A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Thailand was full of shops and vendors offering grilled chicken, and that this dish will remain a favourite with Thais for a long time to come.
Oodles of Noodles: A selection of Thai noodle dishes, which come in a wide variety of tastes.
Today I’d like to talk about another dish that is even more ubiquitous than grilled chicken, with a popularity and durability that puts it in a class of its own: kuay tio, or rice noodles.
I think it is fair to say that Thailand is a noodle superpower. Anyone who could give the exact number of noodle shops in the country would be a statistician to be reckoned with.
A census of the great range of noodle dishes sold in these shops would have to include, to name only a few, kuay tio nuea (beef noodles), kuay tio luuk chin nuea nam sai (noodles with balls of pounded beef in clear broth), kuay tio muu (pork noodles), kuay tio pet (duck noodles), kuay tio luuk chin pla (noodles with balls of pounded fish meat), kuay tio luuk chin tao huu baeb khae (noodles with balls of stuffed tofu, a Khae Chinese dish), khanom jeen Hailam (Hainanese-style noodles), kuay tio baeb Kwangtoong (Cantonese noodles, with Chinese red pork) and kuay tio yen ta fo (noodles in pink broth with various ingredients, primarily seafood).
Among these noodle dishes there are some that have some special quality that distinguishes them from other, seemingly similar ones. Among the beef noodles, for example, the standard versions include those made with nuea puay (beef cooked to extreme tenderness), nuea sote (fresh beef cooked by boiling) and luuk chin nuea (pounded beef balls). But there are also beef noodles cooked in the style of Wat Dong Moon Lek, with its unique, thick beef broth and very spicy vinegar-pickled chillies. A similar variant called kuay tio rote ded or rote ded dee (after the name of the shop that sells it) features the same thick broth and hot chillies in vinegar, but also adds shredded lettuce to create a dish a little different from those served elsewhere.
Different takes on duck noodles offer several examples of this kind of diversity. Most duck noodles come with the aromatic seasoned Chinese sauce called nam phalo, which is thick and has a dark brown colour. The duck usually comes in the form of pieces of meat or whole duck legs. But there is another version, kuay tio pet toon, made with wheat rather than rice noodles and stewed meat from the breast and thigh of the duck in a distinctive clear broth. There is a shop that serves this version at Wang Burapha across from the building that once housed the Queen Cinema.
A unique kind of duck noodles sold in only one shop is kuay tio pet nam sai. The broth is very clear, and once the duck meat has been added, dried squid, pork tripe and crispy pork join it in the bowl. The shop that offers it is in a small lane off Krung Kasem Road near the Hua Lamphong railway station.
Kuay tio kaeng or kuay tio khaek is a Muslim dish in which the liquid is a coconut cream curry sauce rather than broth. There is also a “dry” version, kuay tio kathi, with the same ingredients used in kuay tio kaeng, but with the coconut cream sauce poured over the noodles.
Kuay tio kai, or chicken noodles, also come in a number of guises. One version sold primarily by vendors from Isan includes thin slices of mara (bitter melon). Some sellers offer chopped fresh mara, raw bean sprouts and fresh basil leaves served separately to customers to add according to their preferences.
Kuay tio kai cheek, made with chicken meat hand-torn into strands and small-gauge rice noodles, is a personal noodle recipe invented by two sisters, Paa Pu and Paa Pae, in the village of Jao Jet in Amphoe Sena, Ayutthaya. In the years since they introduced it, the style has been so widely adopted that it is now practically the signature noodle dish of Ayutthaya.
These are all noodle dishes you can order almost anywhere. There are other, more local recipes that you will have to travel to find. Most are not available in Bangkok, although a few have made their way there. A local dish will spread and establish itself easily in the area near the place where it originated, though.
Kuay tio paak maw (“mouth of the pot noodles”) was first made at Amphoe Phanom Sarakham in Chachoengsao. It is a feature of this dish that both the vendor who makes it and the people who eat it sit on low stools, with the customers seated close to the vendor. The name of the dish comes from the fact that the noodles are cooked on a sheet of cloth set over the mouth of a pot of boiling water. The noodle sheets can be stuffed with a variety of ingredients: fried and seasoned bamboo shoots or garlic chives, fried phak krachate (a water-loving herb), fried bean sprouts, fried long beans, any of which can be chosen by the customer.
The vendor will pour some broth into a bowl first with chicken’s feet and meatballs, and it is this broth that identifies a really good version of these noodles. Then the ingredients chosen by the customer are added. This dish is a must for any visitor to Amphoe Phanom Sarakham, or to Prachin Buri, where it is also a speciality, even though in recent years it has become available in Bangkok.
Another local noodle dish is kuay tio nuea lieng from Chanthaburi, and any visitor knowing that province will usually order a bowl. Once again it is the broth or soup, made with local Chanthaburi herbs, that gives it a distinctive flavour and aroma. Originally it was made only with beef, but more recently a pork version has been added. One of the best places to get it is at a shop called Raan Paa Tid in Amphoe Ban Mai, Chanthaburi.
The beef noodle dish called khao soi is made with broad ba-mee (yellow wheat noodles), somewhat like Japanese sen udong, which are topped with a curried coconut cream sauce. Again, this dish was originally beef-only, but there is now also a chicken version. It can be found throughout the North.
The evolution of Thai-style noodles, which are eaten throughout the Central and upper Central Region, including Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet and Tak, is very interesting. Although they are certainly of Chinese origin, they have developed through a blending of Chinese and Thai ideas, natural in a population where two cultures have thoroughly mixed over many years through social interaction and intermarriage.
Thai kuay tio does wear its Chinese heritage prominently, but combines sourness, sweetness and chilli heat in a way that is in line with Thai tastes. Ground and sliced pork gives it a yellow colour, but luuk chin are not added. It includes a variety of herbs and vegetables, including bean sprouts, chopped long beans, fresh coriander, spring onions and the saw-toothed herb called phak chee farang in Thai. It is seasoned like a tom yam, with chillies, pounded roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, lime juice, sugar and nam pla added.
Sweetness usually takes the lead in its spectrum of flavours. The version of Thai noodles made by local Thai cooks at one place in Amphoe Tha Ruea, Lop Buri, uses palm sugar, cooked slowly to clarify it, instead of cane sugar.
Another version, served at the Kuay Tio Loong Phoot shop at Amphoe Si Samrong in Sukhothai and located in a farming community there uses ba-mee, or wheat noodles. Loong Phoot, a Thai, makes his own wheat noodles, and the “dry” option, without broth, is delicious. It combines ground, boiled and sliced and crispy pork, pork crackling, long beans, peanuts, ground dried chillies and the usual seasonings for Thai-style noodles.
The shop called Kuay Tio Paa Baang at Tambon Hua Diad in Tak Province features a similar recipe.
It really is no exaggeration to call Thailand a noodle superpower.
