What does REAL traditional pad thai look like?

You've probably had pad thai in your local restaurant, but what you had may not be anything like the authentic version. First, it should not have ketchup or any tomato product in it. Second, it should not be syrupy sweet. And finally, it shouldn't be just a heavy, soggy clump of noodles with bits of green onions.

Real pad thai should be:

• Stir-fried in a hot wok, and all the sauce should be absorbed into the noodles; it should not saucy!
• A good balance of sweet, salty and sour, not leading with any one flavour. It should not be overly sweet!
• LOADED with beansprouts which lightens the noodles and add freshness.
• Have lots of "bits" in it which gives complexity: shallots, garlic, tofu, dried shrimp, etc.
• All in all it should be a well-balanced dish that leaves you satisfied, and not heavy.

Ingredients for Pad Thai

Here's everything you'll need, with more details on a few less common ingredients and how to substitute them. For the amounts, see the recipe card below.

FOR THE SAUCE:

• Tamarind paste (aka tamarind concentrate) - This is a key ingredient for the sauce, and homemade is recommended for best flavor. Here's how to make tamarind paste from pulp. A store bought one is fine to use to make life easy, but do make sure it is a product of Thailand or Vietnam, not India, and should be a brown liquid with a pourable consistency.
  IMPORTANT NOTE ON TAMARIND: The sourness of tamarind varies greatly between brands, so after feedback from a few people that their pad thai is too sour, I have changed the amount of tamarind to 3-4 Tbsp. Taste your tamarind, and if it's so sour it makes you pucker, use only 3 Tbsp. If it doesn't make you pucker, 4 tablespoon is fine. If you're not sure, start with 3 and you can always add more lime at the end.
• Palm sugar - Choose high quality palm sugar when possible, for more info check out my ultimate guide to palm sugar. If not available, substitute equal weight of light brown sugar.
• Fish sauce - Good fish sauce is perhaps the most important thing for flavour. For more info, here's my guide to fish sauce. If you're vegetarian, check out my vegan pad thai recipe.

FOR THE PAD THAI:

• Shallots
• Garlic
• Dried shrimp - Can be omitted if not available or allergic.
• Pressed tofu (pic below) - Sometimes labeled as bean curd, this is the firmest of all tofu. Extra firm tofu can be substituted, but if you feel like they might break in the wok, pan-frying them first will firm up the exterior and prevent breaking.
• Sweet preserved radish (chai po waan, pic below) - Can be omitted if not available. These sweet-salty chewy bits of preserved daikon is always added to pad thai in Thailand. You'll likely need to go to a specifically Thai grocery store to find these, and it may come whole or pre-chopped. Japanese sweet preserved daikon, takuan, makes for a decent substitute and is much easier to find. Note that there is also a salty Thai preserved radish, which cannot be used instead.
• Chili flakes - Optional but recommended. Pad thai is really much better when it's a little bit spicy!
• Eggs
• Roasted peanuts
• Rice noodles - I recommend Erawan Brand size medium (pic below) which is the traditional size used in Thailand. If using a different brand, you might need to adjust the amount of water and soaking time.
• Bean sprouts - Go for mung bean sprouts, not soybean sprouts.
• Garlic chives - If you can't find these at your regular Asian store, try looking at Japanese or Korean markets also. You can substitute green onions but the two really do taste different. If using green onions, finely chop them as they have a much stronger taste than garlic chives.
• Lime wedge for serving.

PS. You can make the sauce fresh as I showed in the video tutorial, or make it in bulk in advance and keep it in the fridge for months! Check out this large-batch recipe for pad thai sauce.

How to Make Pad Thai

I highly recommend watching the full video tutorial to ensure success, but here's a bird's eye view of what you need to do:

1. To make the sauce, melt and caramelize the palm sugar.
2. Once the sugar has darkened into a caramel colour, add water to stop the caramelization.
3. Add fish sauce and tamarind and bring to a simmer.
4. Turn off the heat and let it sit until the sugar is completely dissolved.

5. Sear the shrimp until browned, then flip and cook the other side. Once fully cooked remove from the pan. If using other kinds of meat, you can cook it all off as well.
6. Saute shallots, garlic, tofu, dried shrimp, preserved radish, and chili flakes until the garlic starts to turn colour.
7. Add the soaked noodles.
8. Add the sauce.

9. Toss until the noodles have absorbed all the sauce.
10. Push the noodles to one side and add the eggs to the space you've made and break the yolks.
11. Put the noodles on top of the eggs and let it cook for 15-30 seconds until the egg is almost cooked through
12. Flip and toss to mix the eggs with the noodles.

13. Add the peanuts, bean sprouts and garlic chives.
14. Turn off the heat and toss until the beansprouts are incorporated and slightly wilted.
15. Plate and top with more peanuts and shrimp.
16. Don't forget to add fresh lime before eating!

How to Make Pad Thai in 5 Minutes

Pad thai made from scratch isn't exactly weeknight-friendly because there's so much prep to do. But good news: the prep can be done days in advance so you can have pad thai on a Tuesday night in minutes, just like at a restaurant!

There are "4 levels of preparedness" when it comes to pad thai prep, all of which I explain in detail in this video, and even doing just level 1 in advance will save you a lot of time. If you've got all 4 levels done, you can cook pad thai in 5 minutes - watch me do it in real time!

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success. You can also watch this video on my YouTube channel, and if you enjoy the show, consider subscribing. Thank you!

Recipe Card

Authentic Pad Thai Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 104 reviews

• Author: Pailin Chongchitnant
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings
• Category: Noodles
• Cuisine: Thai
• Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

This pad thai recipe is the real deal. Fully loaded with all the classic ingredients an authentic pad thai should have. Perfectly balanced flavour that is complex and not overly sweet. It's also naturally gluten-free. Vegetarian or vegan? Check out my vegan pad thai recipe.

---

Ingredients

Pad Thai Sauce

• 35 g palm sugar, chopped (3 tablespoon tightly packed)
• 3 Tbsp (45 ml) water
• 3-4 tablespoon Thai cooking tamarind (see note 1, and also see how to make tamarind paste from pulp)
• 2 Tbsp good fish sauce (how to choose good fish sauce)

Pad Thai

• 4oz (115g) dry rice noodles, medium size, soak in room temp water for 1 hour (see note 2)
• 2 Tbsp dried shrimp, medium size, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• ¼ cup roughly chopped shallots
• 3 oz (85 g) pressed tofu, cut into small pieces
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped SWEET preserved daikon radish (see note 3)
• Dried chili flakes, to taste (optional)
• 3 Tbsp (45 ml) vegetable oil
• 10 medium sized shrimp, or as many as you like (to sub other protein, see note 4)
• 2 eggs
• 2 ½ cups (120 g)bean sprouts, loosely packed
• 7-10 stalks (70 g) garlic chives, cut into 2” pieces
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1 lime
• Garnishes and condiments for serving: chili flakes, roasted peanuts, bean sprouts and garlic chives.

(In Thailand, fresh banana blossom is sometimes served on the side of pad thai. I don't love them personally, but if you do and can find them, go for it!)

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use

Want to save this recipe?

We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

To make pad thai sauce (see note 5): 

1. Add palm sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once the sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in colour (see video for colour). Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. The sugar will harden immediately and this is okay.
2. Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. The hardened sugar will not have dissolved at this point, but let it sit while you prep other ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it. Check that it is dissolved before you start cooking!

To make pad thai (see note 6): 

1. Cut drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss and separate in the wok.
2. In a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.
3. Heat a wok or a large nonstick skillet over high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Sear shrimp, or whatever protein you're using, until done and remove them from pan.
4. In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil. (Don't skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.) 
5. Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.
6. Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they're still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!
7. Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add add little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. Break the yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles. 
8. Toss the cooked protein back in, plus any collected juices. Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.
9. Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top. For a classic presentation you can add a little extra side of bean sprouts and some garlic chives garnish.
10. Be sure to squeeze a bit of lime on top before eating!

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and rewards!

---

Notes

1. Do not use the black, sticky tamarind concentrate or paste from India as it is much more concentrated; use only tamarind from Thailand or Vietnam. (Watch the video to see the product consistency).
   Sourness between brands vary significantly, so give your tamarind a taste, and if it's so sour it makes you pucker, use only 3 Tbsp, but if it feels mildly sour, use 4 Tbsp. (If unsure, use 3 Tbsp). If you're making it from pulp, start with 3 Tbsp. 
2. You can soak noodles in advance, drain, and keep them well sealed in the fridge for a few days. I use Erawan brand noodles. Some brands, such as Thai Kitchen, have thinner noodles and take less time. Keep an eye on them and drain once the noodles are completely pliable (no resistance when bending). No time to soak? See emergency noodle-soaking in the blog post.
3. Thai sweet preserved radish is hard to find, but you can omit or use the Japanese version instead which is called “takuan” and is bright yellow. See blog post for more info.
4. If using chicken, pork or beef, slice into bite-sized pieces and marinate them with just a bit of fish sauce or soy sauce so the meat isn't bland.
5. You can make a big batch of sauce in advance and store indefinitely in the fridge. See this recipe for large-batch pad thai sauce.
6. I recommend cooking no more than 2-3 servings at a time to avoid crowding the pan and making the noodles soggy.

---

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 682

What is Pad See Ew?

In Thai, pad means to stir fry and see ew means soy sauce, so...soy sauce stir fry? The unspoken word is guay tiew or "noodles," so it's full name is guay tiew pad see ew. It's a popular Thai stir-fried noodles that you can find all over Thailand, but it has its roots in Chinese cuisine which came to Thailand with the millions of Chinese immigrants.

It's a homey dish of fresh rice noodles seasoned primarily with soy sauce, and stir fried in a hot wok along with slices of meat and Chinese broccoli. In Thailand, pad see ew is a quick solo lunch, so you often find it sold at food courts and by street vendors. They're kind of like the sandwiches of Thai cuisine!

Ingredients

Pad see ew ingredients are short and simple, but using the right noodles and the right sauces are key.

• Fresh wide rice noodles. These tender chewy rice noodles are what make dishes like pad see ew and drunken noodles (pad kee mao) so lovable. These are called sen yai in Thai, but they are also often referred to by their Cantonese name, ho fun. You can buy these at some Asian grocery stores, usually in big cities, in the refrigerated section.
  If you can't find them, don't worry, homemade rice noodles are better anyway! Dried wide rice noodles do exist and can be used if necessary, but they are quite different and not nearly as good as the fresh ones.
• Protein of your choice, thinly sliced. This can be chicken, pork, beef, tofu, or seafood such as shrimp. In Thailand, pork is the most common.
• Soy sauce for marinating the meat, omit if using shrimp which do not need to be marinated.
• Vegetable oil or another neutral oil of your choice
• Garlic, chopped
• Eggs
• Chinese broccoli, also known as gai lan. Choose smaller stalks if you can as they are more tender and are less likely to be bitter. If you cannot find gai lan, broccolini is a good substitute. I don't suggest using bok choy as it is much more watery and lacks the crunchiness of gai lan stems. 
• Sugar. White sugar is fine, but brown sugar will also work.
• Ground white pepper, to taste. This is a common condiment to pad see ew, and the aroma of ground white pepper on top of pad see ew is truly iconic!
• Prik nam som, Thai-style chili vinegar that is a classic condiment that I highly recommend. Pad see ew is sweet and salty, and drizzling a little spicy vinegar really brightens the dish and makes a more balanced flavour. It can be as simple as blending chilies and vinegar, but there are variations which I talk about in my prik nam som recipe here.

Pad See Ew Sauce Ingredients

Watch The Video Tutorial

All my recipes come with video tutorial to ensure success. If you've never made pad see ew before, I highly recommend watching the video first as this dish goes fast, and you'll need to know exactly what to do once the heat is on!

5. Once the meat is browned, toss until the meat is fully cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. If there is meat juices left in the wok, wipe it with a paper towel.
6. From this step onward, I recommend cooking 1 portion at a time for best results, so before cooking, divide up your ingredients into single portions. Heat the wok over medium high heat then add a little oil and 1 portion of the garlic; sauté until the smallest bits of garlic starts to turn golden.
7. Add 1 egg and scramble briefly.
8. Add 1 portion of the Chinese broccoli and toss to coat it evenly in the oil, about 10–15 seconds.

