into wok add rice noodles and stir whilst adding dark sweet soy sauce for about 1 minute and remove to a separate bowl
Using the same hot wok add 2-3 tbs oil and add garlic, stir until almost golden brown
Add Pork or Chicken and stir until half cooked
Now add 4 cups of water, bring back to the boil
Add Baby Corns, Mange touts, Kale, Carrots, Fish Sauce, Sugar, Chicken stock, Soy bean Paste, Oyster Sauce and leave to boil
Once it’s boiling, adjust flavour as required, and then add Tapioca Starch mix to thicken carefully, it works quick!
When you have the consistency as per the video, (or your preference) serve it up on top of the pre-cooked noodles.  Done!
You just learned how to make Thai Noodle Soup (Raad Naa)

Serving suggestion:
Serve with a nice sprinkling of pepper on top to taste! Also try our Pik Nam Paa for those of us who like to pep it up a bit, be careful with this, (the Chilli Fish Sauce) because its red hot or try adding some Red Chilli Powder, or Crushed Toasted Peanuts, Chilli Vinegar Sauce (Pik Nam Som). Lots of Thais eat it with Jasmine Rice too, surprise surprise!

Check out our Thai Food Blog post about this lovely Thick Thai Noodle soup

Khwanjai’s Top Tips:
Try to get fresh noodles always:

If using “dried” Rice Noodles, boil them first for a good 3 minutes, and then leave them to really drain and cool before cooking.

The noodles we used are traditional style 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 Pad Ma Ma (same as pot noodles style) so it’s up to your own preference

Pork or Chicken:
Only half cook it! (see video) then when you add the water, use “pre-boiled hot water”, dousing cold water onto the meat will tend to make it go hard, almost boiling water keeps it tender, finishes off the meat’s cooking, speeds up the recipe, and then you get tender, soft meat and crunchy cooked veggies, Capeesh?

Have all you ingredients to hand before you start ergo…

Tapioca Starch:
Look out for when Khwanjai didn’t make enough Tapioca starch, I adjusted the quantities in the recipe to show exactly what Khwanjai eventually used but remember, the thickness of the soup is a personal choice, I like it thicker than we made and almost slimy (not everyone’s choice), if you’ve never used Tapioca Starch before, be careful with it, because it reacts 4 times faster than corn flour.

It’s a really good idea to serve it with the traditional condiments for Thai style enjoyment

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

Please feel free to share and leave your review below…

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