[thechat] Recipe: Thai Hot n' Sour noodles (Sen Lek Tom Yam Haeng)

Madhu Menon webguru at vsnl.net
Sat Feb 1 14:52:39 CST 2003


A delicious noodle dish that has absolutely no oil, apart from the oil in
the chilli paste. I made it for dinner tonight. Actual cooking time is only
about 7-8 minutes. All the preparation can be done ahead of time.

Sure it's hot, but it's delicious. There's no tamarind that gives Pad Thai
its fruity sour taste (no, it's not the extremely unauthentic ketchup).
Notes on how to reduce the fire are at the bottom of the recipe.

(serves... well, just one of me, but might feed two normal humans)

WHAT YOU NEED

Thin flat rice noodles (.25" thick) - 100 gm (1/4 lbs for you Imperialists
:)   [0]
Ground red chilli flakes - 1 tsp
Fresh Thai bird chillies - 5 - chopped  [1]
Lime juice - from 2 limes
Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Nam Prik Pao (roasted chilli paste) - 2 tbsp (yes, tablespoons, wussy)  [2]
Fish sauce - 2-3 tbsp (depending on saltiness)
Minced/Ground chicken or pork - 100 gm (4 oz.)
Garlic - 1 tbsp - finely chopped
Cooked chicken or pork liver - 50 gm (optional) - thinly sliced
Chicken stock - 1 cup - very hot  (cube will do)
Spring onions (scallions) - 1 stalk - cut into thin rounds
Peanuts - 1/2 cup - chopped
Cilantro leaves - 2 tbsp


HOW TO MAKE IT

1) Here's my "kicking Julia Child's arse" tip for dried rice noodles.
Instead of soaking them in warm water and risking them getting soggy (a
very bad situation), soak them in plenty of cool water instead. Well...
room temperature water actually. Leave them for about 20 minutes or till
they turn milky white. Don't worry about them not getting cooked properly.
Instead, we'll add some water during the stir-frying so they cook properly.
Trust me!

(While the noodles are soaking, get everything else chopped, minced, etc.)

2) Get the sauce ready. In a bowl, mix the lime juice, fish sauce, chilli
flakes, chopped chillies, nam prik pao and 2 tbsp of the stock. Stir well
till the contents are nicely blended.

3) Heat a wok on hight heat till very hot and pour about half of the stock
into it. It should immediately come to a rolling boil. Toss in the garlic,
stir for 10 seconds and then toss in the ground chicken or pork. Stir like
a madman on high heat till the meat is no longer pink. Watch the stock
level. If it dries up and the meat starts to brown instead, add some extra
stock 1 tbsp at a time. This whole process should take about 4-5 minutes.
Add about 1 tsp of the sauce from step 2 and toss one last time.

4) If your noodles have been soaked for long enough, now is the time to
drain them in a colander or sieve. Add them to the ground meat and toss or
stir-fry to mix well. Now add the sauce from step 2 and another 2-3 tbsp of
the stock. Once again stir-fry like crazy until the noodles are coloured
evenly. This should take another 2-3 minutes.

5) My original recipe calls for the spring onions to be used as garnish,
but I prefer to cook them for about 30 seconds to get rid of the sharp raw
taste. So add the scallions and toss for another 30 seconds. If you want,
add the peanuts too or save them for garnishing.

6) That's all, folks. You'll find that your noodles have been cooked just
right and not soggy at all. Arrange some lettuce leaves on a plate, ladle
the noodles on to it, arrange the sliced liver on top, and garnish with the
crushed peanuts and the cilantro leaves.

(Notice I didn't use any oil anywhere?)

CHEF'S NOTES

[0] This recipe works well with rice stick noodles too

[1] If you can't get Thai chillies, get Serrano chillies. If you prefer it
milder, cut down on the number of fresh chillies, but do try it with this
much first.

[2] Unfortunately, you DO need real Nam Prik Pao for this. Why don't you
get a small jar from here:
http://importfood.com/cppt1601.html

You can use Nam Prik Pao as a dip for chips/wafers or steamed veggies or a
whole lotta things. It's great stuff. I make my own, but it's a bit of work
(not to mention smoking the kitchen.)


Feedback is welcome. I intend to make this one of my restaurant dishes, so
do tell me what you think.

Regards,

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
Internet User Experience Consultant
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