9. Add 1 portion of the noodles (8oz/225g), 1 portion of the sauce (2 tablespoon + 1 tsp/35 ml) , and 2 teaspoon (10 ml) of sugar. Turn the heat up to high and toss to coat the noodles evenly in the sauce.
10. Spread the noodles out and let them sit without stirring for about 15-30 seconds until some of the noodles have charred on the underside.
11. Flip or toss the noodles and let them sit again to further toast the noodles. Repeat the tossing and toasting 1-2 more times.
12. Add 1 portion of the cooked protein back in without adding any meat juices that has accumulated in the bowl, and toss briefly to mix. Plate and enjoy with white pepper and chili vinegar.

Common Pad See Ew Problems and How to Avoid Them

After many years of teaching this recipe, I've noticed there are a few things that commonly trip people up. Read these carefully to avoid the same problem! 

• Broken noodles. Assuming you're cooking 1 portion at a time as recommended, you're likely stirring too aggressively. Fresh noodles are very delicate, so you want to flip and toss gently, pushing noodles around from the edges rather than haphazardly stirring. Also avoid metal spatula as they can cut noodles more easily.
• Mushy noodles. You might be crowding the pan and trapping too much moisture, which overcooks the noodles and/or your heat is too low. I stress that you should cook one portion at a time to prevent trapping too much moisture under a big pile of noodles. Remember these noodles are already fully cooked, so it doesn't take much additional moisture for them to become over cooked and mushy!
• They don't taste right. Did you eyeball ingredients? Did you measure everything? Pad see ew is one of those dishes where the ratio between sauce and noodles is everything. Unlike meat-and-veggie stir fries, these noodles absorb ALL of the sauce you give them, so if there's too much, it'll be too salty, and if there's too little, it'll be bland...so measuring is crucial!
• Noodles stuck to the pan. Fresh rice noodles love to stick. Make sure your wok or skillet is well seasoned. You can use a nonstick pan but those typically should not be heated over high heat so the noodles may not get a good char.
• There is no wok hei. Wok hei is that smoky wok flavour that many people consider a key ingredient of a good pad see ew. To get wok hei, you need a carbon steel wok on very high heat so the noodles can char and the oil can smoke. Not crowding the pan is also key. Sometimes, this just isn't possible to create given our home equipment, but I think it's still good without it!

How to Use Dry Rice Noodles Instead

I'll be honest...pad see ew made with dried noodles is not nearly as good as fresh. They have a totally different texture and flavour. I much prefer fresh, and once you experience the wonderfulness of fresh rice noodles... you kinda can't go back.

With that caveat, I understand that in desperate times, sometimes you just gotta get some kind of pad see ew on the table. So if needed: Don't follow package instructions for cooking the noodles, those can be unreliable. Here's what to do:

The best way to keep leftover pad see ew is...to freeze??

Yes! But first let me say that pad see ew, like all rice noodle dishes, is best consumed fresh off the stove. That is how you will get the best soft-chewy noodle texture with crunchy veg. So the best thing to do is to not make anymore than you can eat in one meal.

However, sometimes leftovers are inevitable, and you might be surprised that the best way to store pad see ew is to FREEZE it. Yes! This is because if you refrigerate them, the noodles will continue to absorb moisture from the meat and veggies, and eventually become soft and mushy. One day in the fridge, reheated pad see ew noodles will be noticeably less chewy, but 2 days in the fridge and they're basically inedible by my standard.

When you freeze them, however, this moisture absorption does not happen, so when you reheat, the noodles will still maintain their chewiness to a surprising degree, albeit slightly less so than when fresh. And of course the veggie stems will no longer be crunchy, but that's the price you have to pay.

More Thai Stir-Fried Noodle Recipes

Once you've mastered pad see ew, here are a few other Thai recipes to satisfy your noodle cravings:

• Pad kee mao or "drunken noodles". If you love pad see ew and you love spicy, this is a must try. You can think of this as the spicy sister of pad see ew, or a noodle version of pad gaprao.
• Rad na sometimes spelled as lad na, this is one of the most underrated Thai noodle dishes! The same fresh wide rice noodles are charred in a wok, and served with a pork gravy over them.
• Pad See Ew with Vermicelli. If wide noodles are not available, try going the other extreme and make PSE with the thinnest of noodles! It's also a very quick and easy dish!

Traditional vs Vegan Pad Thai

How is this vegan pad thai different from the traditional pad thai recipe? There are a few things we substituted:

• Fish sauce. Fish sauce is the main flavour of pad thai, and the reason you will rarely find vegan pad thai offered in Thai restaurants. Because to make a vegan version they would have to make another batch of pad thai sauce, which most places would not do. For this vegan version we use tao jiew instead, which is a fermented soybean paste similar to miso. You can also use miso instead.
• Dried shrimp. These are chewy little umami bits, and here I used shiitake mushrooms instead which work wonderfully. FYI, many Thai restaurants overseas don't add them anyway, so if that's what you're used to, you won't miss it.
• Eggs. We simply omit them, but if vegetarian pad thai is what you're going for, then feel free to add them.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

​Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. For the amounts and instructions, see the recipe card below!

Sauce Ingredients

• Soy sauce. Thai soy sauce is best but it's not necessary. Confused by different types of soy sauces? See this soy sauce explainer post here!
• Tao jiew. This is Thai fermented soybean paste that is essentially the Thai version of miso. It's sold in glass bottles (Healthy Boy Brand) at Asian grocery stores that sell a lot of Thai ingredients, though it is harder to find. You can substitute equal amount of miso or doenjang.  
• Tamarind paste. If buying pre-made tamarind paste, always buy ones from Thailand to make sure you have the right product. These are often labeled as tamarind concentrate (see pic below). You can also make your own tamarind paste from pulp and it's what I do. Never buy tamarind products from India as they are not the same!
  **Tamarind sourness varies from brand to brand, so if it's your first time, start out with a little less and you can add more later if needed.**
• Chili flakes, optional, only if you want to make it spicy. Store bought is fine, or you can easily make your own using my roasted chili flakes recipe. You can also leave it out of the sauce and let people add their own at the table.

Pad Thai Ingredients

• Dry rice noodles, medium size (2-3 mm wide). You need to soak them in room temp water for 1 hour, so don't forget to do this ahead of time! You can soak them the day before, drain, then keep them in the fridge until ready to use. If you did not plan ahead, you can do an emergency soak in hot off the boil water and for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse immediately under cold water.
  *If you have previously had trouble working with rice noodles, be sure to check out this ultimate guide to mastering rice noodles.
• Neutral oil, this can be any neutral flavoured cooking oil you normally use. I use avocado oil or canola oil
• Pressed tofu. Pressed tofu is the firmest tofu you can buy. It has a nice chew and will not fall apart in the wok. It's also the tofu that's traditionally used in pad thai. Sometimes they are labeled as "bean curd". If not available, use extra firm tofu or fried tofu. 
• Fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced. If stems are thick and hard, remove them. If they're small and tender you can leave them on.
• Shallots, chopped
• Garlic, chopped
• Palm sugar. Light brown sugar can be used instead. 
• Garlic chives, cut into 2-inch pieces. If not available you can substitute green onions (though they don't taste the same), but chop green onions smaller and use less as they are more intense in flavour than garlic chives.
• Bean sprouts. Be sure to get mung bean sprouts, not soybean sprouts. 
• Roasted peanuts, optional, roughly crushed or chopped. Peanuts are not typically added to pad mee korat, so feel free to skip them, but I add them here to get it closer to a traditional pad thai.
• Lime wedges, optional. I find a squeeze of fresh lime can add a nice burst of freshness.

How to Make Vegan Pad Thai

Here's a bird's eye view of all the steps so you know what's involved, for full instructions see the recipe card below!

1. Soak your noodles for 1 hour in room temp water. Meanwhile, make the sauce by adding tao jiew to a small bowl and mash with a fork to break up the soybeans, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients and stir to mix. 
2. In a wok or a large nonstick skillet, sear the mushrooms and tofu in a little bit of oil until golden brown and the mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from the pan. 
3. To the same pan, add the oil, garlic, shallots, palm sugar and cook, stirring frequently until the sugar caramelizes into a deep brown colour.
4. Deglaze with the sauce mixture and stir to mix.

5. Add the soaked rice noodles along with the mushrooms and tofu.
6. Toss until all the sauce has been absorbed. Taste the noodles, and if it is still undercooked, add a splash of water and keep it cooking longer.
7. Turn off the heat, add bean sprouts and garlic chives and toss to mix.
8. Once mixed, you can taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Plate and sprinkle with roasted peanuts and serve with a wedge of lime.

Storing Leftovers and Reheating

I get asked all the time how leftover pad thai should be stored and heated, and to be frank, rice noodles do not keep well, so ideally, you don't want to have leftovers. If you want to have it again later in the week, it's better to prep all the ingredients (see tips above) and cook a fresh batch because the cooking takes only a few minutes!

But sometimes you just can't help it and you end up with extras. In that case, keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for ideally no more than 1 day. The longer you keep it, the more mushy the noodles become.

When you reheat, you can simply microwave it, however, it's crucial that the noodles are reheated until steaming hot, and not just warm. Rice noodles harden in the fridge, and they need to be fully heated in order to regain their softness.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

1. In a mortar and pestle, pound the lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, and Thai chilies until fine.
2. Stir in all remaining tom yum paste ingredients.
3. Make fried eggs, if you wish. For Thai style fried eggs use plenty of oil and add the egg while the oil is very hot so you get browned crispy edges. You can fry eggs in the same wok you'll use to cook the rice, but if making many fried eggs it's best to use a skillet so you can fry multiple eggs at once.
4. In a wok, add enough oil to coat the bottom and sear the shrimp until they're halfway cooked. Flip and sear the other side until fully cooked. Remove from the wok.

5. In the same wok over high heat, add more oil if needed, then add onion and saute until translucent. Add Chinese broccoli and toss briefly until the leaves are wilted slightly and turn bright green.
6. Add the rice and toss briefly to mix with the veggies, then pour the sauce over and toss until all grains are coated evenly in the sauce and the rice is dry.
7. Add the tomato and cooked shrimp, toss briefly just to mix, then turn off the heat and stir in green onions and/or cilantro.
8. Plate the fried rice, sprinkle with more green onion and/or cilantro if desired, and top with fried egg.

Recipe Card

Thai Tom Yum Fried Rice

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review

• Author: Pailin Chongchitnant
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: Serves 2

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

The beloved flavours of Thai tom yum soup infused into this satisfying fried rice and topped with a fried egg!

---

Ingredients

Tom Yum Paste

• 3 slices galangal, chopped
• 3 inches lemongrass, thinly sliced (use bottom half of the stalk only)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, center rib removed, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp Thai chili paste, store-bought or make your own
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• Thai chilies, to taste
• 2 Tbsp lime juice

The Fried Rice

• 2 eggs 
• 10 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ¼ cup diced onion
• 2 stalks Chinese broccoli, stems thinly sliced, leaves roughly chopped
• 300 g cooked rice (1¾ cup) (see note)
• 1 tomato, seeds removed, bite-sized pieces
• 1 green onion, chopped
• A few sprigs chopped cilantro

Note: This fried rice has quite a lot of liquid in the sauce, so it's very important that your rice is quite dry to begin with, otherwise you might have mushy fried rice. Day-old, refrigerated rice works well (as long as it wasn't too soft), but if you're making rice specifically for this dish, follow the tips in my Pineapple Fried Rice video (@4:00)

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use

Want to save this recipe?

We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

To make the tom yum paste: In a mortar and pestle, pound together lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and Thai chilies until fine. Stir in all remaining tom yum paste ingredients. Alternatively, you can add all ingredient into a blender and blend until smooth.

To make Thai-style fried egg: Add about 1 cm of vegetable oil into a wok or a small frying pan. Heat the oil over medium high heat until very hot but not smoking. Crack the egg into the oil, then lower the heat to medium. If the oil is hot enough, the egg white should bubble excitedly right away. Let the egg fry for about 1:30 minutes or until the edges are browned. If you don't like your yolk runny, turn the heat down to medium low after adding the egg so the yolk has time to set without the white burning. If the egg sticks to the bottom of the pan, let it fry for a minute until the bottom of the yolk firms up before gently nudging it off with a thin spatula. Reserve the oil for another use. 

To make the fried rice: In a wok or a large sauté pan, add just enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom (you can use the oil from frying the egg) and heat over medium high heat until hot. Add the shrimp and sear until browned on one side; flip and brown the other side until done. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add a little more oil if needed, then add onion and saute until translucent. Add Chinese broccoli and toss briefly until the leaves turn bright green. Add the rice and toss until most lumps are broken up. Pour the sauce over rice and toss until all grains are coated evenly in the sauce and the rice is dry. Add the tomato and cooked shrimp, toss briefly just to heat them up. Remove from heat and stir in green onions.

Plate the fried rice, sprinkle with chopped cilantro, and top with fried egg. Enjoy!

Join us on Patreon for bonus content and rewards!

---

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need, and important notes about them. Amounts and full instructions are in the recipe card below!

• Garlic, chopped. This recipe calls for fried garlic, so try to chop them evenly for even frying, and aim for the pieces to be about ⅛-inch wide, but you don't need to be precise.
• Neutral oil for making garlic oil. I use avocado oil but any neutral-flavour oil is fine.
• Roasted peanuts, coarsely ground. I pound the peanuts in a mortar and pestle, but you can blitz them in a small food processor or finely chop them with a knife.
• Fresh wonton noodles (egg noodles). You can find these in the refrigerated section at most Asian grocery stores. They are fresh and tossed in flour and are usually labelled as "wonton noodles". You can also sub any other kind of egg/wheat noodles, such as ramen noodles. Rice noodles, such as those used for pad thai, will also work. See my post here for all about how to cook different kinds of rice noodles.
• Ground pork. Or sub ground chicken or turkey.
• Asian meatballs or fish balls, cut into bite sized pieces if large. Other types of cooked protein will also work, such as cooked shrimp or sliced meats of any kind. Pro tip: while at the Asian supermarket, you can grab some Chinese BBQ pork (char siu), which would be fantastic in this!
• Bean sprouts.
• Green onion, chopped.
• Cilantro, chopped. If you don't like cilantro, just green onion alone is fine. 
• Juicy limes, cut into wedges. When choosing limes, go with ones with smooth, tight-looking skin that gives into a bit of pressure when squeezed - these are the juicy ones!
• Chili flakes, to taste. Any hot chili flakes or powder will do for an extra kick, but if you want to DIY, here is an easy recipe for Thai style roasted chili flakes.

Sauce Ingredients

• Soy sauce. I use Healthy Boy Brand Thai soy sauce, but any regular soy sauce will do.
• Golden Mountain Sauce. This is another kind of soy sauce that tastes similar to Maggi Seasoning (which you can use instead). You can also just sub with more regular soy sauce.
• Fish sauce. See my post about choosing a good quality fish sauce.
• Thai Black soy sauce. I prefer Healthy Boy Brand Black Soy Sauce for this because it gives an intense dark colour. Dragonfly brand comes out quite light and it doesn’t look as tasty, but it’s still okay to use flavour-wise. You can also try using Chinese dark soy sauce, but since it is much saltier than Thai black soy sauce, I would omit the Golden Mountain Sauce altogether and then taste and adjust. 
• Sriracha-style hot sauce. Doesn't have to be the famous rooster brand, any brand is fine.
• Brown sugar, dark is preferred but light is fine.

How to Make Thai Tossed Noodles

Here's a bird's eye view of the process. Many of the components can be made in advance if you want to have it for a weeknight. See more advance prep tips below. Also if this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.

1. Fry the garlic in neutral oil over low heat until golden and the bubbling has subsided.
2. Strain and keep the oil and garlic separate. Set aside.
3. Add a splash of water to a pot over high heat, once the water boils, add the ground pork and stir just until it's fully cooked. Set aside.
4. Combine all the sauce ingredients and add about a tablespoon of the pork juice to the sauce then stir until the sugar is dissolved. When ready to cook and serve, heat up the sauce in the microwave or stovetop so it doesn't cool your noodles down too much.

5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, meanwhile, cut the noodles to shorten and loosen them up, making sure they're not sticking together.
6. Boil the meatballs in the water just until hot, then fish them out and set aside.
7. Blanch the bean sprouts in the water for 3 seconds, fish them out, shake off all excess water and add to a large mixing bowl.
8. When the water boils again, cook the noodles until fully cooked; timing will vary depending on the size, but mine takes about 3 minutes. Fish them out, shake off all water, and add to the bean sprouts.

9. Add the garlic oil to the noodle bowl and toss to coat.
10. Add the ground pork (hold back the excess liquid), peanuts, chili flakes, green onions, and the warmed-up sauce.
11. Toss to mix well.
12. Divide into serving bowls, top with meatballs, fried garlic, cilantro and a wedge of lime. Remember to squeeze the lime on before eating!

Advance Prep Tips and Storage

As with many Thai noodles, there are a lot of little things to prepare but they're all very simple and quick. I still find, however, that preparing everything all at once can feel like a lot and doing just a few things ahead of time makes serving day seem so much simpler.

Here are somethings you can do ahead of time.

• Make the garlic oil and fried garlic. If you only do one thing in advance, this should be it. You can also make a lot and keep it (oil and garlic separated) in the fridge for another use. Fried garlic and garlic oil are incredibly versatile and are used often in Thai cooking.
• Mix the sauce up in advance. Keep the sauce in the fridge and it'll last indefinitely. Reheat the sauce in the microwave or stovetop before using. You can also make the sauce in bulk, just remember to measure the total volume of sauce, then divide by the number of batches this makes (or by portion, however you want to do it) so you know how much sauce you need to use each time you cook.
• Cook the pork in advance. The pork can be cooked and kept in the fridge for up to 1 week. Simply reheat in the microwave or stovetop when ready to use.
• Chop/grind the peanuts in advance. It's a small thing, but it makes a big difference when you can just grab the container and pour without having to do anything with it!

Tips for Using Rice Noodles

If you want to use rice noodles, you absolutely can! Here is how you'll need to prep them.

If you buy rice noodles dry, I recommend small or medium size (like ones used for pho and pad thai). They need to be soaked until fully pliable in room temp water. Medium size takes about 1 hour to soak, small size takes about 30 minutes. If you're in a rush, you can use warm tap water to shorten the time, but be careful not to over-soak. Read more about cooking with rice noodles here.

Once soaked, drain the noodles well, then blanch them in boiling water for about 10 seconds or until cooked through. As rice noodles overcook quickly, it is always safe to err on the side of undercooking them. Take them out using a wire skimmer so the water is still there, then if they're a little too firm, add them back to the pot for another 10 seconds or so.

But first, what is sticky rice?

Before you cook, let's make sure you buy the right rice to begin with! Sticky rice, also called sweet rice or glutinous rice, is much chewier and denser than your average white rice. It's an ultra satisfying texture, and we love to pair it with meats such as our grilled steak or BBQ chicken, and use it in desserts such as the famous mango sticky rice.

In Thailand, we use long grain sticky rice which we call khao niew. At the store, it can be labeled as "sweet rice" or "glutinous rice," but to make sure it's the right one, check that it is a product of Thailand. Short grain sticky rice is also available, but it is used in China and Japan, not in Southeast Asia. In this article, I'm discussing how to cook long grain sticky rice, and while in theory you can apply the same methods to short grain sticky rice, I have not personally tried them.

Note that sticky rice is NOT sushi rice. Yes, sushi rice is sticky, and some people confuse the two, but they are very different. When shopping, you should look for grains that are opaque, bright white, and not translucent.

Why Cooking Sticky Rice is (a bit) Tricky

Why are there so many ways to cook sticky rice, and why are none of them just...throwing rice into a pot of water like you do with any other kind of rice? Well, it's because Thai sticky rice is a little bit...sensitive.

Trust me, if you could cook it like regular rice the whole nation of Thailand wouldn't do it any other way. Sticky rice can't absorb much water, which is why it's so dense and chewy, and it is not forgiving at all if you add even a bit too much. So, cooking it in an amount of water that you just eyeballed will not yield good results.

So the wise people of the past discovered that if you soak the rice in water for at least 3 hours until it is completely saturated, and then steam it OUT of water, there is no chance that it can overcook. Brilliant, right?

But not all of us have the time or the equipment to do it traditionally, so here's my roundup of all the ways that I know of that you can cook sticky rice, along with the pros and cons of each method.

The 7 Ways to Cook Sticky Rice

The 7 methods can be divided into 2 categories: soak and steam, and no soak. And under the soak-and-steam methods, you can either do a cold soak or a hot soak. Usually, the results are better using the soak-and-steam methods for the reasons I described above, but if you're short on time, the no soak methods will do in a pinch, but some precision is required.

But first, you need to wash the rice.

Doesn't matter which method you're using, you need to wash the rice! This gets rid of excess loose starch leftover from the milling process, and it will prevent your rice from becoming gummy.

1. Swish the rice around vigorously in room temperature water, then pour off most of the cloudy water.
2. Repeat the washing a few more times until the water runs mostly clear.

Methods 1-4: Soak-and-Steam Sticky Rice

These first 4 methods all require 2 major steps: soaking the rice, and then steaming the rice. But each method requires different equipment, so there should be something for everyone here!

1. Bamboo Cone Steamer

This is THE traditional method. If you go to a rural village in northeastern Thailand, this is how they make sticky rice! It is absolutely fail proof, and yields perfect rice every time. It also works with a small or large amount of rice.

The tool we're using here is a bamboo cone steamer set called huad. It's comprised of 2 parts, the bottom pot for water, and the cone-shaped bamboo steamer that sits on top.

1. After washing the rice (see above), soak the rice in plenty of room temperature water for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 4 and up to 12 hours, and then drain well.
2. Fill the pot with no more than 2 inches of water and bring to a boil over high heat, meanwhile soak the bamboo steamer in water otherwise the rice will stick to a dry steamer.
3. Place the drained rice inside the steamer. Handle soaked rice carefully as they are brittle.
4. Once the water is boiling, place the steamer on top of the pot and cover with any lid that will fit (any old pot lid is fine). Steam for 15 minutes.
5. After 15 minutes, flip the rice ball so the top is facing down by tossing the steamer (see the video tutorial for how to do this). Then continue to steam for another 10 minutes.

2. Steamer Rack

If you have a basic steamer rack that sits above a pot, such as a dim sum bamboo steamer, this method will work for you. This method is also popular with Thai people and yields great results.

1. After washing the rice (see above), soak the rice in plenty of room temperature water for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 4 and up to 12 hours, and then drain well.
2. Wet a muslin or thin tea towel and squeeze out as much water from it as possible. You want it damp, not wet. Line your steamer rack with the muslin.
3. Place the soaked rice in the steamer and clear a hole in the middle. This eliminates any "thick part" and the rice will cook faster.
4. Fold the edges of the muslin up to cover the rice, making sure there is space around the rice for the steam to come up.
5. Cover and steam over boiling water for 20-30 minutes until cooked through (longer time if making a large batch).

3. Metal Sieve

I learned this method from my cousin who lived in Alabama where she didn't have access to much Asian cooking supplies. It's such a useful method because it doesn't require any special equipment, and the result is nearly as good as a bamboo steamer!

You do need to have a METAL sieve that has a similar diameter to a pot so you can set it on top of the pot. Make sure there's enough space at the bottom so the water will not touch the bottom of the rice.

1. After washing the rice (see above), soak the rice in plenty of room temperature water for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 4 and up to 12 hours, and then drain well.
2. Place the sieve on top of the pot, then fill it with 1-2 inches of water, making sure there is at least 1 inch of space between the water and the bottom of the sieve. Remove the sieve and bring the water to a boil.
3. Place the soaked rice into the sieve but do not fill it completely or you will block the steam! You need some space at the top so steam can come up and surround the rice. Use your finger to clear a hole or an indentation in the middle of the rice to eliminate the "thick part" so the rice will cook faster.
4. Once the water is boiling, place the sieve over the pot and cover with a lid. Steam for 20-30 minutes until cooked through (longer time if making a large batch).

Tip: You can use this set up to steam vegetables or anything else as well!

4. The Hot Soak

This is officially my favourite method because it's fast, and it yields a great result. The rice made using the hot soak method will be slightly softer than the cold soak BUT this is actually an asset because the extra moisture will keep it soft after it's cooled down to room temp, unlike cold soak sticky rice which quickly turns dry and hard once it's cooled down.

There are some minor cons to this method, most importantly you do need to be precise with soaking time, and adjustments may be needed if making a large batch. I write more about this method in detail in this post: hot soak sticky rice.

1. After washing the rice, place it into a heatproof bowl. Cover it with hot-off-the-boil water so the water comes up ½-1 inch above the rice. Give the rice a stir to break up any lumps and let it soak for 20 minutes and NO MORE.
2. Meanwhile, get your steamer setup ready. You can use any of the steaming set up from methods 1-3 above: the cone steamer, regular steamer rack, or the sieve.
3. Drain the rice, and rinse it with cold tap water to remove excess starch that has come out during the soaking.
4. Now the rice is ready to be steamed using any of the methods above.

Methods 5-7: No-Soak Sticky Rice

I'm going to be frank here, no-soak methods are shortcuts for when you need sticky rice but didn't plan ahead. They are not the ideal ways to cook sticky rice because the resulting rice texture is generally not as good (except for method #6, maybe) and because you have to be very precise with the amount of water. But, it's still better than NO sticky rice, so I'll take it :).

*As with all other methods, you will need to wash the rice as mentioned above.

5. Steam The Bowl

With this method, you put the rice and the water together in a bowl, then steam the bowl in any kind of steamer set up you have. This allows the rice to cook gently, and with no risk of burning the bottom so you do not have to be precise with timing.

1. Drain the washed rice very well, making sure there is absolutely no water left. Place it into a heatproof bowl.
2. Add water at a ratio of 1 part rice to ⅔ parts water. So for every 1 cup of rice, add ⅔ cups of water OR for 1 ½ cups of rice add 1 cup of water. Measure this, do not eyeball. Stir to break up any clusters of rice.
3. Cover the bowl with a plate or foil to prevent condensation from dripping into the rice, and steam the bowl over rapidly boiling water for about 30 minutes. You will need more time if making a larger amount.
4. Remove the rice from the steamer, check that all water has been absorbed, if not, put it back and steam longer.

Tips: If you find that the rice came out too soft, add less water next time. Different brands of rice may require slightly different amount of water.

6. Rice Cooker (maybe)

This method is a "maybe" because it doesn't work with all rice cookers, but when it works, it is awesome, and the result can be almost as good as rice cooked the traditional way. What you need your rice cooker to do is cook the sticky rice gently and slowly. So if your rice cooker normally boils the heck out of your rice, it'll likely not work for sticky rice.

If you've got a multi-function rice cooker, such as the Zojirushi, with a "sweet" rice function. That is the function made specifically for sticky rice. Congratulations!

I've also had success with a cheap, simple 1-button rice cooker that is super weak, so it cooks rice slowly and gently, which is perfect for sticky rice! If you have a "brown rice" function, it may be worth a try as brown rice function tends to cook more slowly too.

1. Wash the rice as per usual and drain very well. Place the rice into the rice cooker pot.
2. Add water at a ratio of 1 part rice to ⅔ parts water. So for every 1 cup of rice, add ⅔ cups of water OR for 1½ cups of rice add 1 cup of water. Measure this, do not eyeball. Stir to break up any clusters of rice. (If you're using the measuring cup that comes with the rice cooker, you can try using the line for "sweet rice" in the pot which follows roughly the same ratio, and adjust as needed next time.)
3. Cook the rice using the "sweet" mode and let the rice cooker do its thing!

NOTE: I have found that for the Zojirushi rice cooker, this function does not work as well with larger amounts of sticky rice (3+ cups). The result was a little more uneven than when I made 1-2 cups of rice, but it was still okay.

7. Microwave

Yes you CAN do it in the microwave, though it wouldn't be my go-to if I have other options available to me. It is the most finicky and the least hands-off of all the methods. But when you're in a dorm room and desperate for sticky rice, it'll do the trick!

After a few practice batches and fine-tuning to match your microwave and the amount of rice you typically cook, the result can be surprisingly decent.

IMPORTANT: As every microwave is different, treat the instructions below as a guideline. Also, the more rice you make, the longer it will take to cook. The timing below is based on 1 cup (240 ml) of sticky rice. You may need to adjust the timing, but the idea is that you want to microwave it in bursts, gradually decreasing in duration, and stir it in between for even cooking.

1. Place the washed and drained rice into a heatproof bowl.
2. Pour hot off-the-boil water over the rice so it comes up about ½ inch over the rice. Give it a stir to break up any lumps and soak for 15 minutes.
3. Drain off the soaking water and rinse off excess starch with cold tap water. Drain the rice very, very well, then place it into a round glass or ceramic bowl. 
4. Add cold water to the rice at the ratio of 1 part rice to ½ parts water, the water should come up approximately to the level of the rice.
5. Cover the bowl with a glass or ceramic plate and microwave on full power for 3 minutes. Take it out (carefully), stir the rice by flipping the bottom up to the top and the edges into the middle to evenly distribute the heating.
6. Cover and microwave again for another 2 minutes, then repeat the stirring. Then microwave for another 2 minutes and, at this point, all the water should be absorbed and the rice is should be mostly cooked with perhaps some grains still slightly undercooked (uncooked sticky rice will be opaque white in the middle). Give it a final stir then cover and rest for at least 5 minutes, and it should all be cooked through and ready to serve.*If after resting the rice is still undercooked, stir in 1-2 tablespoon (15-30 ml) water and microwave again for another minute or so and repeat the resting process.

*The instructions here are slightly different from one in the video as I have made some adjustments.

How to Store and Reheat Sticky Rice

Short term storage in the fridge: Cooked sticky rice will last in the fridge for 1-2 days, but beyond that the texture will be compromised even when reheated. Be sure to store it in a tightly sealed container as it dries out quickly. For longer storage, freeze the rice.

How to Freeze Sticky Rice

Sticky rice can be frozen for about a month before it starts to dry out to the point where it doesn't reheat well. It won't spoil beyond that, you can still eat it, but it won't have as good of a texture.

Separate the rice into portions before freezing as it's impossible to separate the rice when frozen. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap or foil (foil will prevent freezer burn for longer), then consolidate them into a freezer bag, squeezing as much air out of the bag as possible.

How to Reheat Sticky Rice

To reheat with a microwave: Cover the sticky rice in moist paper towel and microwave until steaming hot. It needs to be fully reheated until piping hot or it will not regain its soft texture. If the rice is really dry, you may want to spray or drizzle a bit of water directly on the rice.

To reheat by steaming: Preheat the steamer so the water is boiling. Wrap the sticky rice in a clean damp muslin, damp tea towel, or damp paper towel, then steam until the rice is until piping hot all the way through.

Recipes Using Sticky Rice

Generally, we love to eat sticky rice with meats. Here are a few classic meat dishes that are often paired with sticky rice:

• BBQ Chicken or Thai Fried chicken
• BBQ pork skewers
• Northeastern Thai food such as laab or green papaya salad are always served with sticky rice.
• Or try it with northern Thai food, which is commonly eaten with sticky rice. You can dip it into the thick sauce of Hung Lay curry; or if you like carb-on-carb, it's fantastic with spicy curry glass noodle stir-fry.

We also feature sticky rice prominently in desserts:

• A popular classic that's a must-try during mango season: mango sticky rice
• For fellow durian lovers, durian sticky rice is absolutely divine.
• We eat sticky rice with ice cream! Any ice cream will work, but the classic pairing is this street-style coconut ice cream.

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients for drunken noodles and important notes about them. Ingredient amounts will be in the recipe card below. You can change up the vegetables and I love using carrot and Chinese broccoli, though traditionally baby corn, long beans, and straw mushrooms are often added.

• Soy sauce. I use Healthy Boy Brand soy sauce which is a classic Thai brand, but any other kind of regular or light soy sauce can be used.
• Golden Mountain Sauce. This is another kind of soy sauce with a slightly more intense flavour, you can substitute Maggi Seasoning which is very similar, or use more soy sauce.
• Oyster sauce. See this post for how to choose good oyster sauce.
• Fish sauce. See this post for how to choose good fish sauce.
• Sugar
• Chinese broccoli, also known as gai lan. Choose young, small stems if you can as they are less bitter.
• Carrot
• Young peppercorns. These are totally optional. They can be found fresh or brined in glass jars at some Southeast Asian stores. They are added whole and still on the stems, and when eating you can pick out the peppers and eat them for extra heat.
• Fingerroot (grachai). Also optional but they do add a lovely herbaceous aroma. They can be found fresh or brined in a glass jar at Southeast Asian stores.
• Holy basil. Holy basil can be hard to find, you can sub regular Italian basil or Thai basil instead, but I do find Italian basil to have a flavour more similar to holy basil.
• Garlic
• Thai chilies. Add as many as you want depending on your spice tolerance. If your tolerance isn't high, add just one to start.
• Large, mild red chilies such as spur chilies (pic below), anaheim peppers or red bell pepper.
• Protein of your choice, I'm using shrimp. If using chicken, pork, or beef, a quick and simple marinade will be helpful. Instructions in the recipe card below.
• Fresh rice noodles also known as ho fun noodles. If you buy them from the store they may be cold and stuck together in a block. You'll need to reheat them before separating, following instructions in the recipe card. It is possible to use dried large rice noodles instead but it is not as good, and you will need to cook them first before using.

Why I use 2 types of chilies in this recipe

Pad kee mao uses a lot of chilies, so the chili flavour, not just the heat, is part of the flavour profile. If we only used the fiery Thai chilies, we can only add a few before it becomes too spicy, and not enough chili flavour would come through. So we also use the milder chilies to add more chili flavour without the heat.

In Thailand, prik chee fa, or spur chilies are used, but any mild red pepper such as anaheim peppers or even red bell pepper would work in a pinch.

How to Make Authentic Drunken Noodles

Be sure to check out the detailed recipe and full video tutorial in the recipe card below to ensure success - but here's a bird's eye view of what you'll need to do.

1. Make a rough paste with chilies and garlic.
2. Cook off the protein and remove from the pan.
3. Sauté the chili garlic paste.
4. Add gai lan stems, carrots, grachai and young peppercorns.

5. Add the noodles, the sauce, and sugar and toss until the sauce has been absorbed.
6. Let noodles sit and char slightly before tossing. Then repeat the charring a few times.
7. Add gai lan leaves and holy basil.
8. All done!

7 Secrets to Epic Pad Kee Mao

It is not hard to make a decent plate of drunken noodles, but an epic one? Not so simple. There are a few things you need to know:

1. Do not eyeball the ingredients. Weigh the noodles, and measure all sauce ingredients. There are times when winging it is okay, and using your cook's intuition is romantic. But this is not one of those times. The noodle-to-sauce ratio is extremely important, and there's nothing more disappointing than pad kee mao that's bland, or worse, too salty (which cannot be fixed afterward).
2. Make a chili and garlic paste. One of the great flavours of drunken noodles come from the garlic and chilies. Adding chopped garlic and chilies can only get you so far, but pounding them into a paste in a mortar allows for more flavour to come out and infuse into the whole dish. Also, adding extra peppers that are not spicy gives more chili flavour without it becoming too spicy.
3. Cook 1 portion at a time. This is the secret to well-charred noodles that are not broken or soggy. Crowding the pan traps too much moisture and causes you to stir more which breaks the noodles. If you have a large wok and a high BTU burner, you can probably get away with 2 portions at a time. It seems tedious but watch the video below and you will see that once the prep is done, each batch literally takes 3 minutes to cook!
4. Cook the protein separately, and do a "mini brine". By cooking off the protein first and adding it back in at the end you can control exactly how long it cooks, ensuring perfectly cooked protein every time. Good news is you do not have to cook the protein 1 portion at a time, just cook it all off together in the beginning. Also, if using chicken, pork, or beef, marinate it with seasoning plus a little extra water, like a mini brine, to get extra juicy meat.
5. Allow noodles to char. Once noodles are mixed with the sauce, allow them to sit and "grill" a bit on the hot pan. This creates a little browning, a little smokiness, and a little extra flavour that makes all the difference.
6. Use fresh noodles. Yes, dry rice noodles exist; and they will work, but it is not the same and not nearly as good as fresh. Cooked previously-dried rice noodles do not yield the same soft and springy texture of fresh noodles, in the same way that cooked dried pasta is not the same as fresh pasta. I understand you gotta use what you have, but if you can, it's worth either looking around for them or making them yourself.
7. Use a stick-resistant pan. These fresh rice noodles are notoriously sticky. So it's important you use either a well-seasoned carbon steel wok, a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, or a nonstick wok. BUT if using a nonstick material that cannot be used with high heat, you will have to give up some noodle charring.
   *If you only have a stainless steel pan, you can try this: Heat the pan until very hot - until water sprinkled onto the pan beads up into little balls and glides around - then add the oil and begin cooking. This is a trick that turns stainless steel pan nonstick which I've tried with eggs with success, but have not tried with fresh rice noodles.

ALSO IMPORTANT: Make sure you watch the video in the recipe card below! You'll see me cooking pad kee mao in REAL TIME with no cuts. It'll show you how it's done in only 3 minutes, give you an idea of how the process goes and how to organize your prep, and I promise it'll be so helpful for when you cook!

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need and important notes about them. For amounts, see the the full recipe card below. Don't be deterred by the list of ingredients! May of the ones listed are optional but I want to give you the whole range of possiblities, and the basics that you really need are not that many!

For the Pork Stock (or chicken stock)

There are times when store bought stocks are totally fine, and this is not one of them. The pork stock is the foundation of the soup, and it really needs to be made Thai style to have the right flavour and aromatics. If you don't eat pork, you can substitute chicken bones.

• Pork neck bones or back bones, I prefer neck bones because it has more meat which you can either save for another dish of simply top the noodle soup with it. Sub chicken bones if you don’t eat pork.
• Daikon. I used to think that daikon was an optional stock aromatic, but after having made stocks with and without daikon, I now believe it is essential. It makes the stock so sweet and flavourful, and is a must have in Thailand for stocks.
• Garlic.
• Onion. Onion is not actually added to stocks in Thailand, but I love the added sweetness that it gives, and don't we always have an onion around the house anyway? 🙂
• Cilantro roots, or cilantro stems, smashed gently to bruise.

For the Broth

• Good Thai style pork stock from above.
• Soy sauce.
• Fish sauce. See my post on how to choose good fish sauce here.
• Sugar.
• Ground white pepper, to taste

Noodle Soup Components

• Noodles of your choice. The noodle soups vendors will always offer several noodle options. You can choose whichever you prefer, and I've listed them all, along with cooking instructions below.
• Asian style fish cakes/fish balls, or other types of Asian style meatballs of your choice. You can buy fish cakes at any Asian grocery stores, either fresh in the seafood counter or frozen. There are many flavours, and you can use anything you like, but try to stick with ones with fewer ingredients as they tend to be of higher quality.
  Other protein options: Because the soup is quite plain, I encourage you to use protein that is flavourful such as: the meat you picked off from the bones after making the pork stock tossed with some soy sauce and pepper, chopped leftover meats that is flavourful like a good steak or roast chicken, thinly sliced marinated pork or chicken, or ground pork cooked with some soy sauce.
• Bean sprouts.
• Fried garlic and garlic oil. Really important toppings for Thai noodle soup! You simply need to fry some chopped garlic on low heat until golden, but you can see the full recipe for fried garlic here.
• Chopped cilantro and/or green onions for garnish
• Optional: "tang chai" preserved cabbage bits. These are little bits of crunchy salted cabbage that we often add to our noodle soups. You can see them at the end of the video, but they are totally optional.

Optional Tableside Condiments:

Thai people always provide extra condiments for noodle soup so people can make it taste exactly how you want it. You can also make it “tom yum style” which is a hot and sour version (more on this below).

• Chili vinegar, the basic version is simpley chopped chilies and white vinegar. You can also blend the chilies and the vinegar together. Read more about this on my chili vinegar post.
• Fish sauce, if you want to soup to be more salty.
• Sugar.
• Roasted chili flakes, or any kind of spicy chili powder if you want to make it spicy. this is also needed for the tom yum style. You can buy or easily make your own roasted chili flakes.
• Lime, only for tom yum style, more about tom yum style below.

How to Make Classic Thai Noodle Soup

Here's a bird's eye view of the process. The full instructions are in the recipe card below, and if this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success!

1. Simmer pork neck bones in water for about 30 minutes, then skim off the scum.
2. Add the daikon, onion, garlic, cilantro roots/stems, and white pepper and simmer for another hour, at minimum.
3. Remove the pork bones and vegetables; the stock is now ready to use. Once the bones are cool, pick off the meat from the bones and you can season it with some soy sauce and use it to top the noodle soup, or save it for another dish.
4. If using rice noodles, soak them in room temperature water until they are fully pliable. Timing varies between noodles, more on this below.

Noodle Options and Cooking Instructions

At most Thai noodle soup vendors, you will have several noodle options and they all need slightly different preparations below. You can learn more about how to cook rice noodles properly in my post on mastering rice noodles.

• Rice vermicelli (sen mee) - The smallest of noodles and the quickest to prep. Simply soak them in room temp water for 5-15 mins (timing varies between brands) until they are completely limp, then drain. DO NOT OVERSOAK as these overcook very easily.
  To cook, blanch them in boiling water, one portion at a time, for 3 seconds.
• Small dry rice noodles (sen lek) - The most classic option. These noodles are 1.5 mm wide when dry. Soak in room temp water for 20-30 minutes or until they turn opaque white and are completely limp - they should have lost all of the kinks - and then drain.
  To cook, blanch them in boiling water, one portion at a time, for 5 seconds.
• Glass noodles (woon sen) - woonsen is thin, delicate, and has a neutral flavour and is delicious in boat noodles. Soak in room temp water for 10 minutes until softened before cooking.
  To cook, boil in hot water for 2 minutes. You can cook all of the glass noodles at once since they take a longer time to cook, then separate into portions immediately after draining.
• Fresh wide rice noodles (sen yai) - This is the noodles commonly associated with pad see ew. If cold and stuck together, microwave the noodles until they are hot and soft, so they can be peeled apart without breaking. Separate all the noodles before cooking.
  To cook, blanch them one portion at a time for literally 1-2 seconds just to heat them up and wash off the oil that's used to coat them. Do not let them linger in hot water for too long because they're already fully cooked and will quickly turn mushy.
• Wonton noodles or egg noodles (bamee) - These vary greatly between brands, so you'll have to change the cooking time according to what you've got.
  But if you have thin wonton noodles like the one shown in the pic (fresh and coated in flour), loosen the noodles and boil them in hot water for 1 minute. If you're making many portions, you can cook them all at once and separate them immediately after draining.
• Mama Instant Noodles (sen mama) - Mama are the Thai instant noodles and they are super tasty in boat noodles! Buy any flavour of mama since you won't need the seasoning packets, but make sure the noodles are the classic wheat fried noodles as shown in the pic.
  Boil the noodles in water for about 1 minute, and you can cook all portions together and separate them after draining.
• Medium size rice noodles (not pictured): These are 3mm wide rice noodles, but they are actually not offered in Thailand for noodle soups because they are meant for stir fries. But if these are what you have, soak them in room temp water for 1 hour until fully pliable, then blanch in boiling water for 8 seconds.

Advance Prep & Storage

The only thing that takes time is the pork stock, everything else is super easy to come together. So I would make the pork stock in advance, and that should be all you need to do.

You can also soak rice noodles in advance, drain, and keep them in the fridge. But do not soak rice vermicelli in advance as I find they tend to become mushy as they sit in the fridge and absorb excess moisture around them.

You can store leftover soup in the fridge for up to 1 week, and you can freeze it of course.

What is Khao Soi and Where Did it Come From?

Khao soi ข้าวซอย is a northern Thai noodle soup that uses wheat-based egg noodles and is served in a coconut milk curry broth. It's typically made with chicken or beef, and the bowl is topped with crispy deep fried noodles. Although it is sometimes called "Chiang Mai Noodles" in the West, it is not unique to, nor originated from, Chiang Mai. 

Khao means rice and soi means to julienne. It's an interesting name because there is no rice involved in the process. Some say this is because the dish used to use rice noodles made by julienning sheets of dough. Others say khao is short for khao salee which means wheat. Yet some think that the word came from a similar Burmese dish called ohn no khao swe, which I think is more likely because the two dishes are really quite similar.

The exact origin of khao soi is debated, but the prevalent theory seems to be that it came into northern Thailand via Chinese-Muslim immigrants from the Yunnan region, which is why khao soi is not usually made with pork; despite the fact that pork is the most common meat in Thailand.

The Yunnanese, or jeen haw in Thai, would've had to travel through Myanmar in order to get to Northern Thailand, so it is possible that they encountered ohn no khao swe there and brought it with them to Thailand, hence the similarity of the two dishes.

Khao soi in Thailand can vary significantly. This is because after khao soi arrived in Thailand, in whatever form that was originally, Thai people in various places started to modify the dish to suit their own palate. So when you're in Northern Thailand, don't just try one khao soi and think you've "been there done that!"

For example, in northern Thailand you can find something called "Yunnanese khao soi" that bares almost no resemblance to this recipe - the broth has no coconut milk, and the noodles are big fat rice noodles. Aside from the fact that they're both noodles in soup, and a few common ingredients...there is very little else alike. This is possibly as close to the "original" khao soi as it gets.

Noodle Soup Ingredients

• Coconut milk, read about how to choose good coconut milk here.
• Chicken drumsticks or drumettes. Drumsticks are the most common in Thailand as the bones make the broth rich and flavourful. If you're short on time, use drumettes and they will cook in half the time of drumsticks. You can substitute boneless chicken with some caveats; see more on this in the FAQ below.
• Soy sauce. It might surprise you to see soy sauce used in a Thai curry, but that's because this is a dish of Chinese Muslim origin! See more on the history of khao soi above.
• Fish sauce. Optional, I use fish sauce to do my final seasoning adjustment because I like the flavour, but you can also just use more salt or soy sauce.
• Palm sugar, finely chopped. But brown or granulated is fine also.
• Wheat-based egg noodles, also known as wonton noodles, can be bought fresh in the refrigerated section at Asian markets. Most commonly khao soi uses flat noodles, but sometimes round ones are used, so whatever you prefer is fine. Some of these noodles will be used for frying as crispy noodles on top.
• Chopped cilantro for garnish, optional (not pictured).

Condiments for Khao Soi

These four condiments are iconic, and khao soi is not complete if served without them! However, if you don't eat spicy, you can skip the fried chili flakes.

How to Make Khao Soi Step-By-Step

Here's a bird's eye view of the process. Since all the components can be made in advance, I recommend you spread the work out over two days to make it easier. See more on advance prep below. Also if this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.

For khao soi curry paste

1. Remove the seeds from the black cardamom pods and place the seeds into a medium dry skillet along with the coriander seeds. Toast over medium high heat, moving them constantly, until the coriander seeds darken slightly. Set aside.
2. In the same skillet over high heat, place the ginger and turmeric slices down and let them sear until they're slightly charred. Then flip and char the other side and remove from the pan.
3. In the same skillet, add the shallots and let them char; stirring them around to char them more evenly. Remove from the pan.
4. Cut the chilies into chunks and pour out most of the seeds.

5. In a coffee/spice grinder, grind the chilies, black cardamom and coriander seeds into a powder, remove and set aside.
6. In a heavy-duty mortar and pestle, pound the ginger and turmeric into a fine paste. (*You can also double the recipe to get more volume and use an immersion blender, as shown in my red curry paste recipe.)
7. Add the shallots and the coarse salt and pound; and once it starts to get wet and slippery, add some of the ground spices to help absorb moisture and add friction.
8. Pound into a fine paste, then add any remaining dried spices and pound to mix.

For khao soi broth

9. Add ½ cup (120 ml) of the coconut milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the curry paste and stir for a few minutes until the mixture is very thick and coconut oil starts to sizzle around the edges of the paste.
10. Add the remaining coconut milk and stir to dissolve the paste. Then add water, soy sauce, black soy sauce, and sugar.
11. Add the chicken drumsticks and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently for 40 minutes or until the drumsticks are fork tender. (Now's a good time to prep condiments and fry the noodles.)
12. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more fish sauce if it needs a little more salt.

13. For crispy noodles: Cut the noodles for frying to about 4 inches, then fry them in a 350°F oil, pressing them down to keep them submerged. Once they are golden brown and the bubbling has almost completely stopped, remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel.
14. When ready to eat: Boil the noodles until they are fully cooked - timing will vary between brands and noodle sizes. Mine take 3 minutes. Drain and divide into serving bowls.
15. Place 1 or 2 drumsticks into the bowl and ladle the curry on top.
16. Serve immediately with the condiments.

For The Fried Chili Flakes (optional)

Of the 4 khao soi condiments, this is the only one that needs to be prepped beyond chopping, but it's a snap. It is also optional and only needed if you want to let your guests to make it spicier.

1. Add the chili flakes and oil to a small pot or skillet - you can make as much as you want here, it keeps indefinitely in the fridge. Then add just enough oil so that the chili flakes look like wet sand.
2. Turn the heat on medium low and keep stirring until the chilies start to darken and smell smoky. Transfer into a small bowl immediately to stop the cooking.

Advance Prep Tips

There are several components to khao soi, so unless you're doing this as a weekend project, I suggest you break the work up over a couple of days. Here are the things you can do ahead of time and how to store them.

• Make the curry paste in advance. If you do one thing in advance, this should be it. Make the curry paste, and then if you'll be cooking the curry in the next day or two, keep it refrigerated. Beyond that amount of time, you should freeze the curry paste. It can be frozen for a few months so you can make a big batch and freeze the remainder.
• Make the curry broth in advance. The broth will keep well in the fridge for up to a week. You can even freeze it in smaller portions if you want to save it for a rainy day. It will actually taste better once it's had time to sit.
• Fry the noodles in advance. The noodles can be fried and kept in an airtight container for up to a week. If you're frying them a few days ahead, fry them until all the bubbles are completely gone to make sure there is no moisture left in them. This will ensure they stay crispy for a long time.
• Prep the condiments. Getting the condiments together is the kind of fiddly thing that I hate dealing with on the day I'm busy serving guests. So I prep the condiments the day before and put them in little bowls/ramekins, put them on a plate, then wrap the whole thing and refrigerate. Then you just bring the whole plate out when ready to serve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe and some important notes about them. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.

• Pork stock or chicken stock, unsalted. In Thailand this would most likely be pork stock, so use that if you want to recreate the exact Thai version, but chicken stock would also be just fine. For the right flavour, homemade Thai style stock is best. Here are my recipes for Thai style pork stock and chicken stock.
• Garlic
• White peppercorns
• Cilantro stems or cilantro roots
• Shrimp, cut into small chunks, plus a few extra whole ones for garnish if you so desire.
• Fish sauce, see my post on choosing good fish sauce here.
• Soy sauce
• Cooked jasmine rice, if you have had trouble cooking jasmine rice, see my post here on how to cook perfect rice without a rice cooker. Having said that, this recipe would work perfectly with rice that you might have accidentally overcooked or under cooked, it's a great way to use it up!

Optional Condiments

• Fried garlic & garlic oil, this is made simply by frying garlic in oil. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and it keeps well so you just have to make it once. I always keep a stash in my fridge as we use it to finish all kinds of dishes, especially noodle soups. See my fried garlic recipe here. *You can buy fried garlic from Asian stores, but you won't get the garlic oil which is arguably the more flavourful part!
• Green onion and/or cilantro, for some greenery 🙂
• Chinese preserved cabbage (optional), this is called tang chai in Thai and it is salty, crunchy bits of preserved (salted) cabbage. It is okay to omit this as it's hard to find, it just adds salty bits to the soup which is nice.
• Extra ground white pepper, to taste.

How to Make Thai Breakfast Rice Soup with Shrimp (Kao Tom Goong)

Here are all the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.

1. Pound white peppercorns until fine, then add garlic and cilantro stem/roots and pound until fine.
2. Add half of the garlic mixture to the small pieces of shrimp and mix well. 
3. Saute the small pieces of shrimp in a pan with a little bit of oil just until it's cooked through.
4. If you're not using a nonstick pan and there is some bits of herbs stuck to the pan, deglaze the pan with a splash of stock to release the tasty bits of herbs. Then remove from pan and set aside.

5. If using whole garnish shrimp, sear the whole shrimp over medium high heat until browned and cooked through, set aside. 
6. Bring the stock to a boil in a pot, add the other half of the garlic paste and simmer for one minute. Then season the broth with fish sauce and soy sauce, then taste and adjust seasoning.
7. When ready to serve, bring the broth to a boil then add the rice and the shrimp. Bring the soup back to a simmer, and immediately turn off the heat (if you let this simmer for a long time the rice will swell up and absorb too much stock).
8. Serve immediately, if you let this sit, the rice will continue to absorb liquid. Ladle into a bowl, and top with all the condiments as desired. Enjoy!

Advance Prep Tip

If you're not an early bird and need breakfast to be quick, it's totally doable! Once components are prepped, it takes just minutes to get it on the table. You can even prepare it for the week. Here's what to do:

Up to a week ahead, cook the rice, the broth, the shrimp, and the fried garlic and keep them in the fridge (in separate containers). Comes time to eat, bring the broth to a boil, and while you wait you can chop up the cilantro/green onions and set the table.

Once the broth boils, add the rice and the shrimp and let it heat up thoroughly for a few minutes, et voila! Gourmet Thai breakfast in minutes!

Recipe Card

Thai Breakfast Rice Soup with Shrimp (Khao Tom Goong)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 5 reviews

• Author: Pailin Chongchitnant
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

A classic Thai breakfast is khao tom, or rice soup. Comforting and satisfying, it's the perfect way to start the day. Once components are prepped in advance, the soup comes together in just a few minutes. This version uses shrimp, but chicken can be used instead.

---

Ingredients

• 3 cups pork stock or chicken stock, unsalted (homemade is best, here's a recipe!)
• 3 cloves garlic
• ¼ tsp white peppercorns
• 6 cilantro stems or 2 cilantro roots
• ~150g shrimp, cut into small chunks, plus a few extra whole ones for garnish if you so desire
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• ½ Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 cups cooked jasmine rice (this amount is flexible depending on whether you like thick or brothy soup)

Optional Condiments

• Fried garlic & garlic oil
• Green onion and/or cilantro, chopped
• Chinese preserved cabbage (tang chai)
• Extra ground white pepper if needed

Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use

Want to save this recipe?

We can email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. Pound white peppercorns until fine, then add garlic and cilantro stem/roots and pound until fine. Add half of this paste to your small pieces of shrimp and mix well. 
2. Saute the small pieces of shrimp in a pan with a little bit of oil just until it's cooked through. Deglaze the pan with some stock as needed and scrape any bits of herb stuck to the bottom. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. If using whole garnish shrimp, sear the whole shrimp over medium high heat until browned and cooked through, set aside. 
4. Bring the stock to a boil in a pot, add the other half of the herb paste and simmer for one minute.
5. Season with fish sauce and soy sauce, then taste and adjust seasoning.
6. When ready to serve, bring the broth to a boil over high heat then add the rice and the shrimp. Bring the soup back to a simmer, and immediately turn off the heat (if you let this simmer for a long time the rice will swell up and absorb too much stock).
7. Serve immediately, if you let this sit, the rice will continue to absorb liquid. Ladle into a bowl, and top with all the condiments as desired. Enjoy!

Join us on Patreon for bonus content & rewards!

---

Korean and Chinese Mung Bean Jelly Dishes

I first came upon the idea of homemade glass noodles not from a noodle recipe, but from a Korean mung bean jelly appetizer in Maangchi's cookbook. I was intrigued because these are cubes of jelly made from mung bean starch just like glass noodles.

Sometime later I walked by a Uyghur restaurant in my neighborhood, and they had a "mung bean jelly noodles salad" on their sandwich board. This intrigued me further and sent me researching, which is when I discovered a Chinese dish called liang fen. The process of making these noodles looked so cool yet so easy that I just HAD to try it.

The recipe I ended up landing on is different from the aforementioned dishes, particularly in regard to the starch-to-water ratio (which is really all there is to this recipe!). I used a higher starch ratio that I think yielded the perfect texture for the size of the noodles that I ended up with.

Ingredients for Homemade Glass Noodles

You need only two ingredients to make homemade glass noodles (mung bean jelly noodles), but you will need a couple of tools.

• Mung bean starch. I am using the classic Thai brand of mung bean starch, Pine Brand, who sponsored this post. If you cannot find it, Korean grocery stores also carry mung bean starch, it is called Cheongpomuk-garu. Well-stocked Southeast Asian markets and Chinese markets are also worth checking out.
• Water. That's it!

A couple of tools you'll need:

• Large hole grater. I loooove this Microplane extra coarse grater (pic below) which worked perfectly and yielded the perfect size noodle. This is also my go-to grater for everything else - cheese, zucchini, carrots, etc. - because I find it to be easier to handle than a box grater and takes up wayyyy less room!
  Note: They do sell liang fen graters online made specifically for this job, but they do have bigger holes and will create bigger noodles. I have not personally tried using it.
• A rectangular mold. You will need a heat resistant container that is no larger than 8x8 inches. A glass food storage container or a loaf pan is perfect.

Ingredients for the Glass Noodle Salad

Here are all the ingredients you'll need for the salad; for the amounts, see the recipe card below.

• Garlic
• Soy sauce, I used Japanese soy sauce for this one.
• Sugar
• Rice vinegar
• Toasted sesame oil
• Green onion, you can also add chopped cilantro, mint, or other fresh herbs.
• Chili crisp or chili oil. This really makes the dish. A Sichuan style chili crisp such as lao gan ma is great for this and is what I use.
• Roasted peanuts, chopped, or sub toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• English cucumber
• Carrot, feel free to sub other crunchy veg.

How to Make Fresh Glass Noodles

1. Pour about ⅔ of the water into a medium pot and bring to almost a simmer over high heat. Meanwhile, stir the mung bean starch together with the rest of the water.
2. Once the water steams and bubbles start to form (but it is not simmering) reduce the heat to medium high, then give the starch slurry a stir and pour it into the pot while stirring.
3. Keep stirring CONSTANTLY until the thickens into a white paste.
4. Once it turns white, keep stirring until the paste turns translucent. Once it is no longer changing and everything looks evenly translucent, remove from heat.

5. Pour into the prepared mold and let cool to room temp, then chill for at least 3 hours and ideally overnight where it will solidify and firm up.
6. Pop the chilled jelly out onto a clean work surface.
7. Use a grater to grate the jelly, creating noodles, by applying even pressure as you pull the grater towards you.
8. There're your noodles! These are ready to use now, but for a more elastic texture and clarity I recommend blanching them.

9. Blanch the noodles in boiling water.
10. Once the noodles turn translucent (about 10 seconds) they are done.
11. Drain and cool them by running them under cold tap water. They are now ready to use!
12. Combine the ingredients for the salad dressing together, pour over plated noodles and place the veggies on the side. Mix it up before you eat!

What is Hainanese Chicken Rice (khao man gai)?

Known as khao mun gai or khao mun gai in Thai, this dish originated on the Chinese island of Hainan (obviously!), which is off the coast of Southern China. There are many Hainanese immigrants in Southeast Asia due to the island's proximity. And indeed, my mother's side of the family are Hainanese immigrants to Thailand!

Hainanese chicken rice is made by first poaching a whole chicken. Then the chicken cooking liquid, which will have turned into tasty chicken broth, is used to cook the rice. The rice is also first sauteed in rendered chicken fat that you get from trimming excess fat from the chicken.

In my family, we make khao man gai usually during Chinese New Year or Qingming festival (Tomb-Sweeping Day) because these are days when we poach whole chickens to offer to our ancestors. Once the ancestors have had their share, we bring the chickens home and make delicious Hainanese chicken rice!

Khao Mun Gai in Thailand

Khao mun gai is the epitome of Thai street food. You can find them sold by street vendors, mom-and-pop restaurants, and food courts. It's cheap, fast, delicious, truly the food of the people. It was even featured in my Top 5 Rice Dishes in Thailand video!

Since it was brought into Thailand by Chinese immigrants, you'll find it more in areas with a large Chinese communities, such as Bangkok. But because of its popularity, it is available just about anywhere in the country so you will definitely come across one.

Khao man gai in different countries vary slightly, but most notably the sauce that's served with khao man gai in Thailand is unique. Ours is made from ginger and fermented soybean paste (taojiew), and in my opinion, I think it really is the best pairing with poached chicken!

As you'll see below, in my household we actually serve 2 different sauces with this dish, the classic taojiew one, and one that my grandmother created herself!

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make khao man gai and important notes about them. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.

This recipe is the traditional method that uses a whole chicken, and it does take time. If you are looking for something easier and quicker, check out my Quick & Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice Recipe that can even be done in a rice cooker! 

THE POACHED CHICKEN

• Whole chicken, preferably on the smaller side. If you can get free-range chicken it would also be better for this recipe as they tend to be smaller and more flavourful. If you are shopping at an Asian grocery store, you may find smaller whole chickens with head and feet attached, with the skin slightly more yellow, and these are THE perfect chicken for this recipe!
• Cilantro roots, or 6 cilantro stems
• Garlic, smashed until broken
• Onion, roughly chopped
• Daikon, cut in big chunks. This wasn't used in my original video but daikon makes for a super sweet, tasty broth and I highly recommend it! 
• White pepper, ground or crushed
• Ginger, sliced
• Fine grain salt, I specify fine grain for accuracy in measurements. If you're using coarse grain salt, you'll need to measure out a bit more.
• Green onions and/or cilantro, for garnishing the broth for serving, if desired.

THE RICE

• Jasmine rice
• Chicken fat trimmings, ​you just need to trim these off the chicken before poaching. There's usually a lot of fat around the neck.
• Chicken broth from poaching the chicken, you don't need to buy this!
• Garlic, chopped or pounded in a mortar and pestle
• Cucumber slices, for serving.

SAUCE OPTION 1: The Classic Nam Jim Taojiew

​If you only make one dipping sauce, this is the one to make. This is the classic Thai dipping sauce that every khao man gai vendor serves in Thailand. 

• Ginger, just wash the ginger well and no need to peel
• Thai chilies, put as much or as little as you wish depending on how spicy you want it to be
• Tao Jiew (Thai fermented soybean paste) which comes in a glass bottle and in export market this will usually be Healthy Boy Brand. It has the same colour as miso. You can also substitute an equal amount of miso paste of Korean doenjang.
• Sugar
• Black soy sauce, or dark soy sauce. Thai black soy sauce gives it a rich molasses flavour and a dark colour, but it isn't very salty. You can also use Chinese dark soy sauce instead, but because it's saltier, I'd reduce the amount of regular soy sauce. If you have sweet soy sauce, you can also use it and reduce the amount of sugar. Read more about different types of soy sauce here.
• Soy sauce, whatever your regular soy sauce is fine.
• White vinegar, or another type of mild-flavoured vinegar such as white wine vinegar or rice vinegar.
• Chopped cilantro, optional

SAUCE OPTION 2: Grandma's Signature Spicy and Sour Dipping Sauce

You won't find this sauce sold at any khao man gai vendors in Thailand, but my grandma always makes 2 different sauces. For many years I thought that this sauce was the "Hainanese style" that she made back in her hometown. But I just found out from my aunt, during my most recent trip home (2024), that in fact my grandma made it up!

Apparently one day she made the classic sauce, and people said it wasn't good, so she went back into the kitchen and came out with another sauce that she just made up on the fly. And people LOVED it. Since then she's been making two sauces. I find a mix of the 2 makes for the perfect combo, and I always have the 2 together!

• Garlic
• Thai chilies
• Cilantro, stems and leafy parts separated and chopped.
• Soy sauce
• Lime juice
• Sugar

*In the video I put ginger in this sauce, but I misremembered. This sauce only has garlic!

How to Make Hainanese Chicken Rice

Here is an overview of all the steps to make this recipe. See the recipe card below for all the details and ingredient amounts. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.

1. If your chicken comes with the head and feet, cut off the neck, feet, and wing tips and add to a stock pot large enough to put the chicken into. And onions, daikon, garlic, ginger, cilantro roots and white peppercorns. Add enough water to generously submerge all ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes to render a stock.
2. Meanwhile, trim excess checking fat from the chicken (lots around the neck and butt areas) and add these trimmings to a wok or to the pot you will use to cook the rice. Set it aside for now.
3. Once the stock is ready, season with 1 tablespoon of salt and fill the pot about ⅔ full with cold water. Add the chicken to the pot and add more water as needed to keep the chicken submerged.
4. On medium high heat, bring the temperature of the water up to about 170°F. If you don't have a thermometer, the water should have lots of steam coming off the top but it is should not be bubbling. Reduce the heat to maintain this temperature and cook until the chicken's internal temperature is at least 175°F at the thickest part of the thighs, and 165°F at the thickest part of the breast. This should take about 40-50 minutes, but it will vary according to the size of the chicken.

5. While the chicken is cooking, make the rice by first washing the rice a few times, and drain. In a wok or the pot you're using the cook the rice, saute the chicken fat trimmings over medium heat until you have at least 2 tablespoon of rendered chicken fat.
6. Remove the chicken bits from the oil and discard, then add the garlic to the chicken fat and saute until the garlic is golden.
7. Add the washed-and-drained rice and stir until the rice is thoroughly heated through, about 2 minutes. If you're sauteing the rice in a wok, transfer the rice to the pot you'll use to cook the rice or the rice cooker. Leave it here for now while the chicken finishes cooking.
8. Once the chicken is done cooking, remove it from the broth and allow to cool. Taste the broth and add more salt as needed to make it taste like a lightly-seasoned but still delicious soup. Use the broth to add to the rice, and stir the rice over medium high heat until it starts to simmer.

9. Once the water is simmering, cover the pot and reduce the heat to LOW and let the rice cook slowly until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 - 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the sauces (instructions below).
10. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, and the rice and sauces are ready, carve the chicken. If you need guidance for carving the chicken, watch this video: How to carve a chicken.
11. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. The thighs will be a bit harder as you'll need to cut around the bone first before cutting the meat.
12. Serve the chicken over rice with the sauces and some cucumber slices - the chicken can be room temp, but the rice should be hot. It's traditional to serve the remaining chicken broth on the side as well!

Salted Fish Fried Rice in Thailand

In Thai, this dish is called khao pad kana pla kem ข้าวผัดคะน้าปลาเค็ม which literally means fried rice with Chinese broccoli (gai lan) and salted fish. The fish would normally be salt-cured king mackerel which is commonly available at any market.

It's a simple, rustic dish you can commonly find at food courts and some ahaan taam sung shops which are street-side restaurants that offer a variety of quick, wok-based dishes.

Fun fact: ahaan taam sung อาหารตามสั่ง means "food as you order," which conveys the idea that whatever you want, as long as they have ingredients and can be booked in the wok, they can make for you. Most commonly these are simple stir fries such as pad kra pao, fried rices and stir-fried noodles.

Watch The Full Video Tutorial!

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

What is boat noodles?

"Boat noodles" is a direct translation from the Thai name, guay tiew ruea. It's so named because originally they were actually sold from boats along Bangkok's canals; though nowadays most vendors have moved on land, and you can find them all over the country.

This is why boat noodles in Thailand come in little bowls - it wasn't practical to pass around large bowls of hot soup on a wobbly boat. So it's not uncommon for someone to eat 3-5 boat noodle bowls in one meal!

The heart of boat noodles is the uniquely aromatic and rich broth. The broth is dark thanks to the various soy sauces, and it has a lot of herbs and spices infused into it. The most unique part about boat noodles is that it is extra rich due to the added blood! (Before you get squeamish, it doesn't taste like blood at all, but it's optional.)

What is guay tiew ruea nam tok?

You'll often hear boat noodles referred to as guay tiew nam tok. "Nam tok" means waterfall, and it refers specifically to boat noodles with the blood added. Nam tok tends to be the default (unless you're at a touristy place), so when you're ordering boat noodles in Thailand, if you don't want the blood you'll have to say mai tok (no waterfall).

But why does "waterfall" mean blood? While it is not proven, the most popular story seems to be this: Back in the day vendors would have the raw sliced meats sitting on ice on top of a woven bamboo tray, and over time, the meat juices and ice would melt and "fall" through the tray into a receptacle below. Vendors would then use meat dripping to add back into the bowl. Nowadays fresh blood is used instead of these drippings.

Ingredients and Notes

Boat noodles have A LOT of ingredients, but don't let the length of the list deter you. You probably have many of these in your kitchen already, and gathering them is really the hardest part, the rest is super easy!

Broth Ingredients

• Pork neck bones, are my favourite bones to use for the broth because they have a lot of meat on them which will become tender and delicious when we're done. But you can also use pork back bones, beef bones or veal bones.
• Cinnamon stick, crush it just until broken into smaller pieces so it'll be easier to toast
• Star anise
• Coriander seeds
• Galangal, sliced into thin rounds. If you don't have it, it's fine to omit or use dried galangal.
• Cilantro roots or cilantro stems. Smash them gently just to bruise and release the flavour.
• Daikon, peeled and cut into big chunks. This helps sweeten the broth and make it extra delish. WIthout it, you can add more onion instead. Once done, the daikon will also be super delicious, so don't throw them away! Serve it with the noodles or save it for another meal.
• Onion, cut into big chunks
• Garlic, crushed until broken to help release the flavour
• White pepper, ground. Black pepper is fine too.
• Pandan leaf, optional. Pandan leaves are used mostly in desserts, but it's commonly added to boat noodles. You won't taste the pandan in the finished product, and it is fine to omit.
• Soy sauce. I use Thai soy sauce but other kinds are fine. See more about soy sauces here.
• Golden Mountain Sauce. Golden Mountain is a brand of "Thai seasoning sauce" that is the most popular so the brand has become genericized. It's a type of soy sauce with a different flavour. Healthy Boy Brand also makes a seasoning sauce (green cap), and Maggi Seasoning or Bragg's Liquid Aminos taste very similar and can be used instead. You can also simply use more of the soy sauce.
• Taojiew, this is Thai fermented soybean paste; basically the Thai version of miso paste. You can sub miso or doenjang instead. If your taojiew looks particularly chunky, mash it with a fork so it distributes better.
• Thai black soy sauce or dark soy sauce. If using Chinese dark soy sauce it tends to be a bit salty, so I'd hold back on the regular soy sauce and then add more as needed.
• Fish sauce 
• White vinegar
• Rock sugar or granulated sugar. Rock sugar is traditional, but it'll make no difference whatsoever if you use granulated, so use it only if you already have it!
• Liquid beef or pork blood. You can find blood at some Asian grocery stores, usually frozen. Do not buy cooked blood, which is solid, or fresh blood without the anticoagulant added.

Noodle Bowl Ingredients

• Pork shoulder, (not pictured) for making marinated sliced pork. If you already have the meatballs and meat from the pork neck bones, you can skip this to simplify a bit.
• Dry rice noodles, (picture below) size small, or another noodle of your choice. This is my favorite noodle for boat noodles, but in Thailand you'll be offered many noodle options, so you can choose one of those that I talk about in the noodle options section below.
• Asian style pork or beef meatballs. You can buy these at many Asian grocery stores, refrigerated or frozen. If you are in a DIY mood you can also make them from scratch using my Asian meatballs recipe.
• Water spinach or spinach, cut into 2-inch pieces. Water spinach (aka morning glory) is the classic greens added to boat noodles. Regular spinach or another kind of greens work just fine.
• Bean sprouts
• Cilantro and/or green onions, chopped
• Thai basil or holy basil (optional)

Optional Condiments

In Thailand you'll find these condiments on the table at boat noodle restaurants and you can add as much of them as you like, (though you'll have to pay for the pork rind if you add it!); except the fried garlic that is, which the vendor will add to your bowl for you.

• Chili vinegar. Technically optional but I highly recommend it! You can make chili vinegar from scratch but I sometimes cheat by mixing 1 part sambal oelek with 2 parts white vinegar and it works just fine.
• Crispy pork rind. They add a lovely crunch to the noodle soup!
• Roasted chili flakes, but only if you want to make it spicy. Store bought is fine, or you can make your own roasted chili flakes easily!
• Fried garlic & garlic oil. You can make your own fried garlic easily and it keeps well. I always have it on hand in the fridge! Here's my fried garlic recipe.

Noodle Options and Cooking Instructions

When you go to order boat noodles at any vendor, you'll be given the option of several noodles. Here they all are, and how to prep them:

• Rice vermicelli (sen mee) - The smallest of noodles and the quickest to prep. Simply soak them in room temp water for 5-15 mins (timing varies between brands) until they are completely limp, then drain.
  To cook, you'll need to blanch them in boiling water, one portion at a time, for 5 seconds just like I showed in the video.
• Small dry rice noodles (sen lek) - The most classic option. These noodles are 1.5 mm wide when dry. Soak in room temp water for 20-30 minutes or until they turn opaque white and are completely limp - they should have lost all of the kinks - and then drain.
  To cook, blanch them in boiling water, one portion at a time, for 5 seconds as shown in the video.
• Glass noodles (woon sen) - woonsen is thin, delicate, and has a neutral flavour and is delicious in boat noodles. Soak in room temp water for 10 minutes until softened before cooking.
  To cook, boil in hot water for 2 minutes. You can cook all of the glass noodles at once since they take a longer time to cook, then separate into portions immediately after draining.
• Fresh wide rice noodles (sen yai) - This is the noodles commonly associated with pad see ew. If cold and stuck together, microwave the noodles until they are hot and soft, so they can be peeled apart without breaking. Separate all the noodles before cooking.
  To cook, blanch them one portion at a time for 2 seconds in hot water just to heat them up and wash off the oil that's used to coat them. Do not let them linger in hot water for too long because they're already fully cooked and will quickly turn mushy.
• Wonton noodles or egg noodles (bamee) - These vary greatly between brands, so you'll have to change the cooking time according to what you've got.
  But if you have thin wonton noodles like the one shown in the pic (fresh and coated in flour), loosen the noodles and boil them in hot water for 1 minute. I find it easier to cook these 1 portion at a time, but if you're making many portions, you can cook them all at once and separate them immediately after draining.
• Mama Instant Noodles (sen mama) - Mama are the Thai instant noodles and they are super tasty in boat noodles! Buy any flavour of mama since you won't need the seasoning packets, but make sure the noodles are the classic wheat fried noodles as shown in the pic.
  Boil the noodles in water for about 1 minute, and you can cook all portions together and separate them after draining.

How to Make Boat Noodles

Here's the bird's eye view of the process so you get an idea of what's involved; the full instructions are in the recipe card below. It's not hard, but there are a lot of moving parts and it can be confusing for first timers, so I highly recommend watching the video tutorial, especially the assembly part, and it'll make much more sense!

1. Simmer the pork bones in water for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, toast the dry spices until slightly charred.
3. Put the spices in a soup infusion bag of cheesecloth, along with the galangal and cilantro roots/stems.
4. After 30 mins, skim the scum from the broth.

5. Add the spice bag, daikon, onion, garlic, pepper, pandan leaf (tie it into a knot) and all of the seasonings except salt. Simmer gently for 1 hr 15 mins, topping it up with water as needed to keep the bones completely submerged.
6. Meanwhile combine pork shoulder slices with soy sauce and sugar and set aside.
7. When the broth is done, remove the vegetables (can be eaten), spice bag (discard), and pork bones. Pick off any meat from the bones and reserve. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt as needed.
8. Bring the broth to a simmer and place the pork shoulder in a sieve or wire skimmer and dunk it into the broth, stirring it around until cooked, this should take less than 1 minute. Lift it up from the broth and set aside.

9. Bring the broth back to a boil then gradually add the blood WHILE STIRRING and watch the broth thicken! Add the meatballs and keep the broth hot on low heat and covered, until ready to serve.
10. Bring a LARGE pot of water to a FULL boil, place 1 portion of the soaked rice noodles, bean sprouts and water spinach in a noodle strainer or sieve, and blanch for 5 seconds (shake it around in the water) then place into serving bowl. (If using other kinds of noodles, see noodle options section for instructions.)
11. Ladle the broth along with a few meatballs over the noodles.
12. Top with marinated pork, meat from bones, and all the toppings and condiments as desired. Enjoy!

Advance Prep and Storage Tips

Boat noodles takes time to make, but if you prep all the components ahead of time, assembly is super quick and you'll have dinner on the table in 20 minutes!

Here are all the things you can do ahead of time:

• Make the broth and cook the meat in advance. This is the most important thing you need to do ahead of time. You can also cook the marinated pork once the broth is done and this will save even more time on the day. The broth will last at least 1 week in the fridge and can be frozen indefinitely. Keep the cooked meat separately in an airtight container and it'll also last up to a week.
• Soak noodles in advance. If you're using any of the noodles that require soaking, soak them in advance, drain, then keep in a covered container in the fridge and they'll last up to one week. Make sure to rest the noodles on a kitchen towel to absorb excess water before storage; any pooling water in the container will continue to get absorbed by the noodles and make them mushy.
• Make the condiments. If you're going to have chili vinegar, fried garlic, or the roasted chili flakes, get them done ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. Make sure to keep the fried garlic and garlic oil in separate containers!

What Is Sen Chan Pad Pu?

This dish is what I like to call pad thai's easier cousin. It's a rice noodle stir fry with that same sweet-salty-sour flavour profile as pad thai, and it is made typically with crab or shrimp. Sen means noodles, and chan is short for Chanthaburi, a province in Thailand famous for making rice noodles with a chewy texture that are perfect for stir fries. And this dish is Chanthaburi’s local specialty because it features their signature product.

And not just the noodles! Chanthaburi is a coastal city with abundant seafood, so in Thailand you'll see this dish made with seafood only, most commonly crab. (Pad pu means stir fried with crab.) Since crab isn't as accessible for most people, for this recipe I'll show you how to work with both shrimp and crab.

Sen Chan Pad Pu vs. Pad Thai

On the surface the two dishes look similar - sen chan pad pu looks kinda like an orange pad thai. Indeed the two dishes share most of the core ingredients: noodles, tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar, bean sprouts and garlic chives. But sen chan pad pu is flavoured with chili paste, hence the orange colour, and doesn't have any eggs, tofu, peanuts, preserved radish or dried shrimp.

Because it's made with fewer ingredients sen chan pad pu is easier than pad thai, and I find it to be totally doable on a weeknight. Side note: you can also make regular pad thai weeknight friendly by making the sauce and doing some prep work up front, and I share how to make that happen in my post on how to make pad thai in 5 minutes!

PS. On the subject of orange pad thai, unlike in America, most pad thai in Thailand is brown, not orange (with a few exceptions). American takeout pad thai is often orange because restaurants like to add ketchup or paprika to make the colour more vibrant, but this isn't traditional.

Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you need and important notes about them. For amounts, see the full recipe card below.

• Dried chilies. This is what gives the iconic orange colour. You can use spicy or mild dried chilies depending on how spicy you want it. I use a combination of 1 small guajillo (mild) and a few smaller spicier dried chilies giving me a nice medium spice level, but feel free to adjust this ratio.
• Garlic
• Shallots
• Palm sugar. Palm sugar adds complexity to the sweetness. See my post all about palm sugar here if you want to learn more about it. You can also sub light brown sugar.
• Tamarind paste. This is what gives sourness to the noodles. Make sure you buy Thai tamarind paste (aka tamarind concentrate) that is a pourable brown liquid, not Indian tamarind which is much more concentrated. You can also make tamarind paste from pulp quite easily!
• Fish sauce. It's important to use good quality fish sauce. See more about how to choose good fish sauce here.
• Shrimp and/or crabmeat. If you have crabmeat, you'll be making the "original" version, but shrimp also work just as well!
• Rice noodles. I'm using Pine Brand (our sponsor!) which has great chewy texture because of the added tapioca starch. If using other brands, make sure you get one that is 3mm wide (⅛ inch) for the right size!
• Bean sprouts
• Garlic chives
• Cucumber. This is served on the side to help lighten the dish. It's quite important!
• Lime wedge for serving. This is optional, depends on how sour your tamarind is. I find that if you're using homemade tamarind paste, the acidity is quite strong and the lime isn't necessary, but it's always good to have on hand just in case you want that extra zing.

How to Make

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, if this is your first time I highly recommend watching the full video tutorial. For full instructions and ingredient amounts, see the recipe card below.

1. Soak noodles in room temp water until completely pliable and then drain. (30 mins - 1 hour depending on the brand, more on this below.)
2. Remove seeds from the dried chilies and grind into a powder. Alternatively, soak the chilies in hot water for 30 mins until rehydrated, then pound into a paste in a mortar and pestle.
3. Pound garlic into a paste in a mortar and pestle, then add chopped shallots and the ground chilies and pound into a rough paste.
4. The paste can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a few days or frozen.

5. Saute the chili paste in oil for about a minute or so over medium heat.
6. Add the palm sugar and stir until mostly dissolved.
7. Add the water, tamarind paste and fish sauce and bring the sauce to a boil.
8. Add the shrimp and cook until done, then off heat and remove the shrimp.

9. Bring the sauce back to a boil over medium high heat and add the noodles.
10. Keep tossing until the noodles absorb all of the sauce, then taste, and if the noodles are too chewy, add a splash of water and keep cooking until done.
11. Add the shrimp, crabmeat (if using), garlic chives and bean sprouts and toss just until the bean sprouts are wilted.
12. Plate and serve with chopped cucumber, extra bean sprouts and a wedge of lime. Top with more crabmeat for garnish. Enjoy!

Tips and Shortcuts for Soaking Noodles

One of the keys to success in stir frying rice noodles is properly soaking the noodles. Here are some tips:

• To check if noodles are done soaking, lift the noodles up and they should droop completely and have lost all kinks. I soak my noodles in room temp water because it results in the most even hydration and the lowest risk of over-soaking.
• The warmer the water temperature, the shorter the soaking time, so as a shortcut, you can use warm or even hot water, but you have to drain the noodles promptly or they will over-soak and become mushy after cooking.
• It is possible to over-soak noodles in any temperature water, but in room temp water, you have a big buffer, so just check on them once in a while. If using warm or hot water, they will over-soak quickly so keep an eye on them.
• In the case of absolute emergency, i.e. you forgot to soak the noodles, you can soak them in hot off the boil water for exactly 3 minutes (set a timer!) and drain them immediately. I have only tried this with Erawan brand noodles size M (3mm), and timing may vary if using other brands. I don't do this regularly because the risk of over-soaking is high.

Advance Prep Tips

Here are a few things you can do in advance to make this dish even faster to make!

• Soak the noodles in advance, then drain well and keep in the fridge. I rest the drained noodles on a kitchen towel briefly before storing to absorb excess water because you don't want any pooling liquid in the container or they will over-soak in the fridge. They should last in the fridge for up to a week.
• Make the paste in advance. You can keep the chili paste for up to a week in the fridge or freeze it indefinitely.
• Make the sauce in advance. Take it a step further and make the sauce! Saute the paste, then add the palm sugar, tamarind paste, fish sauce and water. Keep this in the fridge and it should last you a couple of weeks. You can make the sauce in bulk, but remember to measure the volume of the sauce once finished and make a note to yourself how much sauce you need per batch.

Storage and Reheating

Like pad thai, rice noodles stir fries in general do not reheat well. This is because the noodles continue to absorb moisture in the fridge, so when you reheat, the noodles will be softer than they were when fresh, and after a few days, they might even be mushy.

This is not a big deal if you have leftovers and you want to eat it the next day. It'll still taste great despite the not-as-chewy texture. But I don't recommend making this as meal prep for your lunch for the week! For that, I suggest trying my glass noodle pad thai which reheats much better.

To reheat, you can microwave or saute it in a non-stick skillet. Make sure to reheat the rice noodles until steaming hot or they will not be soft and may be a bit crunchy and rather unpleasant.